So the wife and I have had six new vehicles since we started dating and I have never taken one to a dealer for service until this one. Took it in for its FIRST oil change and the Auto Nation on Bryant Irvin Blvd. (Ft. Worth, TX) managed to screw that up. Before my wife could get it out of the parking lot the oil light came on and it started knocking. The service manager said its about a quart low.
We made sure they printed out a second receipt stating what happened just in case it becomes a n issue.

I have driven plenty of vehicles that hold five quarts of oil and when they are only one quart low, or even two, they do not knock and turn on the idiot light.

Can't wait to get the survey for this.

 

sounds more like they neglected to refill ANY of the oil. You are a lot more patient than me, I would have insisted they repurchase the vehicle.

 

...........the reason D I Y was invented

 

The oil light doesn't come on until you need to price an engine.
Seriously....I have seen a lot of fords 4 quarts low and the "buy engine"
light isn't on yet. Gomer forgot to put oil in your car. My guess is your main bearings now have 900,000 miles on them.

They assign their very best people to oil change duty. Monkeys.
Drive it in, tow it home!

 

Thats exactly what I was saying.

Scott you really should escalate this well beyond filling out a dealer service survey. If you heard the knocking, the light was on and the service staff took the initiative to lie to you about a quart low...rest assured damage was done. Sad thing is it won't be evident until the engine lasts half or less as long as it should.

 

The only real way to know the extent of the damage is to drop the pan and inspect. The cam bearings are actually kinda last in the oil flow scheme in most DOHC engines, so they may be showing signs of dry bearing disease too. But it means disassembly ... and that costs.
My sisters friend in TPA had a Jiffy Lube forget to add oil, and she got onto one of the causeways crossing the bay before it died. They replaced her engine at their expense with a used of similar mileage. Apparently the Jiffy's and like have insurance...
If it were mine, I'd be expressing my sincere desire for an inspection, and want to see the inserts/cam bearing surfaces before it was re-assembled. Or a replacement with similar and a warranty on the replacement.
Of course if it is a 2004 with 277,000 miles on it, they may not be able to find one with that high mileage at the boneyard... Or is it another vehicle? U don't say...
tom

 

Tom, this is on our new vehicle. It's a 2013 CX9 with 7,500 miles I posted here because I wanted to get a little info and see how more ticked I can get at the bad news.

We are actually out of town now so I will have to see what I can do as far as getting the process started on what can be done. We're in the new vehicle so we will see if it even survives the 1800 mile drive.

LMS (Ed) - I haven't looked yet, but any idea where I would call/email? Do manufacturers or dealers usually put info like this not he web page or would it be in our owners manual?

Thanks for the I out so far everybody I'll keep you posted.

 

Might want to try starting here.......

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Good luck and sorry that happened. Mazda really does manufacture a quality vehicle.

 

Thanks! We love our Mazdas. The escape has been flawless except the alternator and so far this one is great. It's just the mindless people that do the oil changes that seem to be the problem.

 

My father-in-law had a no-oil added change done to his '02 Saturn a few years back. He's the type of guy who has all his work done at the Dealership, regardless of vehicle age (still takes his '96 Caddy to a Caddy dealership for everything).

Anyway, took the SC2 in for an oil change. Left the dealership, drove a quater mile away to a friend's house. When it was time to go home, the oil light came on immediately at startup, so he drove back to the dealership. Engine seized as he pulled into the lot. Had to leave it at the dealership overnight. Next day dealership calls; spun bearings. Oil was present. Just a "well, that's life" scenario. BS.
This car had 32K miles on it, always dealer maintained, never a problem.

I got envolved when the Saturn dealer wanted to charge over $7K for a remanufactured engine. (I still have copies of the correspondance between me and the dealership). Saturn field rep. was no help whatsoever.

In the end, My FIL ended up with a remanufactured (not rebuilt) engine, the dealership paid materials, FIL paid labor (~$3500.00)

One thing that still pisses me off to this day, unless you looked at the dip stick before starting the engine and driving off, you will have little to no luck, or proof, that they screwed the pooch. He said she said type of deal.
It sucks.
Good luck

 

The $3500 paid for the labor, the materials and the rebuilt engine. At $70/hr that is 50 hours. I *know* that it does not take 5 days labor to R&R and engine. Even at home using jack stands and a cherry picker I could do one in a day and a half.
I realize it is history, but that GM dealer did your FIL no favors, and the zone rep apparently was useless. Depending on how long ago, it might be interesting to talk to someone in the legal profession.
WRT the OP, I would suggest that the dealership buy back the vehicle. It might end up on the car reporting sites with "Rebuilt engine installed at 7500 miles", and give the car a bad rep for any resale value. {implying poor quality or owner abuse..?? who wants either?}
Push hard, ask for the store and you might end up with a loaf of bread...
tom

 

learn to do and not worry about it again

 

I certainly agree, but eventually I will no longer be able to do everything myself. And then there is the issue of life, where the car may be here, and you may be way over there, and something needs doing right away.

I have ONE good repair story - We had a minivan that developed 41TE transaxle problems during the 7/70 warranty (Mopar). Took it to a Chrysler-Plymouth dealer (NOT the dealer we ordered it from!!!), who pulled it, rebuilt it, and re-installed it, all without ANY errors or problems! Totally amazing! We sold it many years later, transaxle was still fine.

That was my ONE story where someone else worked on one of our vehicles, did it right, didn't break or damage anything else, and did quality work. And a 4-speed auto transaxle is a pretty complicated device.

It's the OTHER stories that keep me doing things all myself. Every time (except that transaxle) that I backed off and had someone else do something, I regretted it greatly, and often had to re-do it, or they broke/damaged other parts. Dealer or independent, effect was the same.

 

When we bought this I thought the price for the first 10 changes of oil was great. Only came out to being about $7 more percent change and I didn't have to get dirty, dispose of the oil and they would rotate the tires.
You can bet I will take it in every time from here out and not my wife. I have serious doubts they rotated the tires either- which I will mark before I go in next time to check.

 

I did every oil change until my car had > 200,000 miles. We got a 'coupon' card that includes half a dozen oil changes, tire rotation, and other services for about sixty dollars.
It is offered by a very local {1.5 miles] garage tht specializes in FoMoCo vehicles. Even if we just got the changes, they'd be less than 10 dollars each. I could not beat that, so I quit doing some changes. They did use Motorcraft semi-synthetic and filters, but it was 5W20 and that is not spec'd for the Vulcan or Lima engines, so I do them as needed.
They have not been perfect, but they do a decent job most times. One car has a trough at lower edge of the front crossmember that will catch oil when the filter is removed. They left it oily one time, and I think damaged the drain plug gasket as it was leaking. My wife talked to the service manage {knows him by name now} and he was aghast that the car had been returned with oil dripping.
Last time I had a dealership change the oil was a long time ago, and it was only the first change, to keep the 12/12 warranty in effect. The mechanic stuck a ball bearing in the vacuum lime to the EGR diaphragm, causing the EGR to be disabled. On his own initiative.
tom