This is starting to get old. At least this time they paid the fuel to get it in there...

This morning I scheduled an appointment for my truck's first oil change. I always do these myself, but the dealer would do the first one free, and I figured I might as well save myself $50 and let them do the first one.

It went in at 1:30, and I was out by 2:30. Drove over to my parents house to let my dogs go swimming. While I was there I checked the oil, as I ALWAYS check the work that was done by someone else. Oil level looked good, and it was nice to see fresh, clean oil on the dipstick. Later I drove it home and parked it. As I was taking my two labs inside, I noticed the smell of burnt oil. No big deal, I thought, as I figured they probably spilled a bit of oil somewhere that ran down onto the exhaust manifold. I climbed up on the bumper and couldn't find anything on the valve covers, so I started looking inward. And I found this:



It's a small lake of oil between the oil filter housing and the turbos. Lots of oil there, far more than should have been spilled during the filter change. As I was up there looking down, my wife saw some oil droplets on the hood as well. Underneath the truck was this...



All of this was after 40 miles of driving on the freeway. I would think that any small amounts spilled during the change would have blown off by then and wouldn't be leaking onto my driveway after nearly an hour's worth of driving.

I called the dealer, but the service department was closed. They have a quickie oil change outfit there as well, so I asked to be connected to that shop. I explained the situation, and gave them my name and number and they told me they'd call me back. 5 minute's later, Jack's towing service called. They didn't have a truck big enough, so they gave me another number to call. An hour later, Rusty's Towing Service showed up at my door to drag away my pride and joy...



Off to the dealer again! This is REALLY starting to get old. I think it's safe to assume this is a case of botched maintenance rather than a factory defect this time. It's strange, though considering there wasn't a whole lot of oil on the outside of the filter housing. The cover seemed very tight, and it didn't look like that much oil could have come from there. Maybe they knocked something loose, or maybe during yesterday's fun something broke.

I don't know. All I know is that the service guys probably aren't gonna like seeing me bright and early tomorrow morning.....

 

Wow, that's terrible luck. I guess mistakes can happen with anyone.

Has you car been back to the dealer for other things? It sounds like it's been a routine for you.

 

Yup. In 4,300 miles it's been in the shop for a transmission output shaft seal leak, an A/C compressor replacement, and attempting to find a coolant leak that doesn't like to show itself. Coolant just mysteriously disappears.

 

Why the roll back, could it not be driven?
I have had so much stuff screwed up at shops I either do it my self, or take it to an out of the way mom and pop shop and stay and help the guy doing it.
So will you do the work on it from now on, or find a better place then the dealer?

 

Bill, it's kind of strange since I almost ALWAYS do my own oil changes. But, at 15 quarts of oil, and a $20 filter I figured if I could get them to do it for free I could save $50.

When I called them up, I told them that the oil level was still within the acceptable range, but it was their call what to do with it. I figure that with an engine replacement running north of $15,000 I do NOT want to do something that would cause a problem. Honestly I could have probably fixed it if it was as simple as a filter housing gasket. But since they did the work, it's their problem to fix. The second I open the housing up to find a leak, I own the problem. No way they're going to fix something like that if I open it up first, as there's nothing to prove that I didn't cause the problem to begin with!

It was their call to tow it, apparently they were uncomfortable with me driving 20 miles in a truck that was throwing oil everywhere. We'll see what happens in the morning...

 

Well, you got what you paid for
sorry, I just had too.
So has the coolant problem gone away?

 

Crazy, thats some bad luck. Hopefully it willturn though. Maybe they just missed the hole .

I did my first oil change last month and due for my next (I'm doing the first 2-3 changes at a shorter interval just to make sure any factory assembly lube, etc it out of the new motor). But I didnt get any free oil change deal that I am aware of. It does cost a good bit more on the diesel though.

 

Well, it seems that all is well again.

Had my wife take me over there this morning to see what they were doing about it. When we pulled in at 7:45 they already had it up on the lift cleaning it off. Apparently the oil filter seal was split in two places, causing it to throw oil everywhere. He spent at least a good 15 or 20 minutes under the truck cleaning the oil off; it got everywhere!

They replaced the seal, and it seems to be holding just fine. Can't blame the truck for this one, this was just an oil change gone wrong. Good thing I didn't do it!

78BB, it's kind of strange with the free oil change. The salesman(who no longer works there) told me that they would do the first one free. I brought it in yeseterday and the service writer wasn't quite sure of that. He agreed that they always do that with gas cars and trucks, but since diesels are so much more expensive he got approval from a manager to do it for free.

While he was trying to figure it all out, to "get the ball rolling" he asked me if I'd pay for it if they wouldn't do it for free. I simply explained that I could do it for half their $99.95 fee myself, and that I did NOT like paying for labor! He found a manager who agreed that if it was promised to me, they'd do it without question.

As much bad luck as I've had with this thing, I can't bring myself to complain much about their service department. Every time I have a problem they are always very quick to fix it. This time they wasted no time asking me to drive it in and called the wrecker service immediately without trying to convince me otherwise. Before I could even get in there this morning it was almost done...

 

Sucks that it happened but at least they took care of it.

So many places now are cutting costs and skipping out on responsibility. The Pontiac dealer I took my Trans Am to for some warranty work ripped a big hole in my window tint, then proceed to tell me it was impossible for a tool (even a screwdriver) to scratch tint. I ended up eating the cost to replace the tint.

 

Tom I told you on Sunday that your truck has a hex on it. Glad to hear all is well again and was something simple this time. Hate not for you to be able to do another Redneck Rodeo.

 

Quote:
78BB, it's kind of strange with the free oil change. The salesman(who no longer works there) told me that they would do the first one free. I brought it in yeseterday and the service writer wasn't quite sure of that. He agreed that they always do that with gas cars and trucks, but since diesels are so much more expensive he got approval from a manager to do it for free.


sucks what's happened to your pride and joy. I also took my truck to the dealer for the first oil change. I was prepared to pay the $99 for the diesel oil change. But the service advisor gave the first oil change for free. I did not ask for the freebie he just took it upon himself to see if he could get it done. I did not have any problems afterwards with the service. He did offer a service contract for 7oil changes and 7 tire rotations for 445.00 @ 5k intervals or 36K. Don't know yet about taking that offer since my 6.4 book recommends oil changes @ 10k. My wife uses the 6.4 for her daily use, kids to school and errands. So hardly any hauling at all. Just normal operation.

 

glad it all worked out for you. Just some real bad luck. A o-ring failure could happen to any of us. You did what I always do with any of my cars and trucks. I check the work over real close. That is what prevented a bigger failure.

 

I completely agree, Senix. These things happen, and I'm satisfied with the dealer's response to the problem. They took responsibility and got it in as soon as they could, and did NOT ask me to drive a leaking truck to them. Apparently they didn't want to gamble a $15K engine job...

As most of us are aware, the PCM does NOT monitor oil pressure. Furthermore, those of us with the automatic tranny don't even have the idiot light gauge either.

Running it out of oil would have gotten REAL expensive.

 

So what do you have for oil pressure?

 

Personaly, it sounds like they either didn't lube the new O ring with engine oil or just re-used the old one.