Jiffy Lube (Sunset Blvd)

The Jiffy Lube on Sunset Boulevard covers the west side of the city with the same no-appointment model: oil and filter service, fluid checks and the routine items that go with them. What actually goes into the engine is worth a moment more thought than the queue length, because the difference between oil types is larger in this climate than in most.

Worth knowing

Engine oil has to be thin enough to pump instantly on a cold start and thick enough to hold a film between metal surfaces when the sump is hot — which is what the two figures in a grade like 5W-30 describe: cold-flow behavior first, high-temperature viscosity second. Conventional oil is refined from crude and its molecules vary in size and shape. The smaller ones evaporate off, the weaker ones shear apart under load and oxidize under sustained heat, and the oil thickens, darkens and stops doing its job. Synthetic oil is built to a uniform molecular structure and holds its grade far longer at temperature. Where sump temperatures sit near the top of the design range for months at a stretch, that is the entire argument. What it does not license is guessing at the grade: the number the engine needs is the number in the manual, and a heavier oil is not a hot-weather upgrade — it is a hydraulic system running the wrong fluid.

See also Lake Powell and Page and auto dealers. The directory lists all Oil Change & Quick Lube.

Nearby: Precision Auto Glass, China Palace Chindo, Anasazi Steakhouse & Gallery.