I should have known better. The dealer strikes again.

[detroitmike]

So I noticed a certain wiring harness was starting to fray on my 13 Passat (common problem) and since I was close to my 30k service, I thought I would just drop it off so they could take care of both. I normally do my own oil changes and have since new on this vehicle but I was also getting a 'faulty Nox sensor' code thru VCDS.

I dropped it off last night and picked it up after hours today.

They called me earlier and said they rerouted the harness but their computer wasn't showing an error code for the Nox sensor. What a shock.

When I got the car home, I checked the oil and it was nearly a liter over filled.

If the moron tech who worked on my car couldn't even get the 'amount' of oil right after doing this job every single day, what do you think the odds are that he used the 'correct' oil? Pretty slim I think.

I used the Pela and extracted the extra oil but I think to be safe I'll just pull the rest out and refill from my Mobil1 ESP stash.

I should have known better than to let a dealer do my oil change.

Does VW even train their technicians?

 

[Kevinski4]

You got an extra liter of oil for free! Sounds like a pretty good deal!

 

[MichaelB]

So I noticed a certain wiring harness was starting to fray on my 13 Passat (common problem) and since I was close to my 30k service, I thought I would just drop it off so they could take care of both. I normally do my own oil changes and have since new on this vehicle but I was also getting a 'faulty Nox sensor' code thru VCDS.

I dropped it off last night and picked it up after hours today.

They called me earlier and said they rerouted the harness but their computer wasn't showing an error code for the Nox sensor. What a shock.

When I got the car home, I checked the oil and it was nearly a liter over filled.

If the moron tech who worked on my car couldn't even get the 'amount' of oil right after doing this job every single day, what do you think the odds are that he used the 'correct' oil? Pretty slim I think.

I used the Pela and extracted the extra oil but I think to be safe I'll just pull the rest out and refill from my Mobil1 ESP stash.

I should have known better than to let a dealer do my oil change.

Does VW even train their technicians?

So did you talk to them about it? No 4 banger TDI holds 5.5 liters of oil. They really need to discipline the oil change tech. Maybe that would keep this from happening to somebody else in the future.

 

[Bug Smasher]

This sort of stuff never ceases to amaze me. How does one achieve this? Do they just pour the oil from a big jug while counting "one thousand and one, one thousand and two, one thousand and three..."?

 

[PassatSE4me]

So I noticed a certain wiring harness was starting to fray on my 13 Passat (common problem)...

What harness is this? I haven't heard of it...

 

[burpod]

FIRST OR LASt!!!!!!

 

[Joeym4692]

I wont go to the dealer for my VW after the incident my moms car had.

She took it in for the free oil change service she was offered for buying a 2011 TDI and when they lifted the car they crushed the rocker panels.

Afterwards they "attempted" to fix it. It was no where near straight and they had white paint on the mudflaps and inside the wheel well somehow!

Thats why I'm doing my own service on my car

 

[vw_norm]

What harness is this? I haven't heard of it...

This one that shows the wire bundle where it chafes against the side of the airbox: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=383530

Then there is this more recent discovery that I posted when forced to replace my turbo exhaust hose that shows where the vacuum line to the brake booster is rubbing against the master cylinder reservoir. This resulted in an abrasion about 1/2 way through the tubing. After looking at the pics in the above thread, you can see the vacuum line. On some cars it runs straight back. On others, it is slightly twisted, which would make the line more prone to rub and wear. See here: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=4360061&postcount=72

 

[TDI2000Zim]

What is behind such draconian cutting-corners efforts by most dealers in the USA only God knows (though there are some clues), but I think that VW should get serious about certifying and recertifying dealer techs.

If dealers can't take good care of VW cars, then VW should just open up regional tech centers to service their car warranties.

In fact, better than spend money in opening up shops all over the country, I think that perhaps VW should invest some money in PEP-BOYS or similar car repair chains, and bypass the dealer altogether, by certifying the chains for official warranty work (why reinvent the wheel?).

