problem with Honda dealership oil change.

[SC Maintenance]

My first house in CT was built in 1953 and had floors like concrete - no bounce, no boominess, rock hard. In my current house built in 1987, if I go to the center of a room and jump up and down the stuff on the dresser shakes. Everything in the current house is to code but you can feel the difference.

your 1953 house likely had rough cut floor joists that were 4 inches wide, vs 1.5 inches today.

 

[bdcardinal]

Why do you think "bulk oil" is some no-name oil, with no API rating, and non-compliant ? The bulk oil could be from Valvoline, Castrol, Mobil, and so on. The price per quart of bulk oil over 250-gallon totes is probably huge.

Does your dealership use non-branded, non-API rated bulk oil ?

I have 5 bulk tanks. 2 120 gallon tanks have Motorcraft 0W20 full synthetic. 1 120 gallon tank has Motorcraft 10W30 diesel. 1 240 gallon tank has Motorcraft 5W30 blend. 1 360 gallon tank has Motorcraft 5W20 blend. I was literally just writing the purchase orders for the delivery we received a couple days ago.

 

[bdcardinal]

You've also got techs putting in 5W-30 when it's supposed to be 5W-20 and the customer screams bloody murder, threatens to sue them, and demands that they dump it out and "fix it".

I bill out what is supposed to be in there. What gets printed on the sticker and actually put in there is beyond my control. Ours are good, but there have been not so fantastic apples before.

 

[PWMDMD]

your 1953 house likely had rough cut floor joists that were 4 inches wide, vs 1.5 inches today.

2x12 and really heavy and dense. The joists in the current house almost sound hollow when you knock on them.

 

[Mechanician]

Why do you think "bulk oil" is some no-name oil, with no API rating, and non-compliant ? The bulk oil could be from Valvoline, Castrol, Mobil, and so on. The price per quart of bulk oil over 250-gallon totes is probably huge.

Does your dealership use non-branded, non-API rated bulk oil ?

The last 2 dealers I worked for (35 years between the two) one used Castrol branded bulk in Castrol labeled trucks, the other used a no name bulk distributor.
I can remember seeing the district factory rep taking oil samples, several times at both dealers.
Never heard any results through the grapevine, I assume no news was good news.
The only time we used oil in containers was when specified in bulletins.
All dealers have to meet "Brand Standards" on several contractual items.
Everything from training, testing, special tools, survey results etc......
Any blanket descriptions of dealers, or the techs, are just wrong.
Just like any trade there are all different types of people, with different talents, and work ethics doing the job.

 

[GSCJR]

We're now at 5 pages over half a pint of oil, good grief; nobody's perfect. I would hate to see a REAL problem.

 

[LowMilesLesabre]

It's very easy to get low oil level, just change oil and filter, bring it up to top level mark, check level again, all good - out the door....
But.... when you start engine first time after oil change some oil fills oil filter and thus oil level does go down.
I always get oil level between the marks first, start engine for a minute, engine off, wait a few mins, check level and top up to just below top mark. Unless it's a car with electronic oil level where you have to wait up to 30 mins to get oil level reading.... LOL

I always do the same thing to make sure that I account for the filter capacity when refilling.

 

[michaelluscher]

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?

Imma post a TikTok for ya there bud
His satirical torque wrenching and washer fluid toss is sometimes the high point of my day
He's one of the few Honda/Acura techs I would actually trust, their service department by me is God awful

 

[edyvw]

While that is true, it depends on how automated things are. Even when I was back in the dealer -there were two barrels of different spec's/ viscosities of whatever GM was using around that time - and sometimes the wrong one went in. And sometimes the tech forgot to adjust the volume setting, and it got whatever the last guy set it at. And 100% of the time they didn't much care.

True. But, original post was arguing that it is intentional.

 

[JHZR2]

Even then, one thing I've learned watching TE Videos guy is he slings copious brake cleaner at anything even remotely wet when he works and he leaves no trace that he did anything afterward.

