Stupid Dealership Oil Change Monkeys

MedicPilot · April 15, 2012

Ask your local Chevrolet dealer about changing oil in the new ZO6, and ZR-1 engines. It is a dry sump engine. You have to drain it in more than one location. Most lube techs werent trained in it, and the dealerships were buying very high dollar engines. Lube techs need to be trained before touching ANY vehicle. Doesn't matter is it is a new Chevrolet Aveo, or a ZR-1. There is still a certain amount of skill/common sense required. Some just dont have it, so they bounce from job to job every 3 months and damage many vehicles. The Service manager should screen all new hires before allowing them to even change oil.

truckofwinandawesome · April 29, 2012

Ask your local Chevrolet dealer about changing oil in the new ZO6, and ZR-1 engines. It is a dry sump engine. You have to drain it in more than one location. Most lube techs werent trained in it, and the dealerships were buying very high dollar engines. Lube techs need to be trained before touching ANY vehicle. Doesn't matter is it is a new Chevrolet Aveo, or a ZR-1. There is still a certain amount of skill/common sense required. Some just dont have it, so they bounce from job to job every 3 months and damage many vehicles. The Service manager should screen all new hires before allowing them to even change oil.

I can't wait to do my first oil change in the Aveo, the Filter is ON TOP in the Engine Bay!

Doug_Scott · April 29, 2012

Well. guess i should add mine aswell. I work at a Peterbilt dealership. I am an apprentice. Here, it is required to have grade 10 education to be an apprentice. I have my grade 12 however, because I intend to take my mechanical engineering afterwards.

On MOST filters, it is recommended that you tighten the filter until the o-ring TOUCHES the sealing surface, then an additional 3/4 turn. I personally go hand tight. And on my pickups, I go one hand tight. If you cant remove a filter by hand, its been put on too tight, or left on too long. On my cummins (the last truck i owned) I changed the oil 8 times in the year i owned it. Never bought a filter wrench. Never had an oil leak.

On highway trucks, I see them overtorqued almost every day. I've also seen one fall off. Just one.

Personally, i've done about 100 oil changes this year. LOTS of big truck drivers demand perfection. So naturally, Every truck gets treated like a show truck. Every dealership should treat all vehicles with the same respect.

One other thing I should mention is I just did my second oil change on my '11, and I used dexos approved Mobile 1 full synthetic, It was 33 bucks for oil and 6 for filter. The dealership charges $80. And by doing it myself I get a chance to look the truck over. WIN WIN.

There has been a couple mentions of seeing an engine with the oil filter having come off due to not tightening correctly. Personally, I cannot see how that is even possible. Once the filter loses contact with the filter boss on the block, the oil would be pumped out in a matter of seconds. No way it could actually continue to spin the filter the additional 3 or 4 full turns required to have the filter run out of thread and fall off. I think you would be hard pressed to remove the filter by hand before the engine running at hwy speed would pump all the oil out. Add to that the engine oil pressure warning light would turn on as soon as the filter stopped touching the block, for the driver to see something is wrong and shut the engine off.

MikeNH · April 29, 2012

If you're at speed and have a massive oil leak like a filter losening up, you won't have time to stop the engine most likely. The light only comes on below like 5 PSI or something absurdly low. The only saving grace is the LS engines also have an oil level sensor, that might save you.

AaronIROCZ · April 29, 2012

I used to work at a Cadillac dealership back in the day and the Northstar engines were notorious for loose filters so we were told to tighten them up tighter than normal or we would be charged for the repairs. That never happened while I worked there so I couldn't tell you if they were serious or bluffing. The guy working next to me was struggling to remove a filter one day then, "snap" the filter mount broke off, must have been a common problem since we had several in stock. I have seen people use a 3/8 impact wrench to tighten filters too.

wavery · May 5, 2012

There has been a couple mentions of seeing an engine with the oil filter having come off due to not tightening correctly. Personally, I cannot see how that is even possible.

When the oil starts coming out it does so at over 40psi. That's enough force to spin the filter right off.

I saw in right on the rack one time. The tech spun the filter on and forgt to tighten it. Filled the engine with oil.... started the engine and it blew the filter right off..... what a mess.