 

[TurboDieselPoint]

Maybe they rerouted the harness by the oil filter?

 

[PassatSE4me]

This one that shows the wire bundle where it chafes against the side of the airbox: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=383530
Then there is this more recent discovery that I posted when forced to replace my turbo exhaust hose that shows where the vacuum line to the brake booster is rubbing against the master cylinder reservoir. This resulted in an abrasion about 1/2 way through the tubing. After looking at the pics in the above thread, you can see the vacuum line. On some cars it runs straight back. On others, it is slightly twisted, which would make the line more prone to rub and wear. See here: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=4360061&postcount=72

Thank you! I will have to check these out on mine.

 

[detroitmike]

Well I called the dealership this morning and explained how I had to extract almost a liter of extra oil out of my engine. I'm not sure what I hoped to accomplish by this because the conversation went about as well as I figured it would.

The service manager claimed he had one of his master techs working on the car and he trusts that this particular person couldn't possibly have made such a mistake.

It may have been true about the 'master' tech working on my car to reroute the wire harness and investigate the Nox sensor but I'm sure the 30k service got handed off to a junior tech.

Like I said, I'm not sure what I expected to accomplish. These guys will NEVER admit fault.

Lesson learned I guess. Just never go back. Hopefully I won't need to go for any more warranty work.

 

[weebl]

I wont go to the dealer for my VW after the incident my moms car had.

She took it in for the free oil change service she was offered for buying a 2011 TDI and when they lifted the car they crushed the rocker panels.

Afterwards they "attempted" to fix it. It was no where near straight and they had white paint on the mudflaps and inside the wheel well somehow!

Thats why I'm doing my own service on my car

Stuff like this is why I service every thing I own, for everything that I have the ability to do (whether it be limited by skill or costly equipment). That pretty much leaves tire mounting or major engine, transmission or suspension work, though one day, I'd like to be able to do those myself too.

 

[fede179070]

I feel your pain, I've had some pretty poor warranty work performed by the local Flagstaff VW dealer
The company image suffers greatly from incidents like this.

 

[burpod]

the key is to ditch the new car (if wife/etc permits) for something a lot more fun like an mk1-mk3 hopped up and bare-bones i'm not goin back. i hate seeing these stories over and over... and over... and over again.. when it should really be so simple (it is for me)

 

[TDI smile]

I'm sooo happy to have a PERFECT Guru Shop here. A VW Dealer will only see me, when I pick a new car up. And THEY want to be soon the #1 Manufacturer ??? Can't see that at this time with shops like that !

 

[South Coast Guy]

Well I called the dealership this morning and explained how I had to extract almost a liter of extra oil out of my engine. I'm not sure what I hoped to accomplish by this because the conversation went about as well as I figured it would.

The service manager claimed he had one of his master techs working on the car and he trusts that this particular person couldn't possibly have made such a mistake.

It may have been true about the 'master' tech working on my car to reroute the wire harness and investigate the Nox sensor but I'm sure the 30k service got handed off to a junior tech.

Like I said, I'm not sure what I expected to accomplish. These guys will NEVER admit fault.

Lesson learned I guess. Just never go back. Hopefully I won't need to go for any more warranty work.

Did you re-measure the oil level after you extracted the liter of oil?

 

[pparks1]

When I got the car home, I checked the oil and it was nearly a liter over filled.

How did you check the oil and determine the amount of overfill? Is there a line on the dipstick indicating the # of liters overfilled.

 

[tdiatlast]

...uhh...I think I can take a stab at answering for detroitmike.
He looked at the dipstick. It was overfilled. (duh!)
He removed enough oil to return the level to "full". (Yes, I assume he re-measured the oil level...another duh...)
He measured what he extracted, and it came to "almost a liter." (yet another "duh"...)
This isn't brain surgery, folks.

 

[fricknbug99]

Where is this vw dealership?

