Stealership WAY Overfilled My Oil
 

Let me first start off by saying this is the first oil change I have not done myself. For something so crucial to the life of the vehicle, I like knowing it's done right.

That being said, I took my car into Camelback Mazda here in Phoenix 3k miles ago to have the VVT replaced. They did a great job under warranty and filled up my oil after finishing.

This being the first time I haven't done my own oil, the thought didn't occur to me to check the level until today. I've heard my engine make an occasional misfire/clunk type noise under heavy WOT. Only happened a handful of times. First time I thought something got caught up in my wheel well. Well today I checked my oil level being it's around the mid point to the next change.

To my dismay, I found the level way over max. About a few mm below the first crimp on the dip stick.
I'm no stranger to what an overfilled engine can do. I've heard plenty of horror stories.

Long story short, I'm at the dealership now. They are checking and refilling to appropriate height. I'm also demanding a compression test and rod length test. Any other ideas what I should have the dealership do to ensure my engine is in good standing? I'm guessing I also need to obtain some material in writing assuming they fess up to the fault.

The car is I only 73k miles young.

They just finished filling it. I checked again and it was even more overfilled than before!!
I'm seriously raged. I grabbed a tech and showed him and he agreed. They are doing it again...

Monday when the service manager is in, we will be talking next steps.

Here it is before I brought it in. Remember, this reading was on a hot engine that sat for about an hour:
http://s1.postimg.org/z4o1q9v9b/image.jpg

Damn. Yeah try and get them to admit in writing that they're fucking up. Good luck.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Hopefully everything is still fine.....

your faggot ass tech's should know it takes 5.5 qrts MAX if it drips for an hour..... any less time... it'll be overfilled. The pan holds almost 3/4 of a qrt even when left to drip

the way THAT stick is reading, all they are doing is draining some and filling IF they over drained.

I get some free oil change coupons in the mail from my local dealer all the time.
I went in once.
Then they did this exact same thing.
They also used some KIA bulk oil.
Its just best to change it yourself.

My dealer gives free oil changes for as long as you own the car. I bring my own synthetic and I've never had a problem. And yes, the UOAs indicate that the techs aren't swiping my oil and pouring in some rotgut...

Any other things I should demand up front aside from a compression test and rod length test? I feel like those two tests are pretty conclusive of any damage it could have caused.

Thoughts?

Leak down test

Are you suggesting a leak down as opposed to a compression test?

Make them do all three. Compression, leakdown, and piston height.

Ensure they are performed by someone more competent than the moron that filled the oil. Also make sure it's documented as to why the tests are being performed. So in the event something does happen, liability is clearly demonstrated.

If/when your engine gets a clean bill of health, NEVER take it to that dealership again.

Service rep just called and said they are going to get in touch with Mazda before making a decision and then let me know. They want to determine "safe margins" for overfill which is bullshit. They are going to try and find some way to weasel out by claiming their overfill fell within the "safe" margin.

I'll be fighting this one tooth and nail. I'm not going to be satisfied unless I have an engine diagnostic ran.

Safe margin is the Max/Min on the dip stick. Fuck them

How hard is to put in exactly 6 quarts or 5.7l of oil in an engine? Are they retarded? The engine may be fine with 5.8-5.85l of oil in it, as well as with only 5 (at this point it's at the minimum on the dipstick) if all you want is to get your kids to the school and back. But not ok even by far in a performance car driven accordingly. If there's any damage found to your engine get it replaced under warranty.

Which Mazda is this (the one on the 51 and camelback)? What part of AZ are you in? Nator out here is very active, we can always help diagnose the issue if Mazda is giving you the run around. Make sure to be present during the compression/leak down/rod height test. I'd want picture of all the numbers they come up with.

Correct! I live in North Valley (Scottsdale and Shea). Camelback Mazda was said to be "mod friendly" which is why I took the Speed there for warranty work.

I'm going to shoot you a PM. Glad to know there's such awesome support behind these cars. Almost feels like a union but less gay.

Who said they're mod friendly? I know 2 mod friendly dealers, and only trust 1 lol.

If you have catalysts on the car this can royally f them as well, as others have said, get it in writing, you might even insist they clean your damned valves, check your turbo, intercooler etc.. anything that has PCV flow to it might be coated in OIL (more so than usual); some people have given me crap for this but I use a vacuum draw through the oil/dipstick tube, I know exactly how much comes out and exactly how much should go in each time. take/scan copies of your service documents for these ‘visits’ as the originals can fade but twice in a row? never go there again.

Google :22:

:facepalm2:

Camelback Mazda refused to budge. The rep claimed that MazdaUSA says ".5 quarts above max will not damage the engine."
I said that would be great in the case that my car was only overfilled .5 quarts. The evidence suggests it was probably overfilled 1-2 quarts.

Still refused to budge. I will be contacting MazdaUSA to escalate the case. I'm getting my damn tests, a new engine, or both - whatever Mazda would prefer to accommodate me with due to their incompetence.

