When those "strip-joints" first appeared in the mid-1970s , the grease monkeys strippedthe drain plug holes out all the time. After about ten years, the grease monkeyslearned that they do not need to overtighten the drain plugs to prevent an oil leak.

Now the grease monkeysovertighten the oil filters. They do that for two reasons: 1.) They do not want the customer changing his own oil. They overtighten the filter so only they can get it off with special tools.2.) They overtighten the filters to cover their a$$ in case of aleak and engine damage occurs.

Many Wal-Mart stores and some oil change establishmentswill not change your oil if there is any sign of anoilleak under the car.That is because theyfearif you ruin or severely damage yourengineby running it out of oil, you may blame them for it in a law suit.

In the same vein: Most transmission repair shops are reluctantto flush and replace the transmission fluidand transmission filter for the same reasons. A friend of mine owns a smallautomatic transission repair shop and he will not flush or change anyone transission fluid. When someone asks for that service, he merely tells them: "The transmission fluid never needs to be changed and the filter will last for as long as you own the car."

He thinks a person wanting their transmission fluid flushedor the transmission pan dropped and the fluid replaced couldbe running a scam in order to get a badtransmission rebuilt free of charge. The scammerswould say: "You sabotaged my transmission because it broke right after youchanged the fluid."Lawyers have ruined the automotive repair business and made it so people cannot afford to have ther car worked on by repair shops. LOL