 

[MichaelB]

...uhh...I think I can take a stab at answering for detroitmike.
He looked at the dipstick. It was overfilled. (duh!)
He removed enough oil to return the level to "full". (Yes, I assume he re-measured the oil level...another duh...)
He measured what he extracted, and it came to "almost a liter." (yet another "duh"...)
This isn't brain surgery, folks.

You are not detroitmike (duh)

 

[detroitmike]

Yeah, It was after hours when i got the car home or I would have checked the oil level before leaving.

the oil level was above the hash marks on the dipstick. I had no way of knowing how much it was overfilled until i pulled enough out with my pela to get it to the top of the hash marks.

then i transferred the oil to an empty bottle and measured about 0.8 liters.

my guess is whoever did the oil change, got 5 liters from the parts counter and just dumped all 5 in.

our cars take about 4.2 -4.3 liters if drained fully.

I got another call back from the dealer yesterday. I didn't even bother to pick up the phone. What would be the point? I drained and refilled with Mobil. I'm pretty sure they changed the filter judging by the about of oil all over the cloth wrapped hose in front of the filter housing.

 

[Roishe Cheng]

AT 6,500 miles now, going in for first oil change in another 3000 miles. Let's see how this dealer handles (Platinum VW in NY/Hicksville) this simple task.

 

[gforce1108]

Hit 10k yesterday.. told service people I wouldn't let them touch my car and asked if they would provide the supplies. Got a blank stare. Ordered the 'kit' from idparts and doing it this weekend. I plan to run the 5w30 through the winter and switch to the 5w40 ESP (mercedes diesel rated) for the summer. I may hit up the service manager to see if he is willing to cough up the supplies in order to bill VW for the service (schedule service, car goes in shop, supplies go in trunk).

 

[Roishe Cheng]

Hit 10k yesterday.. told service people I wouldn't let them touch my car and asked if they would provide the supplies. Got a blank stare. Ordered the 'kit' from idparts and doing it this weekend. I plan to run the 5w30 through the winter and switch to the 5w40 ESP (mercedes diesel rated) for the summer. I may hit up the service manager to see if he is willing to cough up the supplies in order to bill VW for the service (schedule service, car goes in shop, supplies go in trunk).

Not hating on your method, whatever makes you feel comfortable, but on the flip side, this might be a liability for the dealer to do this. If they gave you the supplies and "signed off" that the maintenance was done when they never touched the car and in 12,000 miles you show up with a warranty claim, they would have more "teeth" to hit you with especially if it's a large claim. I knew a lot of service managers on the import side and they were always concerned about covering their ass against things like these.

 

[pparks1]

Hit 10k yesterday.. told service people I wouldn't let them touch my car and asked if they would provide the supplies. Got a blank stare.

Dude, I would have given you a blank stare if you asked me that question.

I may hit up the service manager to see if he is willing to cough up the supplies in order to bill VW for the service (schedule service, car goes in shop, supplies go in trunk).

Will NEVER happen.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Don't ask service. Go to parts with your VIN, tell them you want to change your own oil and filters, and ask nice if they'll give you the filter(s) and fluids. Mine did, but we spend a lot of money there so I may have gotten unusual treatment. It's worth a try.

 

[TDI2000Zim]

Don't ask service. Go to parts with your VIN, tell them you want to change your own oil and filters, and ask nice if they'll give you the filter(s) and fluids. Mine did, but we spend a lot of money there so I may have gotten unusual treatment. It's worth a try.

Ouch, let me get this straight: you spend a lot of cash in a VW dealer, and you still don't trust their service department?

What's wrong with this picture ???

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I honestly have no data on my dealer's service department, good or bad. But after my past experience with all car dealers, including VW, I prefer not to have any car dealer serviced.

 

[gforce1108]

Don't ask service. Go to parts with your VIN, tell them you want to change your own oil and filters, and ask nice if they'll give you the filter(s) and fluids. Mine did, but we spend a lot of money there so I may have gotten unusual treatment. It's worth a try.

Great idea... I know others on these forums have been able to do it. My brother used to do it with his Ford - no questions asked.