can Jiffy Lube change a serpentine belt?

I heard a commercial for Jiffy Lube today in which they were bragging
about being able to change serpentine belts - and their 3 locations in
town (Yeah, it's a small town.)

I had to laugh - I tried to get them to replace mine last winter. After
telling me they could, they came back to me and said it was too
complicated for them. (At least they didn't do what Pep Boys did to me,
which was tell me they could do it, make me wait 2 hours and then tell
me they didn't have a belt to replace it.)

A few weeks ago, while getting the oil changed, I asked them to rotate
the tires as well. They changed the oil, but told me I would have to
wait for them to rotate the tires. They couldn't tell me how long it
would be since they had taken the serpentine belt off of a Jeep and were
having trouble figuring out how to get the new one back on. The guy
told me the person who agreed to replace the belt should never have said
they could do it.

I don't know if they ever managed to get the Jeep's serpentine belt back
on - I left without having them rotate my tires, and the guy with the
Jeep was still sitting there when I left.

sloopy > wrote in
:

> I heard a commercial for Jiffy Lube today in which they were bragging
> about being able to change serpentine belts - and their 3 locations in
> town (Yeah, it's a small town.)
>
> I had to laugh - I tried to get them to replace mine last winter. After
> telling me they could, they came back to me and said it was too
> complicated for them. (At least they didn't do what Pep Boys did to me,
> which was tell me they could do it, make me wait 2 hours and then tell
> me they didn't have a belt to replace it.)
>
> A few weeks ago, while getting the oil changed, I asked them to rotate
> the tires as well. They changed the oil, but told me I would have to
> wait for them to rotate the tires. They couldn't tell me how long it
> would be since they had taken the serpentine belt off of a Jeep and were
> having trouble figuring out how to get the new one back on. The guy
> told me the person who agreed to replace the belt should never have said
> they could do it.
>
> I don't know if they ever managed to get the Jeep's serpentine belt back
> on - I left without having them rotate my tires, and the guy with the
> Jeep was still sitting there when I left.
>

Changing a serpentine belt is not that hard;I did it on a Chevy Silverado
PU that the tensioner had disintegrated(plastic pulley,bad bearing);there
was a DIAGRAM mounted right on the radiator shroud.(or the hood,can't
recall exactly where) It took a bit of time threading it and getting the
new tensioner to allow it to slip over it's pulley.

(admittedly,some of those minivans would be tough due to access under that
really short hood and a transverse engine)

If *I* can do it,any halfway competent mechanic can.

BUT,I would not let Jiffy Lube do anything to my car.

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

Jim Yanik wrote:
> sloopy > wrote in
> :
>

>
> Changing a serpentine belt is not that hard;I did it on a Chevy Silverado
> PU that the tensioner had disintegrated(plastic pulley,bad bearing);there
> was a DIAGRAM mounted right on the radiator shroud.(or the hood,can't
> recall exactly where) It took a bit of time threading it and getting the
> new tensioner to allow it to slip over it's pulley.
>
> (admittedly,some of those minivans would be tough due to access under that
> really short hood and a transverse engine)
>
> If *I* can do it,any halfway competent mechanic can.
>
> BUT,I would not let Jiffy Lube do anything to my car.
>

Well, experience has taught me to either watch them put oil in it or at
least check my oil after they say it's done.

A number of years ago, the idiot light for the oil went on immediately
after pulling out of their lot - they had drained the oil, but not
replaced it.

As far as changing a belt, I wouldn't sell yourself short. You probably
are a lot more competent than some of the people places like that hire.

When I had a manual transmission, I remember an employee having to exit
my vehicle and expressing frustration because she couldn't drive a stick.

In article >, sloopy wrote:
> I heard a commercial for Jiffy Lube today in which they were bragging
> about being able to change serpentine belts - and their 3 locations in
> town (Yeah, it's a small town.)
>
> I had to laugh - I tried to get them to replace mine last winter. After
> telling me they could, they came back to me and said it was too
> complicated for them. (At least they didn't do what Pep Boys did to me,
> which was tell me they could do it, make me wait 2 hours and then tell
> me they didn't have a belt to replace it.)

The idea of having either jiffy lube or three pepboy stooges touch a
vehicle is what's scary here.

Brent P wrote:
> In article >, sloopy wrote:
>
>>I heard a commercial for Jiffy Lube today in which they were bragging
>>about being able to change serpentine belts - and their 3 locations in
>>town (Yeah, it's a small town.)
>>
>>I had to laugh - I tried to get them to replace mine last winter. After
>>telling me they could, they came back to me and said it was too
>>complicated for them. (At least they didn't do what Pep Boys did to me,
>>which was tell me they could do it, make me wait 2 hours and then tell
>>me they didn't have a belt to replace it.)
>
>
> The idea of having either jiffy lube or three pepboy stooges touch a
> vehicle is what's scary here.
>
>
Not that I disagree with you on that point, but who would you suggest?

