i just got my car back from the dealership yesterday for its first dealer oil change, and when i got home i went to see if they overfilled my car. it turns out that they did by about a quart, but that isnt what im most concerned about. im about 90% sure that they didnt do an oil change or oil filter change but instead just topped it off, when it wasnt low to begin with. (i check oil every week or so by taking out the dipstick and letting the oil from the dipstick tube drain back into the pan and then reinsert the stick to check)

new oil for comparison

my question is, im pretty tired of dealing with this unnamed dealership for this and other reasons, but if i make a stink to them, are they within their rights to void my warranty, for doing work on my own car (along with fixing the overfill problem, ive done two oil changes myself)? ive only put about 50 miles on this supposedly new oil

 

One thing i can say is that you CAN NOT compare oil straight out of the bottle to oil that has come out of the engine. They will NEVER look the same. So bad comparison there.

Unfortunately there really is not way to tell without testing the oil if it is new or used oil.

 

They cannot void the warranty for you doing your own oil changes. If you are using the recommended oil and filter then there is no problem with do-it-yourself oil changes.

But be careful with measuring your oil and assuming it is overfilled. The dip stick is calibrated for a hot engine. You need to bring the engine up to temp. turn it off, wait 5 mins for the the oil to drain down in the pan, measure oil level on dip stick. If you measure the oil when the engine is cold and been setting overnight it always reads high. I think this is because more oil drains down from the engine and filter when the vehicle sets for a long time.

Also I agree with the other poster. You can't compare new oil with oil that has been run through the engine even if it is for 10 minutes. The synthetic oil will darken very quickly and pickup any contaminants that existed in the engine. But that is what it is suppose to do, and as long as it is not breaking down and is still lubricating, it is doing it's job.

 

hmmm so i just have to hope and pray that they really did change the oil? /pray

 

No, I think you should question the dealer.

Just request a ticket that shows how much oil was put into the engine and lists the charge for the oil and filter.

Ask to speak to the mechanic that changed the oil and tell him that you checked the oil and found it to be high. See what he says. You don't have to accuse them of cheating you to find out if they did the work that was billed.

 

If you are worried about it I would send a sample here http://www.blackstone-labs.com/index.php to have it analyzed and get a report. I get mine done every other oil change.

 

It does stink that you have to be concerned with it, need for "prayer" and so on.

If you don't trust them, it's probably time to move on anyhow, just for your peace of mind. I take it you have another option...LA area, based on your sig?

Past ideas have been to place special marks on car parts so you could tell if they've been "disturbed" in the course of servicing. Still: if you're thinking you need to do that to ensure the work was actually done and to avoid paying for a "wall job", again you probably should be doing business somewhere else.

 

thanks for the advice, ive emailed my service advisor. hopefully he can clear this up for me. its just that ive done two early oil changes on my car before and have done previous cars before using synthetic oil, ive never had it darken this much in such a short time period.

 

I just had my oil changed by an independent MINI expert and a week later the oil is still golden in color. I had a similar situation at Bob Smith MINi a year ago and had it out with the service manager. I demanded that they send the oil out to an independent lab for analysis.....and it was old oil.

This POS dealer is the worst....especially on warranty work. I could write three pages of crap work they have done on my MINI but it's still under warranty and I insist the fix things that are not right.

 

That's fraud. I wouldn't stop at reimbursement. I have had dealers mistreat me on warranty issues, but I have never had them charge for work they didn't perform. You could hang these guys by the . It would be fun to hammer these guys.

 

I have had dealer issues in the past, but most of the dealers that I have dealt with have been great. I think it starts with a good first meeting with the service advisor and giving a super evaluation. His salary is seriously affected by the evaluation.

 

Don't worry I hung them out to dry when it happens last year...part of the "good will" they offered was a 2 year 24k mile warranty extension... But I ended up with a 7 yr/100k bumper to bumper warranty and they paid off my loan.

Who do they think they are?

 

Totally Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I just changed my oil after the first 1600 miles and the oil was still clean coming out, not black

 

wait what.....please share. hehe

and my dealership isnt bob smith, but i dont really want to say which one, because the SA has been nice and professional so far, not really his fault his techs are bad.

 

Although you would be helping this community by naming the dealer, so the rest of us in the LA area could make an informed decision on were we should be taking our cars for service. The SA might be a great guy, but he's not the one working on the cars.

 

im going to give them a day or two to rectify the issue first. for all we know it could be a one time thing. and its not fair to generalize based on one occurence

 

You maybe talking about the local dealer to you? I am thinking the nearest dealer is off the 55 near the 5...

The best thing to do is tell the dealer what happened. Don't get emotional and don't accuse them of wrong doing till they understand the facts and then tell you what they did. Get the facts and present them as clearly as possible to people who can help you at the dealership.

I interviewed dealers in my area and found that a few did not know how much oil to put in the R56 v.s. the R53. Overfilling oil at the dealer has been reported by many Mini drivers. I have a difficult time believing that dealers intentionally overfill or miss oil changes. Having worked on many of my cars because I just can not trust others to do simple things like flush coolant or put oil in my cars correctly, I have come to the point where I think that people don't have time to care or do the job properly. Processing cars through the shop as quick as possible helps make the shop profitable. It takes time to do the job correctly.