BTW..... sometimes mistakes just happen. I was in the business for a lot of years and there isn't much that I haven't seen.

tanked_darren · September 28, 2012

We got big diesel GM chassis trucks at work with the fuel filter mounted on top near the engine, I hate that. I can't change it without spilling diesel on the engine!

slimjim2525 · September 28, 2012

Changed the oil for the first time in my Silverado. I get to the oil filter and it's like they torqued it on there using lug nut specs...

It's probably been at least 15 years since I had to pound a screwdriver through an oil filter to break it loose.

Yeah the dealership shops suck.

Especially for what they want to charge you, you think they'd be a little more professional.

Whoa, I have thow my 2 cents in here. Don't bash every dealer because of 1 bad place. I work at a dealer, been a tech for 8+ years. I would bring my truck to us if I didn't work there. There are some good ones out there! If you want to bash someone, bash the system. They are the ones the make that automotive world work on commission. They drive these techs to try work faster and faster, inherently creating the conditions for somthing to get overlooked. Bash GM for cutting warranty times again and again. They are the corperate bastards that keep charging more and more for new trucks. Where is all this money going? In their pockets, not the guy bustin his ass in a 100 degree shop in the middle of July, trying to fix a truck that some dumbf*** engineer built. Everyone has to start somewhere, and I understand, there are some shithole dealers out there. Don't bash them all cause of 1 bad experience, find a new dealer you can trust.

I agree with you 100%. But I still do all the maintenance and repairs I can do myself, and only rely on the dealer or any shop for the things I can't do, which is very minimal. Had an oil change place catch my truck on fire in 1993, and swore right there I will never let anyone work on my vehicles except me.

beetle · September 28, 2012

I never have a problem with oil changes because I do my own. It's an easy job, I also fill the new oil filter with oil before installing it. Will a shop do that?

Nitro375 · October 2, 2012

When I had my second Tacoma I ran into the same thing. There I was with a 1/2 drive breaker bar cussing while trying to get the drain plug loose. Grrrrr......

atsbob · February 20, 2016

I was having the oil changed on my 2010 3 years ago at my GM dealer in South Edmonton and they did the oil change and told me to start it up, so I did and the oil pressure did not come up so I turned the truck off and the guy yelled "why did you turn it off" I replied no oil pressure!!! They forgot to put the oil pan plug back in before adding oil...., Note to self! do my own oil changes!!

Eddie 70 · February 22, 2016

I just changed the oil in the my new to me 2014 truck. The last person to touch the truck was the dealer. The filter was bottomed out and so much fun to get off. The oil drain plug was all I could do to get it loose with a 3/8" ratchet. Then, I still had to use the ratchet to continue to loosen the drain plug. The first 1/4 of an inch or so could not be turned by hand. After that, it came out easily.

The truck had new tires on it. About 2 out of the 6 lugs were tightened as they should have been.

The only thing I can figure is just lazy damn techs. Needless to say, the truck will not go back no matter how many coupons they send to the house.

Jernik · February 22, 2016

To the techs, I understand it is no fun when you do your best every day and perform to a high standard, yet still get lumped in with those not as professional as you are. That said, for a customer it can be such a crap shoot... I would say my dealership experiences have been about 65-35. 65% of the dealers I have been to did fine work. Here's the breakdown over the last 20 years (we have moved around a bit with our jobs)...

GM dealer in KS - couldn't figure out how to install and get to function properly a brand new windshield wiper motor and assembly on my old Trans Am. So they got one from a junkyard. It didn't work much better than the one I already had (delay was not working correctly). I took it to them after I had already bought a junkyard piece and it worked the same as my old one. Figured they could get it right. Wrong. This dealer did do some other work for me and did well with those. Just this one they couldn't get right.

Another GM dealer in KS - body work on hail damage, did excellent work.

GM dealer in Arkansas - windshield leak. Did great work. This was a repair under warranty.

GM dealer in Michigan - replaced faulty power window motor - broke clips on door panel and tried using duct tape to hold it in place. Saw tape hanging out bottom of door when we picked it up and made them replace the broken clips. This was a repair under warranty.

