What is wrong with these dealers these days?

[KNGSNK11]

I took in my truck today to get the oil changed all went well other than waiting 1 hr 40 min just to get a simple oil change, but in there defense they were kind of busy and it usually takes over an hour to perform the oil change anyways at least that's been the average wait time at each dealership I have took it to in the past.
So they tell me my truck is ready and I pay and leave, of course I had to do my "I hope I didn't get a dipshit tech" inspection, so I look under the chassis, looks good this time, no oil still dripping from the crossmember LIKE EVERY OIL CHANGE BEFORE, they even installed the femco quick drain oil plug and all looks good.
So I head off to get my propane bottle filled at tractor supply about a good 30-40 mins away, I get there and get done and jump in the truck and hit the start button and immediately the low oil pressure message pops up and I'm like WTF?

I popped the hood and got to looking around and noticed oil in the valley between the oil filter and aluminum housing so I looked closer and noticed the ****ING OIL FILTER WAS NOT THREADED ALL THE WAY IN So immediately call the dealership and of course the service dept has left for the day... go figure.

So I'm steaming so I grab the only crescent wrench as I didn't think I had a socket big enough turns out my little crescent wrench was to small, so I managed to find a 1 1/8 socket and used that to loosen the filter, the filter fought me all the way off, the dumb SOB cross threaded the filter making it a pain to remove, so once I removed it I inspected it and the threads on the filter looked ok, now this is where it gets weird, I screwed the filter on by hand damn near all the way then used the socket to tighten to roughly 18 lbs.

Jump in the truck and hit the start button and you guessed it, back up to normal oil pressure.

I think I just had about enough of these ****ty dealership and their techs, It seems to me it really is more of a pain to visit the dealer than it should be especially when THEY CANT EVEN DO THEIR JOBS CORRECTLY.

So in closing the ram dealership in Winter Haven Fl is not getting my business again and when they send me their little survey you bet I'll be leaving a negative review, and oh this isn't the first time I've had a bad experience with them.

I think for know on I'm just going to change my oil myself, which might suck as I travel all over and I really don't want to carry a drain pan.

Rant over.

 

[Snofire]

I'd be calling and talking with the GM at that place to tell them what is going on. That needs to be documented if something happens with the motor the blame could go back to them.

 

[Richard320]

The short answer is that oil changes pay lousy, so they go to the "lube team" which is the entry-level job.
Brand-new vehicles that won't need or buy any "upsells" especially go to the lube team. Members of the lube team are drawn from the same labor pool as that kid at the burger joint who got all flustered when you gave him a dime after he'd just entered $20.00 on the register for your $12.08 total and now he has no idea what to do.

Why? Because schools teach that the smart kids go to college. Nevermind that a car is probably the most complex thing anyone will ever own, and probably second-most expensive, after their house. Nevermind that you can't outsource auto repair - or drain cleaning, or electrical work, or roofing -- to India or China. The teachers went to college so they think everyone else should.

The smart lube techs quickly move off the lube team to be a line mechanic.

Point two: Saturday is the busiest day of the week, so they rush. When I was wrenching at a dealership, I'd flag 8-12 hours on a weekday but 18-20 on a Saturday. If you want a decent mechanic to work on your truck, go on a slow day. It was always Thursday for us. A line mechanic will stoop to do an oil change if the alternative is doing nothing.

Definitely follow up. A responsible dealership will clean your engine and probably offer your next oil change on the house. And there will be a note somewhere to handle you with kid gloves the next time you show up. And if they give you the brushoff, you know all you need to know. But mistakes happen.

 

[KNGSNK11]

I'd be calling and talking with the GM at that place to tell them what is going on. That needs to be documented if something happens with the motor the blame could go back to them.

When I called the dealer I asked for my service adviser but she left for the day, then I asked for the service manager and he too had left for the day.
My second call I just asked for any manager that was still on the premises, the operator patched me into one but he didn't answer so I left a nasty message.
I had planned on making the dealership have the SOB tech drive his *** out there and correct his mistake and if I couldn't get that I wanted a tow truck asap.

I plan on calling tomorrow and complaining about it, I know they will probably offer a free oil change and I will happily tell them to shove their oil change as their service sucks and I don't want their techs touching my truck any more, good thing I leave this week as I plan on scheduling with my home dealer once I get home to look at my cooling system since these jack weeds wouldn't give me a single answer as to why my heater hose popped loose several weeks back.

I really feel like between possibly overheating my motor and now low oil pressure this dealership is trying to destroy my truck.

