Dealership put too much oil in...

[Astrix92]

A couple of weeks ago I had my car serviced by a local Seat dealership, with whom i''ve had good experiences with until this happened.

I've checked my oil level earlier this week (do people check their oil before driving away from the dealership after a service?) and the level was approx. 3 or 4mm too high on the dipstick (so whether or not they've put too much in or didn't drain it all out first, i dunno, either way doesn't seem like it was checked after).

So i've been driving the car for about 2 weeks and some of that time the car was probably driven how it was supposed to be. I'm going back to the dealership to get it sorted out but is there anything in particular I should be getting them to check or do to ensure no damage has been done? Is asking for compression tests too excessive? lol

Don't want to name the dealership because as i've said, i've had good experiences up until now and want to give them a chance to sort it all out.

TIA

 

[BigJase88]

Do not go back

It doesn’t matter. Any excess oil will just get blown out of the exhaust. 3/4mm is NOT worth worrying about

If they had an extra 2 litres in then i would worry

 

[Yern]

Just leave it...you won't have to top it up for a bit longer. Better than giving them the opportunity of introducing an oil leak you didn't have before.

 

[ZK_FR150]

I wouldn't worry about it.

It could have been worse like my main dealer who left the dipstick out, driving round for a couple of days notice some steam/white smoke coming out from under the bonnet, I had a look and oil had sprayed out everywhere.

They jetwashed the engine and sent me on my way :s

 

[Seriously?]

What is with main dealers and oil changes? I had a rather unsettling experience with a local VAG (not SEAT) dealership a few years ago where they spectacularly failed to fit the new oil filter correctly, leading to most of the engine oil depositing itself over the full length of the underside of the car, covering a good amount of the underbonnet area and leaving a lovely trail no doubt on the 7 miles of road between the dealership and home.
To add insult to injury, once recovered to the same dealership for fixing, they managed to return it to me with the oil overfilled by more than half a litre.
Needless to say I never used them again.

 

[Dr.Dash]

What is with main dealers and oil changes?...

Dealers are generally shoddy when it comes to any maintenance. We all like to think they are going to do any work perfectly. The reality is they have a captive market and often inexperienced "technicians" who are just trying to follow a procedure set out in the maintenance manual as quickly as possible. Compared with a good independent, they come a poor second.

The oil overfill is down to blindly following the manual which states a certain volume of oil is required, however the technicians rarely fully drain the engine so the level ends up being excessive.

I've had dealer services where the oil filter wasn't even changed, only half the undertray fasteners replaced, finger tight wheel fastener...



They are nearly as bad as most plumbers in the UK ?

 

[Legojon]

As above, a few mm is nothing to worry about. I take my car to a "specialist" who has done a lot of mod work to my car. I also noticed when they did my oil pickup pipe. I provided my own oil. Rather than give me the 300ml it didn't need back, they just poured it in with the rest. LOL. Probably about the same level yours is at right now. Point is, time is money and I think most dealers / Indys aim for the line as opposed to us enthusiasts that hit the line.

You'd know if it was overfilled, I've only ever done this once (not on my current car), and I had whipped cream coming out the top of the filler cap where the crank was whisking it. But still, I had that car for another 3-4 years after that with no issues.

 

[Seriously?]

Overfilling by a significant amount always worries me: I once witnessed a Transit spectacularly grenade itself due to it running away on the oil from an overfilled sump.

 

[cheesecakelover]

I wouldn't trust a main dealer with my car. I take my Leon to a brilliant indie.

 

[andycupra]

dealers are awful at oil changes in my opinion. i have had the same experience, once it was SIGNIFICANTLY too high. I do check when i pick the car up now. funny thing is they are also very reluctant to acknowledge the issue or to help in any way.
The days of me using dealers is now long gone.
I once had a VW dealer service my Corrado, they advised i needed a new set of coil leads as it was running on only 5 cylinders. when i advised it was ok when it went it, they said "well to change the spark plugs they need to be handles and no matter how carefully we do this they can get damaged" - it was something like £220 they quoted me, - while a set of 'official' parts from the local independent part shop 1 mile down the road quoted me something like £49.
An what makes this even worse? - when i took a look under bonnet, only 5 cylinders had a cable connected. the 6th looked like an idiot had tried to ram it on without aligning it properly resulting in the guides insided the lead all bent out of shape with the cable simply hanging down the side of the engine block.
2 mins aligning these back up and pushing this onto the spark plug and no issues and it ran fine for the rest of the time i owned the car.

