To preface, this is the first time (and last) I’ve ever taken my car to a place like this. I usually go to a trusted local mechanic to get my oil changed but with my work schedule and how far out oil changes on Saturdays were booked, I entered Jiffy Hell thinking to get an oil change by then on time would be better than putting it off a couple weeks risking my engine (jokes on me.)

I’ll try to keep it as condensed as possible. I went in for an oil change on a Monday. During my oil change I stay in my car, they aren’t busy and I end up not having any cars in other bays next to me by the time they’re done. The guy comes over and says he’s going to give me a discount due to me having to wait so long (?) I waited only maybe 20 minutes at most, so I was pretty confused but happily took the discount.

Fast forward to Friday, I’m driving and all of a sudden my low oil pressure alarm goes off. I have to drive about 0.8 miles to get my car to a safe location to stop. It has been raining every day and I go to work when it’s dark and come out when it’s dark so I have not seen any oil under my car before this point. But once I pulled over there is oil EVERYWHERE. I check my dipstick and it’s completely dry.

This is the part where I’m an idiot (aside from going to JL in the first place) I call JL and tell them I lost all my oil and they need to fix it because they’re the ones who did my oil change and it was fine before them. Never any issues with my oil before. My car is 70k miles - only owner, Chevy Cruze 2013 LT. anyways the guy comes and drives out to me and looks under the hood and says the filter is fine but he can’t get under my car there because it’s too low, he needs to take it back to his shop. He takes me keys and drives my car to JL. Comes back shortly later and says it was nothing they did, the filter is fine, drain plug is fine, must be my pan or something and to take it to a real mechanic. At this point he’s pretty nervously shaking and knows I work for a Law Firm. He said he added oil and that he’s sorry but this is just bad timing and it’s not their fault my car failed.

I did what he said and took my car to a real mechanic, they test drove it twice and spent a while trying to find a leak and couldn’t, but said they’ve never seen such a bad oil mess under the car before, that everything was covered and dripping in oil, hence why they tried twice to find a leak because they’re were baffled.

I get my car from them and driving it home my engine all of a sudden overheats. I just had my water outlet replaced in fall 2023, then coolant line and thermostat this August of 2024. I drove my car all the way across the country this fall and I’ve had zero issues…until now. I turn my car off immediately and pop the hood and zero coolant. Mind you, the shop it was just at noted my coolant levels and everything were fine.

Using time to let my engine cool and water bottles I limp my car about a mile to another shop. They then check out my car. My water pump housing needs replaced, along with my thermostat and coolant line again. They also look everywhere for an oil leak and can’t find it. Over $2k later I leave their shop.

Driving home (about 50 minutes) I get a nail in my ti re (can’t blame jiffy for that just letting you know the bs this week was for me.) So I take my ti re to get fixed at another completely different place in the town I actually live in and my car was up on racks and they did not mention seeing any leaking oil…. I then later that night take my car to and from another city driving roughly 80 minutes round trip. Because at this point, 3 places have told me they can’t find a leak and my oil level is stable.

Pulling back into my home town my low oil pressure goes off again. I quickly pull into a parking lot and get out of my car, again oil everywhere. I leave it overnight and come back the next day with oil and ramps. I get under the car myself and can confirm no oil is leaking from the plug or filter but is covering the entire underside of the car.

I fill my car with oil yet again and limp it to ANOTHER MECHANIC. They say the exact same thing, they do not see where the leak is. Only this time, they said when they pull the dipstick out while my car is running that it starts running bad and it’s as if there’s a vacuum leak? They’re speculating blow by? They’re supposed to be a full diagnosis and compression test and everything now.

My question is, is it possible that when the Jiffy Lube guy took my car back to his shop he fixed a plug issue, like a plug that was hand tightened and became loose over the 4 days of me driving, or a plug that was over tightened or they hadn’t done my oil change right in some way that created this cascade?

Like an oil leak from the loose plug causing the engine to run dry and thus damaging my gasket, and then my coolant line? Which in turn even after tightening the plug back in correctly caused damage that then lead to the second oil leak?

I just can’t figure out why my car had ZERO oil issues before jiffy lube, then within days after getting my oil changed with them all of this happens. I know I shouldn’t have taken it to them but if anyone has any theories or suggestions on what could have happened or what I should do I would really appreciate it. I’ve had stress migraines from this because it’s overwhelming for me.