 

[KNGSNK11]

The short answer is that oil changes pay lousy, so they go to the "lube team" which is the entry-level job.
Brand-new vehicles that won't need or buy any "upsells" especially go to the lube team. Members of the lube team are drawn from the same labor pool as that kid at the burger joint who got all flustered when you gave him a dime after he'd just entered $20.00 on the register for your $12.08 total and now he has no idea what to do.

Why? Because schools teach that the smart kids go to college. Nevermind that a car is probably the most complex thing anyone will ever own, and probably second-most expensive, after their house. Nevermind that you can't outsource auto repair - or drain cleaning, or electrical work, or roofing -- to India or China. The teachers went to college so they think everyone else should.

The smart lube techs quickly move off the lube team to be a line mechanic.

Point two: Saturday is the busiest day of the week, so they rush. When I was wrenching at a dealership, I'd flag 8-12 hours on a weekday but 18-20 on a Saturday. If you want a decent mechanic to work on your truck, go on a slow day. It was always Thursday for us. A line mechanic will stoop to do an oil change if the alternative is doing nothing.

Definitely follow up. A responsible dealership will clean your engine and probably offer your next oil change on the house. And there will be a note somewhere to handle you with kid gloves the next time you show up. And if they give you the brushoff, you know all you need to know. But mistakes happen.

Thanks bro I will keep all that you said in mind next time.
I am really considering just doing the oil changes myself from here on out, my only fear if something does happen to the motor I don't want them trying to blame me because I didn't use them for routine maintenance. I already buy the filters and oil as I can get them cheaper online, todays visit only cost me $21 and change

 

[NorthStar]

I took in my truck today to get the oil changed all went well other than waiting 1 hr 40 min just to get a simple oil change, but in there defense they were kind of busy and it usually takes over an hour to perform the oil change anyways at least that's been the average wait time at each dealership I have took it to in the past.
So they tell me my truck is ready and I pay and leave, of course I had to do my "I hope I didn't get a dipshit tech" inspection, so I look under the chassis, looks good this time, no oil still dripping from the crossmember LIKE EVERY OIL CHANGE BEFORE, they even installed the femco quick drain oil plug and all looks good.
So I head off to get my propane bottle filled at tractor supply about a good 30-40 mins away, I get there and get done and jump in the truck and hit the start button and immediately the low oil pressure message pops up and I'm like WTF?

I popped the hood and got to looking around and noticed oil in the valley between the oil filter and aluminum housing so I looked closer and noticed the ****ING OIL FILTER WAS NOT THREADED ALL THE WAY IN So immediately call the dealership and of course the service dept has left for the day... go figure.

So I'm steaming so I grab the only crescent wrench as I didn't think I had a socket big enough turns out my little crescent wrench was to small, so I managed to find a 1 1/8 socket and used that to loosen the filter, the filter fought me all the way off, the dumb SOB cross threaded the filter making it a pain to remove, so once I removed it I inspected it and the threads on the filter looked ok, now this is where it gets weird, I screwed the filter on by hand damn near all the way then used the socket to tighten to roughly 18 lbs.

Jump in the truck and hit the start button and you guessed it, back up to normal oil pressure.

I think I just had about enough of these ****ty dealership and their techs, It seems to me it really is more of a pain to visit the dealer than it should be especially when THEY CANT EVEN DO THEIR JOBS CORRECTLY.

So in closing the ram dealership in Winter Haven Fl is not getting my business again and when they send me their little survey you bet I'll be leaving a negative review, and oh this isn't the first time I've had a bad experience with them.

I think for know on I'm just going to change my oil myself, which might suck as I travel all over and I really don't want to carry a drain pan.

Rant over.

I had a similar incident yesterday with Gillman CJDR (Houston). Total Bozos and learned my lesson - never let the dealership change my oil again. I’ve been doing it for 42 years and 32 of those have been on Dodges/Rams. Never again!
For the Forum admins, it would be nice if we could start a list of the great service department and those we should avoid at all cost - and require pictures to prove it.

 

[Neurobit]

I had a similar incident yesterday with Gillman CJDR (Houston). Total Bozos and learned my lesson - never let the dealership change my oil again. I’ve been doing it for 42 years and 32 of those have been on Dodges/Rams. Never again!
For the Forum admins, it would be nice if we could start a list of the great service department and those we should avoid at all cost - and require pictures to prove it.

NorthStar.

Hellfman on Katy freeway has been great for service. No issues with oil changes but I have not gone to the express lane, as I’ve always had them done along with other warranty work. Matthew White is my advisor. Great guy, always goes above and beyond, and they always give you a free rental for warranty work. PM me if you need additional details.

Cheers,

 

[NorthStar]

NorthStar.