I’ve heard of that and seen it too. While I don’t want to see grimy, oily stuff, brake parts cleaner isn’t the best for anything either.

I’d rather wipe with a towel and leave any minor nondripping oily film as a preservative…

 

[BrainThicknessVariation]

Seating here drinking my coffee. Wife had 2023 HRV oil change a week ago . Dealership. Free. I actually don’t have hardly any time till I retire. 12 hour days 6-7 days a week. I finally got around to checking behind them last night. They short changed the oil level. It’s just a tick above lower hash mark. It’s a 25 mile drive back to dealership through some thick ass traffic. So I’ll just get me a quart of Mobile 1 0w20 from Wal Mart and be done with it. I did look under the vehicle for a leak on the floor. It was dry. Y’all have a great post hurricane weekend. It’s wet here. Wardawg

My favorite is getting tires put on and they blatantly forget to set the pressure to match the door card.

 

[GSCJR]

I don't either, I overfill them to compensate for temperature variation; unless you want to leave it overnight.

 

[Hall]

I’d rather wipe with a towel and leave any minor nondripping oily film as a preservative…

On your own car, sure. On a customer's car, I'm sure too often the owner sees it and thinks it's leaking. Takes it back and the shop spends "free" time checking it.

 

[andrew_j]

Never had an issue with oil change done at independent mechanic or dealer. That being said I have always had to pay at least $45 and not $100-$140 for Tiguan.

 

[PontiacHO]

The last 2 dealers I worked for (35 years between the two) one used Castrol branded bulk in Castrol labeled trucks, the other used a no name bulk distributor.
I can remember seeing the district factory rep taking oil samples, several times at both dealers.
Never heard any results through the grapevine, I assume no news was good news.
The only time we used oil in containers was when specified in bulletins.
All dealers have to meet "Brand Standards" on several contractual items.
Everything from training, testing, special tools, survey results etc......
Any blanket descriptions of dealers, or the techs, are just wrong.
Just like any trade there are all different types of people, with different talents, and work ethics doing the job.

I recall our bulk deliveries (dealership) were made in an oil company’s tanker that also was used for fuel oil, kerosene, varsal, hydraulic oil, and machine cutting oil. Our dealership oil was always a very different color and smell. Wonder why???

 

[Mechanician]

I recall our bulk deliveries (dealership) were made in an oil company’s tanker that also was used for fuel oil, kerosene, varsal, hydraulic oil, and machine cutting oil. Our dealership oil was always a very different color and smell. Wonder why???

According to the NADA there were 16,835 franchised light vehicle dealers in the US last year, that wrote 264 million repair orders.
There are a lot of good, bad, and ugly practices going on across the country.
I think this fits in the ugly category

 

[ARCOgraphite]

We're now at 5 pages over half a pint of oil, good grief; nobody's perfect. I would hate to see a REAL problem.

Subaru grease monkeys (non techs) usually install one liter over and I have to drain it. One time they did not drain the old oil and it had over eight quarts - smelled it and felt it from the passenger seat to the BIL's house. I drained a few quarts at the end of the party before the drive home. Years ago old crazy GF had the oil changed in her GP Laredo. They forgot to install the fresh oil. luckily there was likely a residual quart doing something to keep the engine alive for a day. I Put in the required amount and no noise, ran fine thereafter.

I cannot imagine any commodity car dealer has techs doing OC - it is not a sustainable business model.

thinking ... thinking ... thinking - or is it!?

 

[GSCJR]

That's more like it @ARCOgraphite ! Now we have something to write about.

 

[CKN]

The entire post-9/11 world sucks.

Nobody replaced this work force-
https://www.axios.com/2021/10/29/millions-of-baby-boomers-retired-early-during-the-pandemic

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Nobody replaced this work force-
https://www.axios.com/2021/10/29/millions-of-baby-boomers-retired-early-during-the-pandemic

That’s not true, but gee I wonder why it appears “nobody” replaced them: