Underfilling the OIl Sump: Dealer did it, Common?

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2016 Camaro SS with the LT1 6.2L V8, 455 hp.....This Car and Driver long term test Camaro really only used oil at the rate of 1 quart per 4700 miles in hard driving, yet the dealer kept underfilling the sump almost every time! That is a 10 quart sump, surprisingly big. It can soak that up OK, and they were checking the level at reasonable times.

Still, when driven hard, its good to have a full sump for cooling.

Has anybody had problems with lube shops or dealers underfilling? Heard of overfilling myself, not this underfilling.

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No where does it say they underfilled the sump. The 7.5 quarts is just keeping it topped off like Chris mentioned.
 
Originally Posted By: deven
No where does it say they underfilled the sump. The 7.5 quarts is just keeping it topped off like Chris mentioned.


No, the Car and Driver article did say "A more worrying issue was our car's on-again, off-again, oil consumption, as well as a dealer who, on at least one occasion, left the sump 2 quarts low after an oil and filter change."

At first when I looked at the amount of quarts they kept adding, I thought it looked odd. For example, once they had to add 2.5 quarts after 1 month (3k miles). Thats what the article writer was referring to, and he said it may have happend on another oil change later on.

They did say the overall 40k mile average was 1 quart of actual oil usage per 4700 miles, which isn't really that bad. The dealer weirdness made it look even worse.
 
Originally Posted By: Olas
Less weight
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A true racer would think that way. Actually, Nissan use to recommend running their GTR about a quart below the full line when tracking the car to avoid too much oil slosh-aeration.
 
Conspiracy theory: Some BMW technician wrote on this forum where he would keep & take home fractions of a quart left over in a bottle, accumulating enough expensive BMW oil over time to keep his personal ride in free oil. Not too bad there, since he never overfilled nor underfilled in his case.
 
My bad, I realized I chopped off this from the right side of the first picture:

January 6, 2017
We added 2.0 quarts of 5w30 syn oil due to dealer underfill.

January 31, 2017
And we added 1.0 quart of 5w30 syn oil.


I calculate 7.5 quarts per 40k miles, or 5,333 miles per quart. But some of that is due to dealer underfilling, so their statement in the article of 4,700 miles per quart is way off. ....puzzled me is....
It doesn't have an oil consumption problem. I put bad oil consumption at <2k per quart.
 
Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
Conspiracy theory: Some BMW technician wrote on this forum where he would keep & take home fractions of a quart left over in a bottle, accumulating enough expensive BMW oil over time to keep his personal ride in free oil. Not too bad there, since he never overfilled nor underfilled in his case.


To be fair, this happened at my tire store too. Someone would buy a bottled change (always M1
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) and ask us to "recycle" the 1/2 quart leftover. They wouldn't want that nasty half bottle kicking around the trunk.

It's kinda like the busboy "earning" a steak dinner.
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Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
Could getting the oil level correct being too much to expect of the lot boy doing the oil change?

Its probably that. Some sloppy worker not trying that hard. Happens a lot.

What gets me is that Car and Driver didn't just check the oil quickly after an oil change.

Instead, their logbook shows they did'nt add oil until something like a month after getting a fresh oil change.

A bitoger would check that level in the parking lot next to the dealership or lube shop before sailing away!!
 
Opposite here. Nissan is overfilled no matter if it is the dealer or PepBoys.
 
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Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies
Originally Posted By: Olas
Less weight
wink.gif

A true racer would think that way. Actually, Nissan use to recommend running their GTR about a quart below the full line when tracking the car to avoid too much oil slosh-aeration.


Common practice in hard track usage. But, only with a very effective oil cooler installed ...

More common is accidental over fill
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