Hellfman on Katy freeway has been great for service. No issues with oil changes but I have not gone to the express lane, as I’ve always had them done along with other warranty work. Matthew White is my advisor. Great guy, always goes above and beyond, and they always give you a free rental for warranty work. PM me if you need additional details.

Cheers,

Agree 100%. I’ve used Helfman (next to IKEA) a couple of times over the years and they were stellar...just a hike from Rosenberg but after my experience yesterday it will be well worth the trip.

 

[Malodave]

With my '08 Big Horn Hemi, at 3500 miles, I went to Jiffy Lube for the first
Oil Change. Paid and left, drove strait home. Next morning, I started the
Truck and a big cloud of white smoke came out of it. I thought that they
might have spilled oil on the Manifold or something. After work the same
thing happened. I went back to Jiffy Lube. Turns out the Tech overfilled the
Engine with Oil. They drained some, then topped it off correctly. I got the
next Oil Change free. Paid for by the Tech that screwed up.

I will be doing all the Oil Changes on My '21 Laramie EcoDiesel. I stopped by
My local Makerspace and measured the Bay Door height and my truck with
the Hi-rise Cap will just fit in the door with about 2" of clearance to get to
the Auto Lift. I will still lower the Air Suspension to get an additional 2" of
clearance.

Malodave

 

[HAL9001]

There are some excellent replies here and I want to reiterate a few with some additional comments.

I know it's a pain in the a** to change your own oil but you should always do it yourself if you're able. Why? Because no dealership or shop is going to assign their higher-paid qualified techs to do menial jobs. Such work goes to the least qualified, lowest-paid workers which could be some high school dropout or other unskilled, inexperienced minimum wage worker. Never expect a quality mechanic will change your oil or perform any other menial job that doesn't require skilled techs. Personally, I will never put my truck in the hands of an unskilled worker for anything if I can help it. When I change my oil, I know it's done correctly and with great care. In fact, the only time I'll let anybody else work on my car is when it's absolutely necessary.

I recently ran into a situation where I had to have my brand-new truck serviced for multiple warranty issues. This was unavoidable as it was delivered broken. During this time, several other problems arose because of mistakes made by the service personnel when trying to fix the warranty issues. After the third such incident, I had enough and contacted the General Manager. I didn't cause a scene or lose my temper, I simply explained in detail everything that had happened. Some of it was RAM's fault and some of it was the dealership's fault. This made a world of difference. The GM took over the situation. After speaking with me he mobilized his service management team, immediately resolved every issue to my full satisfaction, and promised it would never happen again.

I certainly can't say that every dealership will respond like this, but if you're ever dissatisfied with their service for a valid reason, always contact the GM. It's his job to straighten such problems out. By his response, you can then judge the quality or lack of quality of the dealership.

 

[Aseras]

If you saw the low pressure warning while the engine was on it is very likely you already experienced engine damage especially on start up. You should definitely demand the dealer document the incident, open a ticket with FCA so they will be on the hook for anything that happens as a result. I would press them for an extended warranty or an indemnity or something in writing either agreeing to cover damage or clearly denying that any unknown hidden damage was possible so you can use it to prove them wrong later should anything happen even in years.

I'd also make them pay for several engine oil analysis runs and keep track of the metals content. particularly the ones pertaining to bearings.

 

[ElkoNV]

There are some excellent replies here and I want to reiterate a few with some additional comments.

I know it's a pain in the a** to change your own oil but you should always do it yourself if you're able. Why? Because no dealership or shop is going to assign their higher-paid qualified techs to do menial jobs. Such work goes to the least qualified, lowest-paid workers which could be some high school dropout or other unskilled, inexperienced minimum wage worker. Never expect a quality mechanic will change your oil or perform any other menial job that doesn't require skilled techs. Personally, I will never put my truck in the hands of an unskilled worker for anything if I can help it. When I change my oil, I know it's done correctly and with great care. In fact, the only time I'll let anybody else work on my car is when it's absolutely necessary.

I recently ran into a situation where I had to have my brand-new truck serviced for multiple warranty issues. This was unavoidable as it was delivered broken. During this time, several other problems arose because of mistakes made by the service personnel when trying to fix the warranty issues. After the third such incident, I had enough and contacted the General Manager. I didn't cause a scene or lose my temper, I simply explained in detail everything that had happened. Some of it was RAM's fault and some of it was the dealership's fault. This made a world of difference. The GM took over the situation. After speaking with me he mobilized his service management team, immediately resolved every issue to my full satisfaction, and promised it would never happen again.

