Disaster After Dealer Oil Change

Great post.

Everyone makes mistakes. How you deal with them reveals your character. Let's hope that the OP's dealer makes him whole.

They're not yours. You know who they belong to. Take them back. You'll feel better about yourself.

 

Well to be honest, almost every oil change is done at a maintenance level, by, as has been mentioned, a beginner who is just starting to learn about cars, or how to work on them.

An engine change, or any repairs are done by a Tech level employee, who is typically required to be ASE certified and has a lot more knowledge and experience.

 

It's not about how hard it is it's about time spent on the oil changed and laziness.

 

I agree with this, but that doesn't mean you'll never take it somewhere to get an oil change done.

I've taken it in when it was super cold out and I needed an oil change and it wasn't going to be very warm anytime soon. Also when I bought my truck I got 1 year of free oil changes. That was about $120 worth of free oil changes.

 

outcome yet?

 

We had a tech leave a 24" pry bar UNDER the valve cover of a Cummins ISX. Customer brought the truck back a few months later for a valve adjustment. Same tech did the adjustment, and found his pry bar under there.

 

It is not a matter of my "Manhood" but in the insulting way someone will make a comment pointed towards all people in my profession. Yes, we have some bad apples. But so does everyone else. Perhaps I just take more pride in my profession than others. Your comparison however is totally different. You can't honestly compare having a VEHICLE getting repairs done to it, to having a triple bypass surgery. Two totally different things there. And at no point did I ever suggest that he get the work done at that dealership. I simply replied to a specific post.

 

subd for dealers response.

 

ok, let me rephrase my previous statement. MOST techs need supervision. i know theres always a rotten apple in the bunch, i didnt mean to say all are bad or imply that you are a shitty tech.

you owning up to your mistakes already puts you in the top tier in my opinion. there are many shady things that go on at some dealerships and a situation like OP's, they would just shrug their shoulders

 

sub'd for outcome

 

Couldn't agree more ^^^^, I've just heard way too many stories and they seem to screw everything up. Too much oil, torqued the drain bolt too much, didn't put the oil filter on after removing the old (happen to a friend of mine), didn't change the filter...... idiots.

Op I feel bad for you, I'd be so pissed off.

 

Wow. I think I am just going to leave this alone. Your rephrase really did nothing but continue to insult the profession. Glad to see that you have visited most auto shops and met most of the techs in the world.

I will add this though. Of all the dealerships I have personally worked in, I have never seen one that tried to do anything "shady" or to cheat the customers. We have had an exact case like this, where a lube guy didn't tighten the oil filter. Customer left and the engine shut down. They returned, the mistake was admitted to, and the dealership installed a new engine in the car. The car was 10 years old. We didn't try to sneak anything past them or nothing.

 

Manufactures no longer using numbers that match engine and frame? Did not realize that. That being said...what will the Car facts say....? Replaced engine at certain miles and time. Ok.. what kind of engine? rebuilt from unstated year, new crate? Buyers usaually pass on purchasing a mystery truck. Vast majority of people purchase a vehicle with a clean report. existential loss of value...I.M.H.O

 

not gonna sit and argue either, we are each entitled to our opinions.

 

Toyota still knows what major part went into what car! In the build sheet all of that is noted, engine and trans have barcodes on them for a reason so they can be tracked down in case of a recall...the company is requried to do so.

 

The VIN is where dealerships track potential recalls. Yes, there is a listing of manufacturing code stamps, but that is the extent of it. It does not specify that engine #24rd543 was installed in VIN #XYZ. There is no longer a specific engine code stamp or bar code for each individual engine or transmission. What happens is that when components are built, they are stamped based on production dates. The code at best will indicate that a component was built at a specific plant, during a specific shift, but that is it. That information is not available typically even at dealer level, meaning that if you give the dealer a VIN, it won't be able to tell you what shift or plant built your engine. They stopped doing that many years ago. Somewhere around the 70s-80s.

As for CarFax reports technically, if they replaced an engine, and did not send that information to CarFax, then a CarFax history report would never show that the engine was replaced. I have heard that a lot of the time CarFax info is not submitted when there is a warranty repair. This is why many times you may know a vehicle had a transmission replaced, but a CarFax doesn't show it. CarFax is a 100% voluntary thing. No shop is required to support it, or submit anything. Only thing I have seen for sure is that insurance companies require that a CarFax be submitted when any body work is done, or when a vehicle is Totaled. Everything else is optional. We used to subscribe to CarFax reporting here at my shop, but we stopped doing it when they took away our free access to reports, and started charging us.

 

So every tech should have someone standing over their shoulder who is qualified, and watch their every move? Silliest thing I've ever heard.

That kind of is the case in Canada while you're an apprentice for 4 years before you can become a tech.

 

The OP hasn't been back on, has he? I am kind of following Moose on this one...if this is a troll job, then he did good...but his post history may be telling...

 

I am glad to hear that. I didn't know that there was any requirement there. Here in the US, anyone can just open up a shop and turn wrenches. Now if you want to be ASE certified, THAT is another story.