Dealing with Mr. Monkeywrench--need advice

[Diamondpilot]

Main reason cars today hold odd amounts of oil in QTS is we are the only ones who still use QTS. Everyone else uses liters. A good example is one car I maintain uses 6.4 qts which is 6 liters. Another uses 3.7 qts which is 3.5 liters. I could never understand why they came up with 3.7 qts till I did the conversion.

Not saying this is the case with the Buick you have but it does seem to work out most of the time.

Chris

 

[Bird]

Main reason cars today hold odd amounts of oil in QTS is we are the only ones who still use QTS. Everyone else uses liters. A good example is one car I maintain uses 6.4 qts which is 6 liters. Another uses 3.7 qts which is 3.5 liters. I could never understand why they came up with 3.7 qts till I did the conversion.

Not saying this is the case with the Buick you have but it does seem to work out most of the time.

Chris

Chris, I just went and looked at the manual for my 2001 Ford Ranger with the 4.0L V-6 and it shows oil capacity at "4.7L (5 quarts)". Both the 3.0L V-6 and the 4 cylinder engines call for "4.3L (4.5 quarts)". The Kohler engine on my lawnmower says "1.6 q (1.5 l)". It would be nice if they designed all engines with oil capacities in the same amounts as the containers in which oil comes.:laughing:

 

[JimRB]

Chris, I just went and looked at the manual for my 2001 Ford Ranger with the 4.0L V-6 and it shows oil capacity at "4.7L (5 quarts)". Both the 3.0L V-6 and the 4 cylinder engines call for "4.3L (4.5 quarts)". The Kohler engine on my lawnmower says "1.6 q (1.5 l)". It would be nice if they designed all engines with oil capacities in the same amounts as the containers in which oil comes.:laughing:

My Dodge uses 3 units of oil. Unit is a gallon. My VW uses 5 units of oil and that would be quarts. The local O'Reillys has gallons of oil. Wah. Hee Hee.

 

[timswi]

I can just about guarantee you that only a very small number of individuals would pull such a stunt.

As a dealer tech of 12 yrs I'm a little bit offended by how some people think most dealerships are run. I can honestly say most dealer techs really do try to do the right thing and take great pride in the fact that they are generally the best in the business.

I fully agree with your statements...Most all dealer techs I know want to do the job right---the first time....They don't mail it in.

 

[Bird]

My Dodge uses 3 units of oil. Unit is a gallon. My VW uses 5 units of oil and that would be quarts. The local O'Reillys has gallons of oil. Wah. Hee Hee.

I've seen gallons plenty of times, and there used to be (maybe still for all I know) some 5 quart containers, but I've never seen any .4, .6, or even half quarts (pints), although I'll admit I have searched for such so I guess they could exist. And measuring motor oil in "units" is something new to me.

 

[timswi]

I've seen gallons plenty of times, and there used to be (maybe still for all I know) some 5 quart containers, but I've never seen any .4, .6, or even half quarts (pints), although I'll admit I have searched for such so I guess they could exist. And measuring motor oil in "units" is something new to me.

I think my last Mobil1 jug was something of the order of 5.38 quarts...Sigh.

 

[JDgreen227]

Wife uses the car to commute to work and because it is a headache to deal with the parking police where she works we have decided against her using another car and will wait until her day off in the next week to take the car in. I did contact the service dept. and their response was: "Oh, no we never make mistakes like that it must be something unrelated". Yeah, right. BTW Gary Fowler, I too had a warranty issue with a Walmart battery three years ago and they bent over backwards to be fair, I was past the free replacement period by a few months and they told me the replacement battery (a big one) was on the house although they could have pro-rated it at my cost.

 

[JDgreen227]

I think my last Mobil1 jug was something of the order of 5.38 quarts...Sigh.

Last time I purchased Mobil dino oil at Wally World they were selling 5W-30 and other weights in a 5 quart jug. I just loved the size, but not sure if it is still available there.

 

[timswi]

Wife uses the car to commute to work and because it is a headache to deal with the parking police where she works we have decided against her using another car and will wait until her day off in the next week to take the car in. I did contact the service dept. and their response was: "Oh, no we never make mistakes like that it must be something unrelated". Yeah, right. BTW Gary Fowler, I too had a warranty issue with a Walmart battery three years ago and they bent over backwards to be fair, I was past the free replacement period by a few months and they told me the replacement battery (a big one) was on the house although they could have pro-rated it at my cost.

Keep in mind that you were talking to a service advisor...I'd say (based on my experience) 70% know nothing about cars...They are the middle man...Take what they say with a bag, not a grain, of salt...If they messed it up, they should, and most all cases, will fix it...Take the car over and do it...Me thinks you are coming at this from the wrong side of the equation....