I certainly can't say that every dealership will respond like this, but if you're ever dissatisfied with their service for a valid reason, always contact the GM. It's his job to straighten such problems out. By his response, you can then judge the quality or lack of quality of the dealership.

What Hal said. I too learned the hard way. I thought hey new shiny truck the dealer has to know what's going on, pay extra let them service it right....wrong. I did not put 2 and 2 together and realize it's the lowest common denominator doing my oil change. I took my 14 limited eco diesel in for an oil change at the dealer. They gave me the checklist of everything they "checked" during the service and I thought wow cool what a great job. As I hop in the truck and start it I notice they hand wrote in 39 PSI for each tire (at least something like that it's been a while). Well, I had taken the factory tires off day 3 and replaced them with KO2's and called BFG to get a PSI recommendation for the truck. Again I think it was like 45 but whatever it was it was not the factory setting and I had been sure to use that pressure. I flip over to the tire pressure page in the gauge cluster because I know they test drive after the oil change and all my tires are still where I set them and not at the 39 PSI recorded by the tech. I walked back into the service department and made a scene. Something along the lines of did you even change the oil? You know the answer was of course we did I followed with like of course you checked and adjusted my tire pressure right? Lesson learned, I am usually really calm but when I feel like I am being taken for a ride I don't mind being "that customer". I actually would not mind paying extra to get someone that is knowledgeable and cares to do my oil change, but I do not see any service department doing that, so that person is gonna be me from here on out.

 

[HAL9001]

If you saw the low pressure warning while the engine was on it is very likely you already experienced engine damage especially on start up. You should definitely demand the dealer document the incident, open a ticket with FCA so they will be on the hook for anything that happens as a result. I would press them for an extended warranty or an indemnity or something in writing either agreeing to cover damage or clearly denying that any unknown hidden damage was possible so you can use it to prove them wrong later should anything happen even in years.

I'd also make them pay for several engine oil analysis runs and keep track of the metals content. particularly the ones pertaining to bearings.

This is excellent advice. If RAM or the dealer ever does anything that could compromise the longevity of your truck, request an extended warranty. This is exactly what I did. It took a while but the dealer went to bat for me and got me a free $0 deductible Mopar Powertrain Care Plus warranty for 8 years/100,000 miles from RAM for them delivering my truck with a potentially damaging defect.

 

[Willwork4truck]

The short answer is that oil changes pay lousy, so they go to the "lube team" which is the entry-level job.
Brand-new vehicles that won't need or buy any "upsells" especially go to the lube team. Members of the lube team are drawn from the same labor pool as that kid at the burger joint who got all flustered when you gave him a dime after he'd just entered $20.00 on the register for your $12.08 total and now he has no idea what to do.

Why? Because schools teach that the smart kids go to college. Nevermind that a car is probably the most complex thing anyone will ever own, and probably second-most expensive, after their house. Nevermind that you can't outsource auto repair - or drain cleaning, or electrical work, or roofing -- to India or China. The teachers went to college so they think everyone else should.

The smart lube techs quickly move off the lube team to be a line mechanic.

Point two: Saturday is the busiest day of the week, so they rush. When I was wrenching at a dealership, I'd flag 8-12 hours on a weekday but 18-20 on a Saturday. If you want a decent mechanic to work on your truck, go on a slow day. It was always Thursday for us. A line mechanic will stoop to do an oil change if the alternative is doing nothing.

Definitely follow up. A responsible dealership will clean your engine and probably offer your next oil change on the house. And there will be a note somewhere to handle you with kid gloves the next time you show up. And if they give you the brushoff, you know all you need to know. But mistakes happen.

In defense of kids changing oil... storytime:
I worked at a freeway gas station nights (11pm-7am) as an 18 year old college student (1974).
Guy comes in and wants an oil change. (First one ever for me, but "sure thing bud'"...) I did know how to lift the car though.
I find the plug and open it up. Oops, that's pink. After losing a couple qts I got the plug back in and then found the oil drain plug...
Wipe everything down then offer to check his trans fluid (it was full service back then).
Sold 3 qts of trans fluid, boss was happy!

 

[ElkoNV]

In defense of kids changing oil... storytime:
I worked at a freeway gas station nights (11pm-7am) as an 18 year old college student (1974).
Guy comes in and wants an oil change. (First one ever for me, but "sure thing bud'"...) I did know how to lift the car though.
I find the plug and open it up. Oops, that's pink. After losing a couple qts I got the plug back in and then found the oil drain plug...
Wipe everything down then offer to check his trans fluid (it was full service back then).
Sold 3 qts of trans fluid, boss was happy!

