This is what happens when all the hard working true geniuses of the world are in their parent's basements playing video games.
problem with Honda dealership oil change.
- Thread starter Gawardawg
- Start date
Most, if not all, of the local Honda dealerships have been using bulk oil with a pre-measured delivery system. If that is the case with the OP, the delivery system was probably not set-up or calibrated correctly. This system is intended to minimize the risk for under or overfilling the oil capacity since the total flow volume is pre-programmed, typically for mid-point on the dipstick. While this process ensures consistency, the risk still exists for an oil change technician to select the wrong capacity (e.g., 4.5 qts. vs. 5.0 qts.) for the specific engine in the vehicle. I found this out when my Honda was overfilled by ~8 fl. oz. because the lame-brain oil tech forgot to change the old oil filter! No more "courtesy" dealer oil changes for me after that awful experience.
Had mine changed at Toyota throughout the "free" period. You pay for it up front. Here SE Toyota forces everyone into the platinum plan which is all maintenance for 5 years - right until you actually need something.
During that time:
1) significantly overfilled twice. Had to drain out almost a quart.
2) Once said they changed it, and actually did not change it. Just changed it myself at home.
3) Once they ruined a brand new air filter while checking it. They left a pleat hanging out, which deformed the gasket enough I didn't want to re-use. They said it "was fine". I disagreed.
Glad I don't need to go back to that place anymore.
During that time:
1) significantly overfilled twice. Had to drain out almost a quart.
2) Once said they changed it, and actually did not change it. Just changed it myself at home.
3) Once they ruined a brand new air filter while checking it. They left a pleat hanging out, which deformed the gasket enough I didn't want to re-use. They said it "was fine". I disagreed.
Glad I don't need to go back to that place anymore.
I'm weirdly obsessed with watching TE Videos on TikTok. The guy is a Honda tech and he just makes videos about what he's doing that day but he has funny phrases for everything and he's constantly talking to himself. I think most of the talking to himself is an attempt to make sure he has done everything he needs to do by saying it out loud. I don't know a whole lot about being a mechanic but he seems to be very efficient, very methodical in his work, and he really cares about doing it the right way. Interestingly, he does plenty of regular oil changes as opposed to a minimum-wage oil tech. The problem is for every one of him, how many out there don't care?
Every vehicle I have had "capacity" is the top line.
Above the bottom line is in the acceptable range.
Technically the shop is within the spec. Its not good practice however, but you also have to account for checking it - usually while hot, level, after sitting for some short time - like 10 minutes or so.
Worked at a dealer when I was a kid. I was the shop rat - aka whatever needed done.
I have said this before. Of the 4 mechanics, 2 I would let work on anything I owned, one I would let work on my car if he was not hung over which wasn't very often, and the 4th I wouldn't let wheel my trash to the curb.
Others I know who have also worked in shops tell me this is pretty normal.
Post Covid!
Along these lines, I just had a conversation with my 19-year-old who is in college but whose friends all went into trades. We were talking about what attributes make someone successful regardless of what they choose to do for a living. Higher education doesn't make you smart and it isn't a guarantee to make you successful. Turning wrenches doesn't make you dumb and really smart people will be able to be successful doing just about anything. There are people turning wrenches who in an alternate universe are neurosurgeons and neurosurgeons who in an alternate universe are living in their parent's basement. There are a lot of factors that go into determining where we end up in life but one universal truth I've found is that smart people see "the bigger picture". Smart people see the reasons to try and do everything they do as well as they can, regardless of what they're doing, whether it's studying for exams in college or doing an oil change on someone's very expensive vehicle that they rely on to go to work and feed their family. Unfortunately, over time there seem to be fewer smart people in the world who see the big picture and live their lives compelled to try and do everything to the best of their abilities, and more people smoking pot in their parent's basement complaining that life isn't going as they hoped.
My point was regardless of what you choose to do in life, those who try and do the best job they can have a much higher chance of being successful than those who do not.
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My father was much smarter than me. He lived a very difficult life and got no real breaks, including being abandoned as a child and grew up without electricity or running water. He didn't let that stop him.
He taught me that it didn't much matter the profession - but if you were really good at it you would most likely make good money doing it, or find a way to make money doing it. I think he was right. Problem of course is only a few can be the best - its a matter of finding what that is?
My father was also smarter than me. He had my sister at 16 and still worked his way through high school and college with straight A's as a political science major and math minor while working nights 6 days per week. Unfortunately, he had a terrible drinking problem by his mid-20s and worked in a factory until he died at 48 from cancer as a consequence of drinking/smoking.
With respect to the bold sentence above, the second part of my conversation with the 19-year-old was kids his age suck so much at doing anything well that he should have very little trouble outperforming most of his peers with even moderate effort.
@Gawardawg
Always check your vehicles after a change.
Still remember a decade back, my wife and daughter took my daughter's car to Sears for an oil change. I mean, Sears, what can go wrong. Right?