Is it possible for a dealer to put work on the statement and not perform the work? Well yes. It happen to me the last time I took my car to the dealer. They stated that they washed the car and set the tire pressures but on inspection they did not. In my case that was a good thing because my pressures are not the same as factory (I don't have run flats) and I wash my cars myself and prevent swirls and hard water spots. But the fact is the dealer still put down that they set my pressures to a lower level than I measured them to be when I picked up my car (I keep a good pressure gauge in my car so I checked). I should have told them to fix the paper but I was happy that they did not re calibrate the computer.

One thing I have noticed, oil color stays clean longer if you change your oil more often (It takes longer to darken if the motor is cleaner). The other way for oil to darken quickly is to topside drain it and not get all the oil out (easy to over fill that way too). When someone works on my cars I have them show me the old parts and I inspect the work. In the case of diff Oil, I provide the oil. I had a dealer put the wrong diff oil in my car and the LSD failed in 100 miles. I made them replace the diff shortly after (trust was lost).

Tell the dealer that they need to earn your trust.

 

I know how to go about business....it's what I do for a living.

When I screw up, I make things right whatever the cost. When I'm wronged, I expect nothing less. If one chooses to weasel out of their responsibility, then a smack on the nose (or wallet in this case) is perfectly OK.

The pain for the owner probably lasted as long as they could see me as I left.

But I could have been much worse.

BTW, your SA is not your friend, he wants your money, it's what they are trained for.

 

a little update. the dealership (crevier mini) say that they have changed the oil. the shop foreman supposedly talked to the person who worked on the car and it was done. they also say that they have an audit system that when they use any parts they have to return the old parts to the parts department.

the audit system may be good and true but that still doesnt change the fact that the oil that i drained from my 2012 mcs with 15,000 miles, two oil changes done at 1.5k and 8k, filled with nothing but chevron with additional bottle of techron every 4k miles, with an engine rarely brought above 4k rpm, daily driven 60 miles a day on traffic less freeways, is the color of molasses after 50 miles of use. i ordered a test from blackstone, and i guess the truth will be revealed.

sorry for the rant, but along with this, the dealership, crevier mini, dented/scratched the door on my little elly,it has already been fixed, but its ridiculous that an warranty oil change left me without my car for 2 weeks and in the end has made me question whether or not the oil change was even done in the first place.

 

I would look for an independent MINI garage. I can recommend the place I go but it's in Thousand Oaks (motoring magic). I'm sure there are people on this forum that can hook you up with a local shop. Warranty work still needs to go to the dealer unfortunately....

 

It is very sad that you are having a bad experience using the service that Mini USA provided to you as a sales tool (Free Mini maintenance). The concept of Free Mini maintenance is a bit of a JOKE because Mini does not provide enough basic oil changes to prevent motor damage (in the opinion of most Mini enthusiasts, independent mechanics who have repaired damaged R56 motors and many divers in the general public).

I know that the dealer inspects each car for dents and damage before they process each car. They should have a record that shows your dent free car and they should repair the car to YOUR SATISFACTION. I know they are good at supplying courtesy cars so you should not have been without transportation.

As far as them not performing the service that Mini USA paid for goes, you should call the dealer's general manager and summit a letter to him and Roger Penske outlining your expense and frustration. Perhaps you need to tell them that they need to take responsibility for any future damage that may occur as a result of them overfilling the motor with Oil. I don't think you should feel bad about making the dealer pay for the oil testing and your time. I would EXPECT that they would do an additional oil change on the spot in an attempt to provide you some level of satisfaction. After all an oil change costs them about $40.00. The damages to the dealership are far greater to have you unsatisfied and sharing your bad experience with other customers.

Thank you for sharing.

 

[QUOTE=OceanMini2;3481989]It is very sad that you are having a bad experience using the service that Mini USA provided to you as a sales tool (Free Mini maintenance).

LOL it never occured to me that there was "free" MINI maintenance...I know that my wife and I PAID for ours when we bought our car. It's PRE-PAID MINI maintenance, and what little they do for you is not "given" to you...it's YOURS and they are holding it interst free as an asset untill you go get it from them. Buyers float them a big loan if you multiply their eventual cost times units sold times how long they get to hold the value for. Just another way to squeeze a few bucks from you.

 

I think you are talking about the Extended Maintenance Program - 6 year 100k miles. I am under the impression that Mini provides 3 years /3 oil changes as part of the purchase price. When you go to the dealership to purchase oil filters they tell you, "You don't need to purchase a $21.80 filter because all your service is covered for the first 3 years." It sounds fantastic, I don't need to do anything to keep my new Mini running (as long as I intend to trade my Mini in the day that I have to pay $140.00 to change my oil at the dealer ).

 

"The other way for oil to darken quickly is to topside drain it and not get all the oil out (easy to over fill that way too)."

Absolute horse poop. The bung for the drain plug that is welded into the bottom of the oil pan is 15mm tall. By draining via the drain plug you leave a puddle of oil 15mm high X the area of the bottom of the pan. With an extractor the oil is pulled from the corner where the dipstick is.