Hyundai Dealership Rant

Originally Posted by wdn
This is why during the warranty period you should have all maintenance done at the dealership. Mistakes happen everywhere. If you used the dealership only, you can tell them "This dealership is the only place that has ever laid a wrench on this car since I bought the car at this dealership". That is a strong hand for you. Then there is no finger pointing by the dealership, some independent mechanic, or anyone else.


Damage due to mistakes is independent of warranty work. I do all the maintenance myself. Don't have time to go back and forth to the dealer or anywhere else.
 
Originally Posted by hominid7
I guess using a torque wrench is not as common as i would have thought.


I dont think many dealerships or repair shops use torque wrenches (for anything)! When I quit using the Honda dealer's $12.95 oil change special, I had a [censored] of a time removing the drain bolt. It was apparently installed with an impact wrench at far greater than 29 lb. ft.

Several indie mechanics have also said they are able to "judge the torque better than a torque wrench." I don't doubt they are fairly close, but seriously? On the other hand, I am not confident in my ability to judge torque and use a torque wrench whenever a spec is available and the wrench fits in the space.
 
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I have never seen a professional technician use a torque wrench on an oil pan drain bolt. In my life. I had been a dealership tech for my whole life. Just recently left the dealership to work on school buses for a municipal school system. And guess what? We don't use torque wrenches on bus drain plugs either. The only reason a torque wrench should be used by someone changing oil is if your oil change kids are a bunch of greenhorns, then the dealership is simply performing a stop-loss tactic. It's more to get the concept of tightening the drain plug in the dumb tech school dropout's heads and create muscle memory habits to prevent drain plugs from falling out 10 miles down the road. Just because a tech doesn't bust out his (my) $600 Snap-On torque wrench to change your oil doesn't make him a villain. I have never, in my life, ever left a drain plug loose, nor have I torqued one with a torque wrench. I will however use the fancy shmancy Snap-On Techangle wrench to build a short block, long block, torque a head after a head gasket replacement, etc. but I will not trash my expensive tools that I pay for out of pocket and pay out of pocket to have calibrated every year to make you feel warm and fuzzy about your oil change.

On the other hand, it isn't right that the dealerships rest the fate of $5,000-$10,000 engines in the hands of stupid kids "learning" how to work on cars. It's this way because the labor is cheap and oil changes are simply a way to get you in the door. Dealerships make pennies, if anything on them. My suggestion is to change it yourself and keep records. If this is not possible, make it known you don't trust anybody and the work will be double checked. Even if it's a lie. For this and so many more reasons I'm glad to be out of the dealership "puppy mill". I work with adults now.


I don't mean for this all to sound harsh, but it's all truthful. Dealerships are a racquet.
 
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Originally Posted by spasm3


The hyundai al washers seem to be hard and this leads to overtightening.



You get a feel for them. After they make contact, about another 1/8 turn they'll do a little "squeak" when the washer crushes. It's a crush washer, not a smash washer. All it has to do is conform to the imperfect surface of the oil pan and drain plug shoulder. They are made from soft aluminum alloy. There are many different alloys of aluminum, and these are very soft and malleable. With that known, they should also be replaced every single time the drain plug is loosened. I've seen them so thin you can tear them off like paper.
 
I am not a fan of dealerships. Sure, their must be good ones out there, but the ones I have been to don't take care of my car like I do...which is my standard. I have had wheels scratched, headlights damaged, paint damaged, services NOT performed that I told them to perform, etc. Their attitude was also flippant when some of these issues were brought up.
 
Changing the oil in a deep fat fryer one day, changing the oil on a Hyundai the next. Technician is probably too much credit for the lowest person on the food chain at the dealership. Heres a title, assistant to the assistant detail manager/sanitation executive/lube master.
 
While dealership experiences vary greatly, even within a brand, my worst experiences have been with Hyundai. I've now owned two of them and both cars and three dealerships have been service nightmares. I'd rather pay someone else more to do the same work.
 
My BMW and Mazda dealers have provided excellent service, and for usually little if any more additional expense over a quality indie shop- although I usually do change the oil in the Clubman, Club Sport, and Wrangler myself.
 
My experience-Honda Turbo Jetskis-there was a recall on the fuel tanks (long story short, a person was badly burned years b4 Honda owned up to the problem). I have NEVER had or heard of a good stealership experience, and I asked if I could change the tank myself but they said no. (I own 2 of them). So I took them in and a couple of weeks later they said they were ready. When I got there it was raining, and I didn't spend the time I would've liked to as they were outside. They offered no paperwork that the work had been done, just said it was "in the records". i looked them over quickly and left. A few weeks later I went to get the ready for an outing, and was so #$&^ mad at what I saw....Missing bolts, loose bolts on the body panels, etc as if a ( forgetful) 9 year old did the work. And if you take stuff there and they charge $75-150 an hour for "professional" workmanship.
NEVER, EVER get work done at the Dealer unless it is warranty, and then check it out.
 
I have relatives that work in auto dealerships. They won't let the oil change guys change their oil. They have developed relationships with experienced mechanics who change their oil. You should hear some of their tales concerning what the oil change guys have done. They are generally the least experienced technicians. There is not enough pay for the good mechanics to do the oil changes.

