Valvoline Instant Oil Change — Local services in Hillsboro

I will preface this review with a short summary: This Valvoline location lied about completing a service that they upsold me, then when I went back to have it completed, they completed it incorrectly in a way that will likely damage my transmission.

I visited this Valvoline location today to have the oil changed on my 2016 Scion TC. The associate checked the manufacturer recommendations and proceeded to recommend a transmission fluid change. At my previous Valvoline oil changes, the same service was recommended to me, but I was always told that they would be unable to complete this service because I had a sealed transmission. I asked about this, and the associate checked with his coworker, who said that they could perform the service. I asked how long the service would take and was quoted 15 minutes. After the oil change was completed, the technician showed me my oil level and waved me out of the bay.

When I got home, something wasn't sitting right with me about the service, so I proceeded to look up what exactly a transmission fluid change entailed on a 2016 Scion TC with a sealed transmission. It turns out, the fill port is located behind the driver side wheel, and the wheel typically needs to be removed to perform this service. There is no way this service could have been performed in the time I was there, and they didn't once touch their Valvoline Maxlife Automatic Transmission Fluid dispenser while I was in the bay.

Now knowing that I was charged for a service that I didn't receive, I drove back to the shop to let them know that they forgot to service my transmission fluid. I approached it in a calm and friendly manner, giving them the benefit of the doubt. They admitted that the service hadn't been performed an that they "forgot". I let them know that the fill port was located behind the driver side tire, and that the wheel would need to be removed, to which the associate said they don't perform the service that way and that they'll have to "find another way to do it". This raised many red flags for me and I stated that I would take a refund for the service instead if they were unable to perform it correctly. The associate quickly shot down that idea, and insisted that they would be able to perform the service (Likely to validate charging me $165 and not even performing the service in the first place)

At this point I was extremely skeptical, knowing how the service was meant to be performed, and I insisted on watching. The associate allowed me to stand outside the bay and watch the technician perform the fluid change. The technician quietly mentioned to another that he didn't know what he was supposed to do, and there was some conversation. Eventually, the technician removed the drain plug and drained the transmission fluid.

What happened next left me speechless. They took the transmission fluid dispenser under my car and attempted to fill it up from the drain plug! A steady stream of transmission fluid leaked out while he attempted to shoot the fluid up into the transmission from the drain. Not only did he have no idea how much fluid was making it into the transmission, but he also had no idea how much fluid was just leaking straight back out! There is a reason that the fill port is at the top of the transmission!!! When all was said and done, he muttered to the associate that he used around 7 quarts of fluid but that not all of it made it in.

He quickly wrapped things up and sent me on my way.

When I got home again, I felt a pit in my stomach, knowing that the service had been performed incorrectly, but not knowing exactly how detrimental this could be to my transmission. I decided to do some more research and found some information on the intricacies of performing this service.

I won't go into detail, because I'm reaching the end of my allocated review length, but I will say that the service was performed utterly wrong and there is no way of knowing how much fluid is now in my transmission, which could spell disaster. Now I will need to head to a Toyota dealership to have...

A decent place to go to have your oil changed, however it is a bit spendy. They originally wanted almost $65 to change the oil, which would have been four and a half quarts of high mileage oil blend, and a new filter. I could have done this all myself for about 25 bucks. When I questioned the high price, and mentioned to them that I loved Valvoline products, but their prices were getting astronomical, the lead tech actually agreed with me, and when I told him I would probably go somewhere else because it would be cheaper almost anywhere you went, he agreed to lower the price to $45, which was very much appreciated, but should also have been about what the price should have been to begin with. Any place else I'd gone, would have ran about half their price. So, even though this was a convenient place, keep in mind that Valvoline now corporately owns all of their stores, they have bought out their franchisees, and they have raised the prices through the roof. They claim that their technicians are very well trained and given 270 hours of training, but half of them don't have a clue when it comes to what's going on with your car, or where things are located. So I find that claim hard to swallow. They also take your keys away from you, which they claim is for safety, but I have a hunch it's probably because they've had many people driving away, refusing to pay their extremely high prices, and this way you can't leave and they won't give you back your keys until after you have paid. Just a guess on my part, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was more of the reason, as I can't see people doing anything to purposely try to make their employees unsafe while they're sitting in their car waiting to have their oil changed. Also they claim to have screens that allow you to watch everything while it is being done to your car both above and below, but they are so poorly focused, and blurry, that you can hardly tell what's going on anyway, so they might as well not even be there. They claim this is one of their biggest selling points, but it's actually Valvoline stealing this idea from the Oil Can Henry's chain that they bought out, as well as other former Valvoline franchise stores. I have always used Valvoline for all my vehicles, and I've always enjoyed them, and believe that they have an oil product that is excellent, but it is ridiculous to see the prices they are charging, and the absolute nonsense they will tell you about how fabulous everything is, and how you were able to watch everything being done, when you actually are not. They need more honesty, more professionalism, transparency, and definitely need to watch their prices, they really should come down on what they're asking for most of their services. So my advice would be to proceed well informed, but do consider looking for coupons, as well as comparing other similar oil change places. Finally, the invoice they gave me for my car, had the wrong name on it, and an address that I have never lived at before as my home address. I found that very interesting. Good...

Overall this is a great place to get an oil change, only when you have a coupon. I always grab the Full synthetic for my 2021 Ford Explorer XLT. The reason behind my 3 star review is because of the sales tactics at this location which recommendations a lot of preventative services that makes you feel like you should get something when it isn't even unecessary. For Example: "Ford recommends at 30,000 miles you replace your Transmission fluid for, Ford also recommends replacing your rear differential fluid, and Ford recommends replacing your transfer case fluid."

In reality Ford recommends this for very few select vehicles. If you go to the ford website and look at the scheduled maintenance in the owners manual, they only recommend it at 150k miles for transmission and recommend the rear diff and transfer case fluid on a 2015 MKS. Even in the special conditions schedule maintenance section for the ford explorer very few things are recommended.

I can't say for sure but Valvoline puts together a bunch of information and feeds it to you however they please. Having said all this, I don't think these maintenance items are really a bad thing but as someone who is not mechanically inclined enough to understand the nuance of what is needed and not it can be very difficult to judge what is is a required service vs recommended.

It is hard to tell whether Ford has inputted limited service maintenance in their scheduled maintenance manual so your car breaks down sooner or if valvoline is intentionally putting down a bunch of resolutions that are not needed to milk you dry.

If valvoline can provide me proof of the required scheduled maintenance for a 4 cylinder ecoboost ford explorer 2021 that differs from what I see on ford's website I will change this review...