Monday, July 9, 2018

Val Thevictorian, Doing Everyone Else's Job, Resentfully

There's the best of times. There's the worst of times. And there's the half-a$$ed times. Which is the era we're living in. Nobody can do a job well, because nobody does a job to completion.

A couple weeks ago, Hick took T-Hoe for an inspection, so he could renew the license. He also got an oil change, because the oil life gauge said T-Hoe was down to about 30% oil life. Can't have T-Hoe runnin' sluggish.

Once I had T-Hoe back in my possession, I tapped through the gauges to look at the oil reading, and it was still the same. Well. Not the same. It was into the 20%s. Since I totally trusted Hick when he specifically told me that he had the oil changed saw on the receipt of the inspection that Walmart automotive department had also done an oil change...I could only surmise that they had NOT reset the oil life.

Seriously. How hard is THAT? They work with cars every day. It's their job. I'm pretty sure they have to look up stuff about what kind of oil, and how much to put in. So you'd think they'd have access to instructions for resetting the oil life. It's not like that information is a state secret. Or even the recipe for Coca Cola or Kentucky Fried Chicken. The details are out there. I found them myself.

Well. I found them myself, after three tries. I'd forgotten, you see, how I reset the oil life LAST TIME it was changed, and not reset. I was on my Shiba upstairs, so I couldn't check my files to see if I'd saved those instructions on New Delly.

Once I Googled, things started looking familiar for my 2008 T-Hoe. I seemed to recall trying those instructions about pumping the gas pedal. Trouble was...one tip said to turn on the key but not start it, and depress the gas pedal three times within five seconds. But the tip just below it said to turn on the key but not start it, and depress the gas pedal five times within three seconds. Huh.

I tried the three-in-five routine down at the mailboxes. Didn't reset. So I figured I'd experiment. I tapped through the button with the symbol that looks like a gas pump to me. Went through various settings like tire pressures until I got to OIL LIFE. Then I held in the button with the symbol that's a check mark. For a long time. Maybe five seconds.

AND THE OIL LIFE RESET!

If I can do it...why can't the people Hick paid to change the oil?

11 comments:

  1. I just change the oil every 3-4 thousand miles (even though today they say 6000 is fine) never heard of an oil life gauge, only a sticker marking the mileage to change. Maybe the dudes at WalMart never heard of it either.

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    1. What do you drive, a Jed Clampett truck??? I thought all cars (even JEEPS) now had those electronic brains and too-much-info gauges! T-Hoe is no spring chicken. He's 10 years old!

      I can't start him up without seeing SERVICE SUSPENSIONS SYSTEM and SERVICE PARKING ASSIST scroll by alternately, the whole time I'm driving.

      I'm pretty sure the dudes at Walmart have heard of such electronic gewgaws on cars. But then again, they didn't know enough to put a cover over their electrical outlet in the waiting room...

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    2. NOt on my Jeep and not on my wife's Four runner. Granny on the rocker on my roof has never heard of it either.

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  2. YOU give a flying fig. They don't.

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  3. I suggest you question them on this next time you are there, be stern and ask why not? do you even know how? Yes? then why didn't you do it? Put on your school teacher hat for a while.

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    1. I will put on my superhero suit, once I have one made, and travel the nation, forcing accountability! It should be a brightly-colored (perhaps PURPLE, my old school color), form-hugging unitard, with a clever logo, and a hat to make me stand out (as if the unitard isn't enough). I think the logo might be the shaming shaken-finger.

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  4. It's only the oil reset button they forget at YOUR Walmart? The past two oil changes they did at ours they left screws off the undercarriage thingamajig. Twice! Never again.

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    1. T-Hoe seems to be okay, because Hick checked the oil yesterday to make sure it wasn't low.

      Walmart left the PLUG THINGY not screwed in right on the ex-mayor my sister's husband's little truck many years ago. I think it burned up his engine because all the oil leaked out. I don't know the full story. I think it's before they were married, and before he became mayor.

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  5. The hat should be purple with gold and purple ostrich plumes, so as to be noticeable from a distance. You also need a gold belt on that unitard, with a fannypack filled with gold stars (fake gold of course) to hand out to employees who comply with your rules.

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    1. Yes, that would be noticeable. I like the thought of the stars. Or maybe it's just the FANNYPACK!

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