Currently drive an Alfa and have used two popular independents, both have proved to be completely incompetent. So its not just dealers...

 

[Astrix92]

Thanks for the replies guys, so yea I just left it in the end.
At least it wasn't as bad an experience as some of you guys have had!

 

[shlobber]

and what i find strange is when you go to buy a car,and being told it has a full "dealer service history" is seen as a good thing!

 

[Polly]

Heritage in Bristol jut done mine.
Lowered the rear tyre pressures for some reason despite me doing them and leaving a note NOT TO ADJUST them from 39 F 35R. The rears were left at 32. They said my gauge was wrong [yeah right perfect for the fronts tho!!]

I put TIPPEX on the oil filter housing. Not moved. Still TIPPEXED.

I only did it to keep the WARRANTY and get the AA renewed.

 

[RUM4MO]

Heritage in Bristol jut done mine.
Lowered the rear tyre pressures for some reason despite me doing them and leaving a note NOT TO ADJUST them from 39 F 35R. The rears were left at 32. They said my gauge was wrong [yeah right perfect for the fronts tho!!]

I put TIPPEX on the oil filter housing. Not moved. Still TIPPEXED.

I only did it to keep the WARRANTY and get the AA renewed.

To be honest part of me would say that if I was on the receiving end of servicing a car with oil filter marked, I'd probably return the compliment and mark the new one!

 

[RUM4MO]

One thing to the OP, did you use the same method as the SEAT dealership to check your oil level, ie "with a fully warmed up engine, switch, wait X minutes and then remove dip stick, wipe clean, reinsert and remove immediately and read off level" - I'm not saying that is the method I would use, but then as a DIYer I am not working to a tight time slot.

 

[Polly]

YEAH SO WOULD I.
Just had the same with my wifes CORSA and they left the O rings on top of the gearbox too.
Time before the 5 litres of oil came back with 2 still i it and then the oil went dark in a week due to not being drained completely.

As it is this time I have NO idea how the oil was drained without taking off the undertray [there is no open corner.

WHAT is it with my experience of NOT changing the filter on the service.

 

[Dr.Dash]

YEAH SO WOULD I.
Just had the same with my wifes CORSA and they left the O rings on top of the gearbox too.
Time before the 5 litres of oil came back with 2 still i it and then the oil went dark in a week due to not being drained completely.

As it is this time I have NO idea how the oil was drained without taking off the undertray [there is no open corner.

WHAT is it with my experience of NOT changing the filter on the service.

They are using a vacuum pump to suck the oil out through the dipstick hole. This means they can do an oil change in <5 minutes, whereas removing the undertray (if required) and changing the filter takes perhaps 15-20 minutes.

I've also experienced the tyre pressure issue, Audi S3 returned with them set at 3.2 BAR, it was like driving on a skid pan until I corrected them.

 

[motty225]

Heritage in Bristol jut done mine.
Lowered the rear tyre pressures for some reason despite me doing them and leaving a note NOT TO ADJUST them from 39 F 35R. The rears were left at 32. They said my gauge was wrong [yeah right perfect for the fronts tho!!]

I put TIPPEX on the oil filter housing. Not moved. Still TIPPEXED.

I only did it to keep the WARRANTY and get the AA renewed.

You won't loose the warranty as long as the garage that does it uses oem parts

 

[Polly]

Thanks for the kind updates guys.

 

[martin j.]

Many years ago we serviced an old V8 that required a plug change, mechanic found the awkward plug was marked and asked what to do, so he was told to mark the new plug and leave the old set at the service desk, sure enough two days after collection the customer returned complaining loudly, he was presented the old set of plugs and told that since he didn’t trust us to service his car correctly he should go to someone he did trust and was told to leave.
No garage I seen takes the same time and care with oil changes as we do at home, they don’t have the time, but yes there are some who are less than honest, whilst there are others who do try to be the best at what they do, no point complaining here if you don’t confront the garage, they might not be aware of what the mechanic is doing, I have seen mechanics dismissed for poor practices, it takes a long time for business to build a good reputation and only one poor job to damage that, not happy? First point of call is the person you paid to do the job and ask for an explanation or a rectification.