[okc_charger]

First let me say that normally I take my baby to "reputable" places for oil changes. I rarely have time to do my own. I recently was given a WalMart gift certificate and I was faced again with one of those situations of little time to do my own and having this stupid certificate. So, I had them do my oil change. Mistake.

One week later I hear some sort of grinding as I'm backing up. At first I thought, gee, brakes down to rotors already?? Can't be. After inspection I notice that my skid plate is hanging down to the ground in the back. You of course have to remove the back 2 bolts to do the oil change. They either didn't put them back or didn't tighten them down and they "fell" out somewhere along the way. My mechanic friend temporarily took off the skid plate so I could drive it. Obviously a battle is brewing but I have 2 questions for the forum.

First, do I have any concerns about driving in wet weather with the skid plate off? I'm assuming no since really the skid plate is only for those "bottoming out" times and not so much as a moisture barrier, but I wanted to ask.

Second, I'm hoping that these bolts are fairly common and can get them either at the dealership parts department or maybe local parts store.

I'll keep you posted on the floggings I will be conducting on Walmart management and how far it actually gets me. Probably nothing more than another [email protected] gift certificate. /end rant

 

[TBYDaytona40]

Better make sure the speed nuts are still in place as well. I had one work its way out one day when I was changing my oil and couldnt figure out why I couldnt get the bolt to catch. hehehe silly me.

 

[Aremel]

Speed nuts? I had an ex-girlfriend call me that one time. She wasn't very funny.

 

[okc_charger]

I'm gonna kill the dude who did my oil change. Maybe I'll remove his "speed nuts".

 

[Dmacell]

Don't feel so bad my dealer changed the oil and forgot to put the bolts back in. When I brought it back they told me that some idiot left the bolts out...Duh, that would be you. They gave me a coupon to get the next one free. Well, on my next oil change I had my long time local shop take care of it and they found the power steering hoses leaking, so I still had to go back to the stealership to get them replaced under warranty.

 

[daytona1466]

hope they really put 5w20 in, I am so scared of getting oil out of there mystery vat.

 

[carchitect]

Is there a reason you don't change your own oil?

 

[okc_charger]

Time my friend. I'm a single Dad raising 2 kids, 3 dogs, a cat, 2900 square feet of house on 2 acres. Do the math.

 

[okc_charger]

...and I do when I have the time. The ONLY reason why Wally-world touched my car was the fact that I was there with 30 minutes to kill whilest I shopped and had the gift card to make it free. Period.

 

[Nu2Mopar]

I could change my own oil, but for the price, it's worth it to pay someone else to do it so that I don't have to deal with the headache, heat, and mess.

I think just about anywhere you go to get work like that done, there's eventually gonna be a problem for someone...especially a place that has high flow of business, like an oil change or tire place. You have mostly young kids that, usually, know what they're doing, but get distracted or tired and are bound to make bone-head mistakes. But I guess that's the price we pay for convenience sometimes.

 

[Astropin]

Why would I change my own oil? ......I don't have time for that not to mention the hassle of it. My mechanic charges $10 to change my oil & filter (that I provide).

 

[carchitect]

Time my friend. I'm a single Dad raising 2 kids, 3 dogs, a cat, 2900 square feet of house on 2 acres. Do the math.

I hear ya :grin:

The other posibility is the grease monkey who put the pan back on overtightened the nuts and stripped them, causing them to fall out shortly afterwards.

Either way it being off shouldn't be a problem. It believe it is really on there to help keep things clean, and aerodynamics (as we got a fair amount of frontal surface area). There may some radiator airflow reasons as well, but I'm not too sure on that one.

Anyway, lots of people have done and not had any problems. So I think you'll be fine.

 

[arfur]

First let me say that normally I take my baby to "reputable" places for oil changes. I rarely have time to do my own. I recently was given a WalMart gift certificate and I was faced again with one of those situations of little time to do my own and having this stupid certificate. So, I had them do my oil change. Mistake.

One week later I hear some sort of grinding as I'm backing up. At first I thought, gee, brakes down to rotors already?? Can't be. After inspection I notice that my skid plate is hanging down to the ground in the back. You of course have to remove the back 2 bolts to do the oil change. They either didn't put them back or didn't tighten them down and they "fell" out somewhere along the way. My mechanic friend temporarily took off the skid plate so I could drive it. Obviously a battle is brewing but I have 2 questions for the forum.

First, do I have any concerns about driving in wet weather with the skid plate off? I'm assuming no since really the skid plate is only for those "bottoming out" times and not so much as a moisture barrier, but I wanted to ask.

Second, I'm hoping that these bolts are fairly common and can get them either at the dealership parts department or maybe local parts store.

I'll keep you posted on the floggings I will be conducting on Walmart management and how far it actually gets me. Probably nothing more than another [email protected] gift certificate. /end rant

Nope - you should be alright driving in wet weather for a while - don't drive through floods though!

You should be able to. Take one of the spares and try and match it up at a local hardware store - or get hold of a thread gauge and go from there.