Dealer Service
10-17-2006, 07:52 AM
#1
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Dealer Service
Ok, so I bought my 2006 TL 6MT, and i am pretty anal about it as in i only fill it up with shell v-power and i take it to a hand wash place when it gets dirty. I now have 5300 miles on it. My first oil change I did at 4150 miles as that's when my MID said less than 15% oil life. So I go to my dealer, and say i need an oil change, so they put a BIG DIRTY ORANGE MAGNET SIGN 
on top of my car that says "customer waiting" then they wirte down my milege and tell me to have a seat. Being the curious person that i am i watch their every move 
. I specifically ask them to use synthetic oil because on my previous car, 02 TL-S, i asked them to use synthetic and they poured reg oil in it. So there is a big window from the rest area to the service area, and i can watch what they are doing. I see the person opening a box of oil that says SYNTHETIC on it and i'm like, whew, at least they got the oil right....wrong, i should of paid more attention. Just for assurance, i saw the grade of the oil on the box and wrote it down on my cell phone so i can check in the owners manual later and see if they got it right...but i was thinking it was right 95%. Just today after my oil life is down to 80% already after a long high-speed trip, i had nothing to do so i remembered about that and decided to double check for my anal assurance. And what do you know, I almost went insane.
I look at the oil recomendations in the owner's manual, they say 10W-20 or 10W-30 for temporary use in the transmission if nessesary, and 5W-20 for the engine. I look at my cell phone and i see 10W-30
. I am so pissed right now, they basically put transmission oil in my engine and i've run about 1200 miles on it. HOW can i trust my acura dealer to service my car?, they obviously do not care about it, but they have that special "proffecianal Emboss" thing on my service journal to assure professional service...right. The guy working on my car was pretty young, looked mexican and was talking to the other service ppl the whole time, barely paying attention to what he was doing. Also, it is stated in the owners manual that when you replace your oil, you must also change the washer on the plug bolt that drains the oil and tighten the bolt to 29 ft-tq. All i saw the guy doing is yanking on it by hand to tighten it, yankd it so hard the whole car moved a little, and then just dropped it down from the ramp and pulled it out.
It is rediculous how cheap the service department is at my acura dealer, what acura or honda uses 10W-30? that is thick oil recommended for the poor quality engines on us vehicles, because they cannot make them work on a thin oil because the engines are a nightmare compared to honda's.
on top of my car that says "customer waiting" then they wirte down my milege and tell me to have a seat. Being the curious person that i am i watch their every move . I specifically ask them to use synthetic oil because on my previous car, 02 TL-S, i asked them to use synthetic and they poured reg oil in it. So there is a big window from the rest area to the service area, and i can watch what they are doing. I see the person opening a box of oil that says SYNTHETIC on it and i'm like, whew, at least they got the oil right....wrong, i should of paid more attention. Just for assurance, i saw the grade of the oil on the box and wrote it down on my cell phone so i can check in the owners manual later and see if they got it right...but i was thinking it was right 95%. Just today after my oil life is down to 80% already after a long high-speed trip, i had nothing to do so i remembered about that and decided to double check for my anal assurance. And what do you know, I almost went insane.I look at the oil recomendations in the owner's manual, they say 10W-20 or 10W-30 for temporary use in the transmission if nessesary, and 5W-20 for the engine. I look at my cell phone and i see 10W-30
. I am so pissed right now, they basically put transmission oil in my engine and i've run about 1200 miles on it. HOW can i trust my acura dealer to service my car?, they obviously do not care about it, but they have that special "proffecianal Emboss" thing on my service journal to assure professional service...right. The guy working on my car was pretty young, looked mexican and was talking to the other service ppl the whole time, barely paying attention to what he was doing. Also, it is stated in the owners manual that when you replace your oil, you must also change the washer on the plug bolt that drains the oil and tighten the bolt to 29 ft-tq. All i saw the guy doing is yanking on it by hand to tighten it, yankd it so hard the whole car moved a little, and then just dropped it down from the ramp and pulled it out.It is rediculous how cheap the service department is at my acura dealer, what acura or honda uses 10W-30? that is thick oil recommended for the poor quality engines on us vehicles, because they cannot make them work on a thin oil because the engines are a nightmare compared to honda's.