If we blew it on something (and it happens) we took care of it and usually gave the car a detail in the process to try to make the customer happy....I used to call them a couple of time afterward to make sure life was good.

Dealer service departments live by customer service ratings...They can be fatal if they aren't good...Just sayin'.

 

[JDgreen227]

"70% of service advisors know nothing about cars...." So why are they even in the job in the first place??!!! Back when I drove medium duty trucks for a living the shop we took them to had a service advisor who was the most mechanically challenged guy I ever met in my life. If you told him the PTO on your truck didn't engage...."Huh, what's a PTO....?" If you told him the ether injection (used for cold starts on a diesel) needed a new cartridge...."Huh, isn't ether used for surgical operations...." :laughing: I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP....the drivers usually came out of an encounter with this fellow wondering why he was in the job in the first place. And the capper was:

One day the man signed out a fleet car to go pick up parts, about 20 miles distant from the shop the oil pressure warning light started flickering so he pulled into a service station and called his boss, the boss told him to add a quart of oil to see if the light would go off, well from the way the story went the man kept adding quart after quart of oil to the engine trying to get the light to stop flickering and the oil began overflowing out of the filler cap hole before he finally stopped adding more...and the real reason for the flickering light was a defective sending unit. We ragged him a LONG time afterwards following that episode....:laughing:

 

[timswi]

"70% of service advisors know nothing about cars...." So why are they even in the job in the first place??!!! Back when I drove medium duty trucks for a living the shop we took them to had a service advisor who was the most mechanically challenged guy I ever met in my life. If you told him the PTO on your truck didn't engage...."Huh, what's a PTO....?" If you told him the ether injection (used for cold starts on a diesel) needed a new cartridge...."Huh, isn't ether used for surgical operations...." :laughing: I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP....the drivers usually came out of an encounter with this fellow wondering why he was in the job in the first place. And the capper was:

One day the man signed out a fleet car to go pick up parts, about 20 miles distant from the shop the oil pressure warning light started flickering so he pulled into a service station and called his boss, the boss told him to add a quart of oil to see if the light would go off, well from the way the story went the man kept adding quart after quart of oil to the engine trying to get the light to stop flickering and the oil began overflowing out of the filler cap hole before he finally stopped adding more...and the real reason for the flickering light was a defective sending unit. We ragged him a LONG time afterwards following that episode....:laughing:

Just the way it is...If they were techs they could make more money in the shop...I saw it first hand....Let the system play out.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Just the way it is...If they were techs they could make more money in the shop...I saw it first hand....Let the system play out.

I agree. 95% of the job description is Sales Man, not tech. They usually just know what is told to them by the guy with dirty hands.

Chris

 

[Gary Fowler]

I usually have good service and warranty work from Walmarts here in the states but this one was a PIA. First off, it was in a town that is at the end of the road in Northern Alberta Canada and 500 miles back to Edmonton which is the closest town with anything other than a gas station and only one of those between Edm. and Ft. Mac. The businesses there did pretty much whatever they wanted because they knew you werent going to go somewhere else, well maybe Canadian Tire was a competitor. I sure hope you get the car fixed, but I wouldnt wait too long to take it in for them to look at it.

 

[deerehunter/operator]

I agree. 95% of the job description is Sales Man, not tech. They usually just know what is told to them by the guy with dirty hands.

Chris

We must be running our shop unlike others because at the end of the day my hands are often times just as dirty.

 

[CurlyDave]

Wife uses the car to commute to work and because it is a headache to deal with the parking police where she works we have decided against her using another car and will wait until her day off in the next week to take the car in. I did contact the service dept. and their response was: "Oh, no we never make mistakes like that it must be something unrelated". Yeah, right. BTW Gary Fowler, I too had a warranty issue with a Walmart battery three years ago and they bent over backwards to be fair, I was past the free replacement period by a few months and they told me the replacement battery (a big one) was on the house although they could have pro-rated it at my cost.

Depending on where you live, you may have the choice to bring the car to a different dealer.

I remember about 15 years ago, I had a Ford Taurus, which had a huge laundry list of defects that the original dealer kept trying to make my fault. One day, in desperation, I took it to a different dealer, and it was like night and day. The new dealer went out of his way to make sure repairs were covered by the warranty. When the first Taurus wore out, I bought another one from the second dealer.

 

[JDgreen227]

Car is long out of warranty, and anyway there are very few GM dealerships close by except for the one I am talking about. All othrers are 20, 25, 35 miles distant.

 

[PoorMansCat]

heck.. u r already in Michigan, drive that GM back to Detroit, pull it up on the front steps of GM headquarters and tell them to fix it...