GM dealer in Indiana - had to remove dash panels to replace malfunctioning radio and investigate HVAC issue. Broke the clips, and knee panel fell into my lap as I drove out of the parking lot. Made them replace those clips too. This was a repair under warranty.

Dodge dealer in Indiana - excellent. Trusted these guys and they always did great work. I was rewarded with that dealership being shut down, primarily because it was in a smaller town and didn't do enough business.

Dodge dealer in Indiana - another storm damage repair (tornado hit work, basically blasted it with small parking lot gravel). Went to pick up car. Bill said all glass replaced, repainted due to debris chipping paint. Paint still had stone chips every where. Only two windows replaced, and on those, the door panels were not properly aligned (HUGE gaps you could see from outside the window). Other windows still had visible stone chips all over them. IIRC, a couple people got fired over that one.

Honda dealer in IN - body work after tornado dropped tree on it. Also after guy ran stop sign and hit me. Both times did excellent work, although the first one I had to make them replace the rear seat fabric because welder didn't put down a protective pad when welding new roof panel on.

Dodge dealer in TX - good, but we no longer have any Dodges.

Toyota dealer in TX - good so far, but only had them do 1 oil change (freebie). I did the next one myself just because I wanted to.

Infiniti dealer in TX - Techs do good work, but I tire of their service consultants constantly trying to pressure my wife with upsells. At least she calls me before approving anything. After first oil change at 3,750 miles (per the schedule), received post card in mail from Infiniti saying the last service showed the tires were worn and needed to be replaced. Pretty much set the tone for every service after that. Although the last time she went they were really good and didn't try upselling any BS. Maybe there's hope for them? The worst part is that now, if there actually IS a problem, I won't believe them.

GM dealer in TX - installed some aftermarket accessories (splash guards, bed liner, bed cover). Excellent work. First oil change coming up... we'll see.

In comparison, I can't recall an independent shop that I have ever been dissatisfied with. And this is the problem. The dealerships (understandably) charge much more, generally, than the independent shops. So the customers expect more, definitely better than a 65% success rate. I can understand mistakes, nobody is perfect. But having bad experiences in 4 out of 11 dealers? NOT good enough, IMO.

pm26 · February 22, 2016

One of the best engine oil filter designs is on older Mercedes inline 5 cylinder diesel engines. The filter itself is a large cartridge filter that fits into a cast aluminum canister. The oil filter housing canister has an aluminum lid with an O ring and is held in place with two hex bolts. It is difficult to screw up replacing this filter, unless someone is dumb enough to strip out the threads for the lid bolts by over tightening them. There is no reason to overtightenthe bolts however, as the sealing O-ring on the canister lid provides the seal and the bolts need to be only snug. You do not spill any oil after removing the oil filter, as the canister is mounted upright in the back of the engine. The oil filter cartridge has a nice little handle that you hold it by to remove and place a new one in to the canister.

wehowardjr · February 25, 2016

All dealers are definitely not the same.

I stopped at the dealer I bought my truck from to get the StabiliTrak and ABS codes pulled to see what the problem was. The adviser refused to hook up the scanner and told me there was nothing he could do. I was like WHAT? After going round and round with him I finally calmed down enough to make an appointment with another adviser to get my oil changed the next morning. Took them nearly 2 hours to change it. I could see if they rotated the tires and gave it a bath but all they did was oil. I called GM to complain and she apologized for the dealership telling me that is not the way to treat customers. She contacted the service manager and he apologized. His was of apologizing was offering me a free oil change. I told the GM rep to tell him to stick it up his ***. She asked me if I'd like to go to another dealer and I said yes. She gave me a few choices and I picked one a few miles down the road. I showed up at my scheduled time with the StabiliTrak and ABS lights on and was like OMG! They opened the door for me. Took a small whisk broom and swept the front mats, floor and seats. Took pictures of the truck in case of accidental damage. The service adviser came out with a code reader and pulled the codes. They would need to keep my truck for a few days, super busy, and had a rental waiting for me. I was like WOW! Now this is how a person should be treated. No wonder they were so busy, they treat customers like Kings and Queens. The adviser said she'd be happy to steal me away from the other dealer, and they did.