Not sure if that's in defense of kids or making our point. I have had my 15-year-old under both trucks in the last month doing his first oil changes. The first one looked like the Exon Valdese beached in our driveway but he got the second one with only the loss of his shirt. The truth is we have fun and he is learning. You sir are not the kid I want under my truck without supervision. Thanks for the share.

 

[Willwork4truck]

Yep. Dear ol' dad didn't teach son #1 or son #2 jacksheet about anything mechanical, probably cause' he didn't know anything himself...
Son #1 went on to rebuilding hot rods from the ground up, frame off restorations.
Son 2 knows which end of a screwdriver to use and has been known to spill automotive fluids onto the street every now and then.

 

[ElkoNV]

Yep. Dear ol' dad didn't teach son #1 or son #2 jacksheet about anything mechanical, probably cause' he didn't know anything himself...
Son #1 went on to rebuilding hot rods from the ground up, frame off restorations.
Son 2 knows which end of a screwdriver to use and has been known to spill automotive fluids onto the street every now and then.

I had the engine half out of my Camaro the first 5 months I had it, back then it was all Edlebrock and Holly. Did such a good job on the engine blew the tranny out 3 months later. That's when dad set me down and explained you work from the brakes back to an engine when building a hot rod if you want to be able to drive it to work to pay for your play. I'm passing along the knowledge. His kids will be driving electrics and not know what an oil change was. I am guessing he will be the last generation to even have reasonable access to a stick shift....

 

[HAL9001]

Not sure if that's in defense of kids or making our point...

I'm sure, point made.

Even an oil change requires some skill and training. Things can go wrong that can result in serious consequences. The oil filter can be particularly an area of concern with rookies. It has to be properly cleaned, threaded, and tightened. Obviously, that sure went wrong with the OP's truck and could have cost him his engine if he wasn't so vigilant. I know my daughter would have kept on driving until the engine was toast. Engine warning lights never meant anything to her.

I will never allow a dealer to do an oil change on my truck.

 

[NorthStar]

I had a similar incident yesterday with Gillman CJDR (Houston). Total Bozos and learned my lesson - never let the dealership change my oil again. I’ve been doing it for 42 years and 32 of those have been on Dodges/Rams. Never again!
For the Forum admins, it would be nice if we could start a list of the great service department and those we should avoid at all cost - and require pictures to prove it.

I ended up having to remove the filter and replace it as suspected because it continued to seep/drip. It seems the dealership dumbass left the original old filter gasket stuck to the engine and then screwed on the new filter. Lesson #1 Dad taught me as a fourteen year old kid...

 

[yankeefan31569]

Dealer name so we can get the walk of shame...

I took in my truck today to get the oil changed all went well other than waiting 1 hr 40 min just to get a simple oil change, but in there defense they were kind of busy and it usually takes over an hour to perform the oil change anyways at least that's been the average wait time at each dealership I have took it to in the past.
So they tell me my truck is ready and I pay and leave, of course I had to do my "I hope I didn't get a dipshit tech" inspection, so I look under the chassis, looks good this time, no oil still dripping from the crossmember LIKE EVERY OIL CHANGE BEFORE, they even installed the femco quick drain oil plug and all looks good.
So I head off to get my propane bottle filled at tractor supply about a good 30-40 mins away, I get there and get done and jump in the truck and hit the start button and immediately the low oil pressure message pops up and I'm like WTF?

I popped the hood and got to looking around and noticed oil in the valley between the oil filter and aluminum housing so I looked closer and noticed the ****ING OIL FILTER WAS NOT THREADED ALL THE WAY IN So immediately call the dealership and of course the service dept has left for the day... go figure.

So I'm steaming so I grab the only crescent wrench as I didn't think I had a socket big enough turns out my little crescent wrench was to small, so I managed to find a 1 1/8 socket and used that to loosen the filter, the filter fought me all the way off, the dumb SOB cross threaded the filter making it a pain to remove, so once I removed it I inspected it and the threads on the filter looked ok, now this is where it gets weird, I screwed the filter on by hand damn near all the way then used the socket to tighten to roughly 18 lbs.

Jump in the truck and hit the start button and you guessed it, back up to normal oil pressure.

I think I just had about enough of these ****ty dealership and their techs, It seems to me it really is more of a pain to visit the dealer than it should be especially when THEY CANT EVEN DO THEIR JOBS CORRECTLY.

So in closing the ram dealership in Winter Haven Fl is not getting my business again and when they send me their little survey you bet I'll be leaving a negative review, and oh this isn't the first time I've had a bad experience with them.

I think for know on I'm just going to change my oil myself, which might suck as I travel all over and I really don't want to carry a drain pan.

Rant over.