As always cause I trust no one. I checked the car when I got home from work. Same old oil and same oil filter on the car. Young oil change kid who took the car in at Sears put the car on a lift and went out back to have a smoke.
All this was confirmed when I went back to Sears with the car and the manager brought the techs over to the car to check it. They agreed, not changed and then said they saw the kid put it on the lift and also saw him smoking out back at the time.
Edit - I also once a while back had an oil change done in my at the time 2008 Durango. I checked the oil at home and it was barely on the dipstick if at all. I assumed and was correct. They put 5 quarts in a 6 quart truck
Always check your vehicles after a change.
Still remember a decade back, my wife and daughter took my daughter's car to Sears for an oil change. I mean, Sears, what can go wrong. Right?
As always cause I trust no one. I checked the car when I got home from work. Same old oil and same oil filter on the car. Young oil change kid who took the car in at Sears put the car on a lift and went out back to have a smoke.
All this was confirmed when I went back to Sears with the car and the manager brought the techs over to the car to check it. They agreed, not changed and then said they saw the kid put it on the lift and also saw him smoking out back at the time.
Edit - I also once a while back had an oil change done in my at the time 2008 Durango. I checked the oil at home and it was barely on the dipstick if at all. I assumed and was correct. They put 5 quarts in a 6 quart truck
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Like you, my early automotive career was spent in a dealership (5 years). 1976-1981 I started on the lube rack while going to automotive trade school. After a year advanced to regular “line tech”. The guy that I worked with on the lube rack worked “just enough to buy dope”. There were so many others that came and went and truly showed up doped, beat up, eaten up with crabs, running from the law, and general dregs of society. Hopefully some of that has changed but it sounds like it’s still the same. Felons from a halfway house were really “special”. Had one ask if he could “crash” at my apartment until he “got on his feet”. NOPE! The Sheriffs Office came by and picked him up one afternoon. It was a real eye opening time of my young life. No dealership oil changes for me…free or otherwise.
There are so many maintenance items that the average person would have absolutely no idea if they were or weren't completed. Did they change the transmission fluid on my 2022 Kia Soul last week? I have to take their word for it because I'm not disassembling everything just to check.
The same thing had happened to me last year. I took advantage of an oil change special with coupon from their Honda service website.
I actually checked the oil level at the Honda dealership after the oil change. Level was slightly above the low line, in between low and high.
I asked the service writer what happened. He said it's ok, as the owners manual says if it's in between the low and high line it's ok.
I still complained, and got the "under age 21 year old" somewhat unskilled guy who did the "Express" oil change in the separate 2 lanes next to the dealer's service area to add the oil to make it full.
I had built a small friendship over the last few years with that service writer, and he said he understood my concern. He mentioned that they do it on purpose so the dealership has to pay for less oil.
The other thing he mentioned is that the brand of oil they were using was Gulf bulk oil (I know Gulf from their gas stations).
He said they buy whichever bulk oil drums are cheapest at any given moment, so next month could be from some other company.
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Triple_Se7en
$50 Site Donor 2024
Dealers don't make their usual $percentage doing free oil changes-only.
Also, sounds like you failed to tell the wife to remain on the dealer grounds and shut-off the engine for 15 minutes. That's what my two daughters do. Then they raise the hood and check the oil before leaving the oil change area of the dealership.
I told the kids early in their driving career. Bring reading material to the Oil change Shop. Bring a paper towel too. I had one free oil change at both the Kia and Hyundai dealerships. I waited until I needed a tire rotation and threw the dealership a bone for doing the free oil change and I paying $19.95 for the tire rotation at 7.5k.
Everything came out perfect both times. They had no idea I changed the oil-only at 3.5k prior.
Also, sounds like you failed to tell the wife to remain on the dealer grounds and shut-off the engine for 15 minutes. That's what my two daughters do. Then they raise the hood and check the oil before leaving the oil change area of the dealership.
I told the kids early in their driving career. Bring reading material to the Oil change Shop. Bring a paper towel too. I had one free oil change at both the Kia and Hyundai dealerships. I waited until I needed a tire rotation and threw the dealership a bone for doing the free oil change and I paying $19.95 for the tire rotation at 7.5k.
Everything came out perfect both times. They had no idea I changed the oil-only at 3.5k prior.
It's no wonder stuff like this happens all the time. I've watched dealerships fill vehicles with oil - they set the dispenser to x number of quarts and assume it's good after without verifying on the dipstick. It's all about getting the vehicle out as quickly as possible.
I've gotten into the habit of checking things when I get a vehicle back from service. Once I found the oil cap left off. It was on the air cleaner box (I think - I know it was under the hood and nowhere near the filler opening) and I'm amazed that I didn't lose it somewhere because I drove the truck for several days before I opened the hood to check something else. I also drove out of the service area with the intake plumbing completely disconnected. Fortunately the noise I was hearing made turn right around and go back to the service department.
As Reagan said, "trust, but verify."
As Reagan said, "trust, but verify."