10-17-2006, 08:10 AM
#2
Three Wheelin'
Originally Posted by vincethe1
Ok, so I bought my 2006 TL 6MT, and i am pretty anal about it as in i only fill it up with shell v-power and i take it to a hand wash place when it gets dirty. I now have 5300 miles on it. My first oil change I did at 4150 miles as that's when my MID said less than 15% oil life. So I go to my dealer, and say i need an oil change, so they put a BIG DIRTY ORANGE MAGNET SIGN on top of my car that says "customer waiting" then they wirte down my milege and tell me to have a seat. Being the curious person that i am i watch their every move . I specifically ask them to use synthetic oil because on my previous car, 02 TL-S, i asked them to use synthetic and they poured reg oil in it. So there is a big window from the rest area to the service area, and i can watch what they are doing. I see the person opening a box of oil that says SYNTHETIC on it and i'm like, whew, at least they got the oil right....wrong, i should of paid more attention. Just for assurance, i saw the grade of the oil on the box and wrote it down on my cell phone so i can check in the owners manual later and see if they got it right...but i was thinking it was right 95%. Just today after my oil life is down to 80% already after a long high-speed trip, i had nothing to do so i remembered about that and decided to double check for my anal assurance. And what do you know, I almost went insane.
I look at the oil recomendations in the owner's manual, they say 10W-20 or 10W-30 for temporary use in the transmission if nessesary, and 5W-20 for the engine. I look at my cell phone and i see 10W-30 . I am so pissed right now, they basically put transmission oil in my engine and i've run about 1200 miles on it. HOW can i trust my acura dealer to service my car?, they obviously do not care about it, but they have that special "proffecianal Emboss" thing on my service journal to assure professional service...right. The guy working on my car was pretty young, looked mexican and was talking to the other service ppl the whole time, barely paying attention to what he was doing. Also, it is stated in the owners manual that when you replace your oil, you must also change the washer on the plug bolt that drains the oil and tighten the bolt to 29 ft-tq. All i saw the guy doing is yanking on it by hand to tighten it, yankd it so hard the whole car moved a little, and then just dropped it down from the ramp and pulled it out.
It is rediculous how cheap the service department is at my acura dealer, what acura or honda uses 10W-30? that is thick oil recommended for the poor quality engines on us vehicles, because they cannot make them work on a thin oil because the engines are a nightmare compared to honda's.
on top of my car that says "customer waiting" then they wirte down my milege and tell me to have a seat. Being the curious person that i am i watch their every move . I specifically ask them to use synthetic oil because on my previous car, 02 TL-S, i asked them to use synthetic and they poured reg oil in it. So there is a big window from the rest area to the service area, and i can watch what they are doing. I see the person opening a box of oil that says SYNTHETIC on it and i'm like, whew, at least they got the oil right....wrong, i should of paid more attention. Just for assurance, i saw the grade of the oil on the box and wrote it down on my cell phone so i can check in the owners manual later and see if they got it right...but i was thinking it was right 95%. Just today after my oil life is down to 80% already after a long high-speed trip, i had nothing to do so i remembered about that and decided to double check for my anal assurance. And what do you know, I almost went insane.I look at the oil recomendations in the owner's manual, they say 10W-20 or 10W-30 for temporary use in the transmission if nessesary, and 5W-20 for the engine. I look at my cell phone and i see 10W-30
. I am so pissed right now, they basically put transmission oil in my engine and i've run about 1200 miles on it. HOW can i trust my acura dealer to service my car?, they obviously do not care about it, but they have that special "proffecianal Emboss" thing on my service journal to assure professional service...right. The guy working on my car was pretty young, looked mexican and was talking to the other service ppl the whole time, barely paying attention to what he was doing. Also, it is stated in the owners manual that when you replace your oil, you must also change the washer on the plug bolt that drains the oil and tighten the bolt to 29 ft-tq. All i saw the guy doing is yanking on it by hand to tighten it, yankd it so hard the whole car moved a little, and then just dropped it down from the ramp and pulled it out.It is rediculous how cheap the service department is at my acura dealer, what acura or honda uses 10W-30? that is thick oil recommended for the poor quality engines on us vehicles, because they cannot make them work on a thin oil because the engines are a nightmare compared to honda's.
10-17-2006, 08:17 AM
#3
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Originally Posted by dwest1023
You are all upset for nothing. The 10-30 is probably better for your car. Acura only recommends the 5w for cafe requirements. If you could get your hands on a European Acura manual, you probably will see 10w intead of 5w. In any event, there will be no damage to your car.
10-17-2006, 02:56 PM
#4
Senior Moderator
complain to the service advisorr or even acura corperate. Courtsey forgot to put the seatbelts back in after they removed my rear seat, next time i went in, they apologized and are now working something out with me.
10-18-2006, 05:27 AM
#5
Three Wheelin'
Originally Posted by vincethe1
I partially agree with you, but i don't see how it would be better for my car. The engine is brand new and it has no wear or sign of getting old yet, so it hasn't lost any compression, the piston rings are well isolated and there is no sludge or buildup.....so putting thicker oil in the car may mean that the oil cannot get everywhere it's supposed to and have a worse lubricarion, plus those cafe ratings are there for a reason, they are made for minimal resistance and optimum fuel efficiancy.