The dealership?

They probably do a competent job most of the time, but I see no reason
to trust them anymore than a large chain and they'll certainly charge
much more (and of course, they did when I finally got them to replace
the belt).

Myself?

I lack tools, experience and knowledge of what I would be messing around
with under the hood.


A good honest mechanic that knows what he is doing?

Got any you can recomend? The last "good honest" mechanic that knew
what he was doing turned out to be utterly clueless and held on to my
car for 2 weeks while he struggled to replace a clutch.

Now, I suppose I could try to educate myself and purchase the necessary
tools and in the long-run, I would come out way ahead in both cost and
confidence in workmanship.

Just wondering if you had any better ideas.

sloopy wrote:

> Not that I disagree with you on that point, but who would you suggest?

[...]

> Myself?
>
> I lack tools, experience and knowledge of what I would be messing around
> with under the hood.

It's really not that difficult to do. One of the pulleys serves as an
idle/tension pulley. You just adjust the idle pulley so that the old
belt is loose (make sure you know how the belt is routed before you
start taking it off). Take off the old belt, put the new belt on the
same way, adjust the idle pulley such that it has a reasonable amount of
tension (which will most likely be specified in the owner's manual), and
you're done.

On a few vehicles, the procedure is a bit more difficult. You'll know
this if there's no room to get your hands in there to do the job.

> Now, I suppose I could try to educate myself and purchase the necessary
> tools and in the long-run, I would come out way ahead in both cost and
> confidence in workmanship.

Learning how to do simple maintenance tasks for yourself will save a bit
of money in the long run (oil and oil filter changes, air filter, spark
plugs, serpentine belts, etc.)

Your choice is simple:

1. dealership OR
2. independent shop

Jiffy Lube and similar cheapo chains are just too risky because they
employ minimum
wage mechanics.

Unfortunately, the internet is not going to be of much help in finding
a good independent shop unless you live in a big city. The word of
mouth is the way. The BBB is another resource. Once you get there,
look at the condition of the vehicles they're servicing (are they all
clunkers?), see how professionally they interact with you, etc.

"223rem" > wrote in
ups.com:

> Your choice is simple:
>
> 1. dealership OR
> 2. independent shop
>
> Jiffy Lube and similar cheapo chains are just too risky because they
> employ minimum
> wage mechanics.
>
> Unfortunately, the internet is not going to be of much help in finding
> a good independent shop unless you live in a big city. The word of
> mouth is the way. The BBB is another resource. Once you get there,
> look at the condition of the vehicles they're servicing (are they all
> clunkers?), see how professionally they interact with you, etc.
>
>

I saw a local ad for a chain of auto repair shops advertising timing belt
replacement for $159;checked the BBB and they had a poor rating,lots of
complaints.
I did not use them for the job.
Acura dealer was charging IIRC,$250 for the job.


--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net

On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 16:37:36 -0700, sloopy > wrote:

>I heard a commercial for Jiffy Lube today in which they were bragging
>about being able to change serpentine belts - and their 3 locations in
>town (Yeah, it's a small town.)
>
>I had to laugh - I tried to get them to replace mine last winter. After
>telling me they could, they came back to me and said it was too
>complicated for them. (At least they didn't do what Pep Boys did to me,
>which was tell me they could do it, make me wait 2 hours and then tell
>me they didn't have a belt to replace it.)
>
>A few weeks ago, while getting the oil changed, I asked them to rotate
>the tires as well. They changed the oil, but told me I would have to
>wait for them to rotate the tires. They couldn't tell me how long it
>would be since they had taken the serpentine belt off of a Jeep and were
>having trouble figuring out how to get the new one back on. The guy
>told me the person who agreed to replace the belt should never have said
>they could do it.
>
>I don't know if they ever managed to get the Jeep's serpentine belt back
>on - I left without having them rotate my tires, and the guy with the
>Jeep was still sitting there when I left.

I drew a diagram of how my serpentine belt goes on. Without that it
is a nightmare. JL oughta have a book that shows how.

In article >, sloopy wrote:
> Brent P wrote:

>> The idea of having either jiffy lube or three pepboy stooges touch a
>> vehicle is what's scary here.
>>
>>
> Not that I disagree with you on that point, but who would you suggest?

Your own two hands.

> Myself?
>
> I lack tools, experience and knowledge of what I would be messing around
> with under the hood.

If you picked up a book on DITY auto maintaince and a service manual
you'd be about 20 light years ahead of the people you're paying to work
on your car. These people are worse than anyone who cares about their own
car could ever be.

Tools required for the jobs you mention I do with a breaker bar to move
the tensioner for the belt and single wrench to losen and tighten the oil
drain plug. Usually I don't need an oil filter wrench.