i had my car serviced by PAA few months ago for 60k service... then recently i went to a local shop to have my oil change done since i didn't have time to make appointment at PAA.. then the mechanic at the local shop tells me that my engine oil's been leaking because they didn't screw the bolt on tight like they should've and it was leaking the whole time.. he wasn't lying since i saw how much oil came out of the engine when he drained it and it was about 1/2 of what it should've been. i didn't know it was leaking since my parking spot has dark pavement and can't see it right unless you pay close attention to it. i don't know this did any damage to my engine or not but i'm friggin pissed.. i paid stupid amount of money to get stuff done right and they screw me like this.. so i was wondering, do any of you guys know if i can contact anyone trustworthy at PAA to get this corrected? thanks.

 

call their customer service dept, even the best make mistakes sometimes.

 

oh yeah, I went to an express lube place, and they forgot to tighten the actual oil cap on top of the engine, they just placed it on. I drove around for a week like that until my friend looked at the intake and noticed. sucks, but those things happen.

 

If you want to make sure nothing happened. Ask PAA to do a complimentary leak down test to make sure there was no damage to the pistons/rings/cylinder walls due to lack of lubrication - oil. Or make sure there was no damage to the VTEC solenoids since VTEC works off of volumetric pressure of oil in the engine.

 

I'm not surprised. Like I said in a previous thread, I personally think their service department is going down hill. I have had two bad experiences with them in the past two visits. There really isnt any reason for me to go there anymore since Jens is not even doing the work anymore.

 

Several MONTHS went by and you're just checking the oil level now ???
I think YOU are part to blame if there is engine damage.

 

I agree with you but only partially.

I make sure I check every fluid that gets changed by someone else. Us as car enthusiast should do so to protect our beloved Cl's.

OTOH - Why should we have to check after someone that's certified to do the job right? That's what we pay them for.

 

even the best make mistakes, if u call them up i'm sure they will make it up to you

 

Unless the oil light came on your fine. Only a few months is not a bad thing. I check mine every 5K miles which is like 4 or 5 months for me. The car will let you know there's a problem. Engine light, oil light etc, that's what they are there for. They might have forgot to replace the crush washer & it leaked.

 

ok let me clarify: 3 months. and i never had any problem like this after visit to PAA or my local shop or this car or the last 2 cars i owned. something this critical to a car should be checked more thoroughly. i paid double what it would've costed at a local shop to have a half-ass job? no. i paid more since they know the car better and i thought they wouldn't screw up like local shops. and btw, oil light was not on. mechanic told me that if i drove another week or two it would've. if it had i would've looked to see what the problem was. and i drive the car only on weekends since i take PT to get to work. so there was no reason for me to check the oil when there was no indication anything was wrong.

 

my gf has left the same oil in her integra for over 8K miles once... you should be ok

 

Check oil weekly, or at every fillup.

Was the oil syn. or dino?

The oil pressure light can turn on either with too much or too little oil. You should not trust a guage to tell you what's going on in your car's engine (no matter how expensive the car is). No guage replaces good ol' pop the hood and look method.

I check PS, WS, Oil, Brake, and Radiator fluid at every fillup, it's a habit I don't even notice anymore.

 

Did you have alot of old cars? Cars that broke down alot? I can't imagine doing that at every fill up IMHO it's just not needed on new cars these days.

 

for every car including my current one, i always check the oil every other week.

 

i check brake and oil at the very least i driove a shitbox for a while and things would magically disapear

 

I'll echo what NiteQwill said, in fact if you it states that you should check the fluid levels at each fill up.

I also, almost mindlessly, check my fluid levels weekly or biweekly. Just a simple opening up the hood, pulling the dipstick, and scanning around the engine bay takes about 1 minute. I usually top off my washer fluid at the same time. I try to do this before I get in the car and start it up so I can see the levels cold.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"

 

daeng.. you guys are crazy.. checking all that at every fill up? i don't think it's sensible for me to check that often since i filler up often and i'm not a car nut like you guys. .. but i guess it's a good habit.. after this incident, i'm going to be doing that.. thanks for the input..

 

It takes 2 seconds to pop the hood, 30 seconds to look at yous PS, WS, Brake, Radiator, and Oil levels. A little 1 minute out of your life can reduce a headache at the dealership.

 

... there are 3 things to unscrew..
OIL CAP
OIL PLUG
OIL FILTER

there are 3 things to screw.
Screw new filter on
Screw oil plug on
Add oil
Screw oil cap on...

you pay someone 21.99 to screw and unscrew the car... screw that... Now I know why NO ONE touches my car.

 

I'm with Smitty: If I can change the oil in my apartment parking space in a leisurely 45 minutes (even though we're not allowed to), then anyone with any kind of interest or pride of ownership in their car can change their own oil as well. And I believe everyone on these forums is some kind of enthusiast. Take control of your car's maintenance. It's theraputic and makes you feel good about yourself and your car.
I don't want any garage monkeys touching my car!

 

Umm, yeah, I'm with stupid here.

Nobody touches my car. Last time my car was in the hands of someone else was when Acura insisted that they had to put the new center caps on themselves for warranty-reimbursement purposes, and the peeling black trim tape on the passenger side door. Other than that, I do pretty much everything else myself, if it can be helped.