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.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Well, it's been 2 days since the first post. Any word from dealer or have they even been called. I have never had a dealer fail to fix an error and admit an error when something had to be redone. I expect that more from small shops than dealerships.
My worst experience was with Walmart and a 5 year battery that went bad in about 18 months. It had 2 year free replacement and prorated after 2 years. The return counter wouldnt honor the paper work and I had all the receipts including the sales receipt and original warranty paper that plainly said FREE replacement in 24 months. Boy did I get POed and gave them a big piece of my mind and finally got the manager up who tried the same old thing with that is our policy stuff. After several threat of action including physical violence to that guy, I got my free battery. Why would someone want to argue "their policy" when in black and Yellow it says something different on their warranty papers. l even told them that if I wanted a 24 month battery warranty I would not have paid $100 for the battery but got the $49 one. Nothing makes me more hostile than an ignorant person arguing a plain as day issue in writing that they refuse to honor. This was a Canadian Walmart in Fort McMurray, Alberta and I expect that they treated all their customers that way. Service in that town was just about unheard off. If you didnt like it, drive 500 milest to the next town to do business. Sometimes you just have to break bad with someone to get a fair deal. I always give them the benefit of properly addressing an issue prior to accusation of unfair treatment.
Not too many folks send in a thank you for good service, but almost all will send in letters to home office and bad mouth to their friends about a bad job. This in itself is incentive for most folk in business to do a good job or rectify a mistake quickly if competition is nearby.
I can recall when I moved to Houston Texas in the mid 70's and going to retail stores. It was nearly impossible to get a clerk to give assistance because there was about 100K people moving to Houston weekly at that time. They didnt worry about a repeat customer as new ones were readily available. Move forward about 10 years and job recession in the area made folks default on loans, move out of town and money was hard to come by. You would almost get trampled by the sales folks running to help you because there just wasnt any customers. You just need to keep a good healthy competition to keep good service.

 

[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'.