Valvoline Express Lube, Laconia
 

Might anyone have any experience with these folks or heard of their reputation?

We have a 2006 Acura with 145,000 miles on it that is now driven by my college-student daughter. Since she is away at school most of the year, the car is only driven sporadically Sept-May. Over Presidents' Day weekend this past Feb, we decided to drive it up to the lake to give it some exercise. I knew that it was due for an oil change, so on a whim, I popped in to Valvoline as I was driving by. They gave me the hard-sell for the radiator flush, transmission flush, etc, to which I replied "No thanks, just oil change"

Fast forward the tape to 10 days ago. Driving up to the lake in the Acura again and it goes kaput on 104...slight burning smell and everything stops. We got a tow in to Lovering Volvo, (closest place that I knew of), and they say that the ignition coil is fried and one of the spark plugs melted. They got the car running again, but it is sluggish and rattles when starting. Since they are not an Acura shop, they highly recommended taking it my local Acura dealer for a complete diagnostic.

The local Acura dealer today asked when I had the oil changed last. I told him in mid Feb at Valvoline in Laconia and have hardly driven the car since. He says, "No way", and shows me a plastic bottle of sludge that came from the car. They believe the crappy oil is/was causing the sluggishness and rattling and may have damaged the engine. I can't imagine the Acura guy would make this up, but also am hard pressed to believe that Valvoline would totally rip me off.

Has anyone heard of anything good, bad or indifferent about Valvoline Laconia?

Thanks.

MM

How many miles clocked between oil change and breakdown?

My car is a "company car" but I bring it there always. I think they are great, I've never seen anything shady. I guess you never know but I would find this surprising.

Thanks Don, for setting up this separate area.:D

minimal miles between oil change and breakdown
 

....less than a thousand. The young guy who was working at Valvoline when I went in was polite & friendly. The place was clean....I can't imagine they would do anything out-of-line, but as I said in my original post, it is also hard to imagine that the Acura dealer is being unscrupulous either.

I guess it doesn't matter...."it is what it is", as the saying goes, but just thought I would see if other folks had any experience there, so thanks for all your input.

Next step is a compression test to see if the engine is toast or repairable.

Kudos to Lovering Volvo and Harper Towing
 

In my Valvoline Laconia post, I mentioned that our old Acura broke down on Rte 104. Not knowing any mechanics in the area, the first place I thought of was Lovering Volvo, since it is close to our place and they've been there for a number of years. I figured they must be reputable. I phoned them and asked their Service guy if he could help us, even though we weren't a customer and didn't have a Volvo. He said, "absolutely". I then asked him if he could hook me up with a tow, and he said, "call Harper Towing...he'll take care of you".

Bill Harper was there in a flash with his tow truck...very polite and friendly. He got us to Lovering Volvo and the folks there had the car running on Monday, (this was all late on a Friday afternoon).

Lovering could have just as easily told me to pound sand when I called in since I was not a customer and didn't have a Volvo, but they took great care of us, as did Harper Towing. Very impressed with both!!

Quick lubes
 

I would stay away from these oil change franchises. I heard too many horror stories.

I had a bad experience at the Nashua Quick lube. I found the oil spilled out on my driveway when I got home. Someone had stripped the thread of the oil drainage plug. The oil pan had to be replaced. Quick Lube denied any wrong doings. This was an expensive trip!

My daughter wanted to surprised me for my birthday years ago. She went to a Quick Lube in Dracut Mass. They told here the air cleaner needs to be replaced and she OKed a new one. Problem is it was one of those expensive K&N filters you can washed and reuse. I went back to the shop and they claimed the filter went into the trash and the trash is emptied every night! Again, they will not claim responsibility and will not offer me a new one or my money back on the installed filter.

Obviously those grease monkeys don't pay attention!

I wonder if yes they did change the oil, but not the filter?

Maybe it's on the mechanic's car right now.