There is not that much difference between the two. Plus we are dealing with synthetics here. the weight has to do with pour rate at and how well it protects at hiigher tempt., not how thick it is. Trust me. All the the mobil 1 will get where it needs to unless you are in Alaska or the North POLe. Again the same car sold in Europe will not reqiure a 5W, and the engine you got is not different from theirs.
10-18-2006, 08:54 AM
#6
I'm no expert, but I've been on an oil reading binge lately, and all I've read from those who are real experts says the same thing these gentlemen do. . .5W-20 or 10W-30 won't make any difference in your engine. You'll be OK.
My take away from this however, is that Acura dealer service isn't necessarily better than local service just because it says Acura on the sign out front. And for a non-mechanic like me, this is disconcerting. You'd at least think the stealership would use the friggin oil specified in their service manuals!! :angryfire People like me who aren't very knowledgeable are hoping the extra price paid at the dealership will give us some peace of mind, but reading this and the many other threads has put paid to that notion, at least for me.
Luckily, I have a local shop that is friendly, does good work, and the bays are all lined up like in the old style garages--one long building, so you can stand around and watch what the mechanics are doing. As long as you're not directly under the car, they don't mind.
I am going to do my own oil changes (just did my first), and tranny fluid changes, air and cabin filter changes, rotate my own tires, and that's about it. I could do learn brakes, I guess, but not having done them before, I figure let's leave that to someone who's done a lot of them and dealt with rusted together parts and other hassles, and who stands behind their work and will fix screw-ups.
So, other than fluid maintenance, I'll take all 'generic' service work, like brakes, wheel alingment, chassis lube, coolant changes, etcetera to my local guy. I'll only take it to the dealer when I figure working on lots of Acuras will matter, like timing belt changes, anything that requires getting inside the engine, or suspension work. Then I figure being really familiar with the car and its idiosyncracies can make the dealership worth using. The local guy could run into something unusual for him that may be common for the Acura dealer mechanic, and the Acura mechanic can call over another Acura mechanic for a second opinion.
As an aside, my car was last serviced at Acura of Seattle, where they did do an oil change. Then I had the car shipped here. I replaced the oil with Amsoil 5W-20 after using their engine flush at 80% on the display. I plan to go ahead and change again as per normal. Anal and unecessary, I know, but I enjoyed doing it. Anyway, the oil plug bolt was on so tight, I had to put a socket on it and literally hammer--as in using an actual hammer--the handle to get it loose. Knuckleheads. 20-lbs. does not mean a 220 pound gorilla yanking on the wrench like he's in a WWF wrestling match! I doubt you need to use a torque wrench, you could do this right by feel, but I'm a pretty hefty guy and I couldn't loosen that bolt without the hammer. Sheeesh!
John
My take away from this however, is that Acura dealer service isn't necessarily better than local service just because it says Acura on the sign out front. And for a non-mechanic like me, this is disconcerting. You'd at least think the stealership would use the friggin oil specified in their service manuals!! :angryfire People like me who aren't very knowledgeable are hoping the extra price paid at the dealership will give us some peace of mind, but reading this and the many other threads has put paid to that notion, at least for me.
Luckily, I have a local shop that is friendly, does good work, and the bays are all lined up like in the old style garages--one long building, so you can stand around and watch what the mechanics are doing. As long as you're not directly under the car, they don't mind.
I am going to do my own oil changes (just did my first), and tranny fluid changes, air and cabin filter changes, rotate my own tires, and that's about it. I could do learn brakes, I guess, but not having done them before, I figure let's leave that to someone who's done a lot of them and dealt with rusted together parts and other hassles, and who stands behind their work and will fix screw-ups.
So, other than fluid maintenance, I'll take all 'generic' service work, like brakes, wheel alingment, chassis lube, coolant changes, etcetera to my local guy. I'll only take it to the dealer when I figure working on lots of Acuras will matter, like timing belt changes, anything that requires getting inside the engine, or suspension work. Then I figure being really familiar with the car and its idiosyncracies can make the dealership worth using. The local guy could run into something unusual for him that may be common for the Acura dealer mechanic, and the Acura mechanic can call over another Acura mechanic for a second opinion.
As an aside, my car was last serviced at Acura of Seattle, where they did do an oil change. Then I had the car shipped here. I replaced the oil with Amsoil 5W-20 after using their engine flush at 80% on the display. I plan to go ahead and change again as per normal. Anal and unecessary, I know, but I enjoyed doing it. Anyway, the oil plug bolt was on so tight, I had to put a socket on it and literally hammer--as in using an actual hammer--the handle to get it loose. Knuckleheads. 20-lbs. does not mean a 220 pound gorilla yanking on the wrench like he's in a WWF wrestling match! I doubt you need to use a torque wrench, you could do this right by feel, but I'm a pretty hefty guy and I couldn't loosen that bolt without the hammer. Sheeesh!
John
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