I always do my own. AND, I have made mistakes. Like the time I forgot to put the drain plug in and wasted 3 qts of Amsoil before I saw the oil slowly draining down the driveway. Or the time I changed the filter and forgot to drain the oil and ended up with quite an
overfill. This was with 5 qts of synthetic. Yeah, I've made a few mistakes in 45 years.

Let the record show, I have done 3 oil changes in one afternoon. That is how I lose my train of thought. Well, I don't think there ever was a train. More like a pinball machine....
 
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In the line of work I'm in now, there is a serious screening process. Not only are we mechanics, we also are substitute school bus drivers. So we all must have a Class B CDL with School Bus endorsements, and thorough background checks. And years of experience to even be considered for the position. I am one of 5 techs in the shop, and right in the middle age-wise. I replaced a gentleman that retired after two decades of service. It's been said that this place is where mechanics go to die, in a good way. I'm glad I'm there and no longer work for the Circus Department. I wouldn't let most of the kids at the dealership run my car through the free carwash, let alone spin steel on it. Half my day was fixing their screwups.
 
Originally Posted by rekit
My experience-Honda Turbo Jetskis-there was a recall on the fuel tanks (long story short, a person was badly burned years b4 Honda owned up to the problem). I have NEVER had or heard of a good stealership experience, and I asked if I could change the tank myself but they said no. (I own 2 of them). So I took them in and a couple of weeks later they said they were ready. When I got there it was raining, and I didn't spend the time I would've liked to as they were outside. They offered no paperwork that the work had been done, just said it was "in the records". i looked them over quickly and left. A few weeks later I went to get the ready for an outing, and was so #$&^ mad at what I saw....Missing bolts, loose bolts on the body panels, etc as if a ( forgetful) 9 year old did the work. And if you take stuff there and they charge $75-150 an hour for "professional" workmanship.
NEVER, EVER get work done at the Dealer unless it is warranty, and then check it out.



You don't hear about good experiences because no one talks about good experiences. The dealership mess ups must be less than %5.
 
My first ever Japanese branded vehicle (2000 Honda Accord) was blessed with the beginning of the 4/5 speed automatic transmission debacle. At 1200 miles it was diagnosed as needing a replacement transmission. Horrible beginning but whatever.

They replaced the transmission, life went on. Until about 30K miles when I started getting random airbag light turning on, etc. Brought it in, diagnosed with another bad transmission. Umm, OK...wait for new trans again. Get car back and low and behold, airbag light still flickers. Investigate it myself, and the positive battery cable was loose (needed to be disconnecte during trans replacement...hmm). Tighten it, no more abs light flicker.

Month later go to check fluid levels and I could swear I had done the trans fluid check procedure incorrectly because it was showing about 1/4" higher than the high spot on dipstick. Did it 3 times, then said [censored] and took it to dealer (still under warranty)

They check it and sure enough they overfilled it (by 1.5 quarts, no less!). They apologized and promised I would never have an issue with an already delicate transmission being overfilled by that much.

Another quick story - same dealer, sister in law bought car there and always went for oil changes. One day she comes home from oil change and there is a trail of oil behind where she drove. They used the wrong filter, it dumped most of the oil while she was driving home.

Point being....a stripped oil pan plug is not the end of the world, especially if they owned up to and fixed it.
 
Drain plug torque is 33 ft.lbs. Twenty eighth oil change coming up next month. Torque drain plug to 33 ft.lbs. using new aluminum gasket. Never a problem. It isn't rocket science.
 
To dave 1251: It's 100% when it happens to you, lol
 
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I can beat that with ease, at a scheduled oil change, i paid extra on the lease for free, they rotated my tires, i drove around lot after to look at cars, drivers rear wheel fell off oops
 
dave1251 said:
Originally Posted by rekit
My experience-Honda Turbo Jetskis-there was a recall on the fuel tanks (long story short, a person was badly burned years b4 Honda owned up to the problem). I have NEVER had or heard of a good stealership experience, and I asked if I could change the tank myself but they said no. (I own 2 of them). So I took them in and a couple of weeks later they said they were ready. When I got there it was raining, and I didn't spend the time I would've liked to as they were outside. They offered no paperwork that the work had been done, just said it was "in the records". i looked them over quickly and left. A few weeks later I went to get the ready for an outing, and was so #$&^ mad at what I saw....Missing bolts, loose bolts on the body panels, etc as if a ( forgetful) 9 year old did the work. And if you take stuff there and they charge $75-150 an hour for "professional" workmanship.
NEVER, EVER get work done at the Dealer unless it is warranty, and then check it out.



You don't hear about good experiences because no one talks about good experiences. The dealership mess ups must be less than %5.
Click to expand...

You don't understand...it's fashionable to come on BITOG and rehash these topics over and over again. Let's wait for the next "thick vs. thin" thread........ I have had dozens upon dozens of oil changes with dealers literally all across the country and not a single issue...NOT ONE. But I don't go on BITOG (or anywhere else) and post about them.
 
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