Sorry to say MazdaUSA won't do shit. The dealership didn't put my fucking oil cap on all the way, after one of my "free" oil changes. Pulled up in my driveway and my car smelled horrible. Shut it off before it got to the point of smoking. Oil was all over the passenger side engine bay and on my hood.

Luckily it was less than a quart lost, it must have just fell off after going up my driveway. Needless to say I was pissed. The dealership basically said prove it, and gave me the "well what do you want me to do" attitude. I should have called my roadside assistance and had the car towed thinking back. Instead I drained the horse piss oil and replaced it with Rotella t6 and cleaned the shit out of the engine bay. MazdaUSA sent me some fucking coupons and a half-ass sorry letter.

My advice is to leave a negative review about the service on yelp...etc. And steer your friends/family away from there. "Free" oil changes, you really get what you pay for. I also should have known better since the dealership has such a shitty rating, unfortunately they were the only speed dealer within 100 miles.

the rule is that no matter where you go or what the work performed was you inspect it before you leave.

As I've learned! And never trust somebody else to do your oil change.

Looking over the itemized parts from the VVT warranty work, they charged me for 6 qts worth of oil and did not replace the filter. According to the manual, that would put me .4 quarts over full. Mazda also claims a full engine is 6.0 quarts when in all reality we know it's closer to 5.5. So let's say that puts me at .9 quarts over full.

It's reasonable to believe they probably overfilled by at least a quart with that evidence. Assuming you never fully drain all your engine oil. Plus the dip stick readings are pretty high. I'm still going to push forward with my case. At least I have evidence they overfilled it, just not to the amount my picture claims.

BUT according to the manual, any amount over or under max/min is too much and can cause engine damage. So theoretically, that .4 qts could cause engine damage according to Mazda.

If you HAVE to take it somewhere, make sure you bring your own oil and filter and watch them.

I have had a few issues with shops and don't trust a single one. It's a shitty way of living life but hey.

Don't know if you are Juan or PU but my 2010 takes 6.0 with a filter change.

6.0 here as well (2012) I fill my filter before putting in on but its nearly always 6 when it is all said and done.

I just changed mine on Sunday. Took about 5.5 Quarts and I let the pan drip for several minutes, car sat for about 1 1/2 hours before change. Car was not level obviously as it was on ramps.

2012.

Honestly, that only looks like maybe a quart overfilled to me. Just playing devil's advocate. Next time I change my oil (probably this week sometime) I'll fill it and add incrementally until my level is similar.

Awesome! I hope your right. My fills always take 5.5 on the dot. Genjuan.
I wonder if a quart overfilled could still cause misfires? I cleaned out my intake a few nights ago and their was some oil build up but not much. The sounds I heard under load are what worries me. Unfortunately I can't recreate (but of a mixed blessing).

The car noticeably ran different (in a good way) after removing the extra oil.

I had a friend overfill her (LOL) Maxima; her car wouldn't even run. It was a little low so she added a few quarts. It was about 4 inches past the full mark on the dipstick. I've checked my oil before and it was barely registering, like just a drop; it only took 2 quarts to get it to the full mark. That was when it was using a quart every 200 miles.

Just got off the phone with Todd (Manager over at Camelback Mazda).

Real nice guy who took some more time to explain to me what they are going to do.
They wrote up an RO (Repair Order) stating the dealership overfilled the oil which caused no noticeable damage to engine at the time.

In the event something were to rise in the future due to the dealership's negligence, they will cover any repairs assuming the culprit was the engine oil. Now I find it hard to believe they would ever be able to pinpoint engine nuking to an overfill that occurred in the past.

At least I have acknowledgement in writing on a legally bound document stating they fucked up my oil levels. Better than nothing I suppose.

I'm going to pull my plugs this weekend and maybe do a Seafoam treatment.
I'll probably pursue my own compression test just to give me peace of mind.

Skip the seafoam, lets get them nasty ass valves cleaned instead. With all the issues I've had recently, I can remove the intake manifold in 20 minutes lol.

Need to find someone with a sand blaster! I'm scared to see what my valves look like...

They will look terrible. There is only one car i've seen that does not run meth with clean valves... and he ran Lucas fuel injector cleaner through his car since its conception at each fill up. Almost blew my mind.

We have a sand blaster in Nator AZ, we even had a valve cleaning party a few months back.

Update?

tapatalkin

I am also interested in a update. I took my car in for my free change on friday and after checking it mine to was overfilled by the same margin. Level on the dipstick looks the same as yours. I am thinking I will jack it up this weekend and drain a little but I am curious how much over you were.

Check the dipstick on both sides. It's usually the motor side of the dipstick that shows the correct level for oil.
Also make sure the car was used for at least 15 minutes and then was stopped for 10-15 minutes before checking the oil.

@LynzeC; had this happen...and they used 0w-20 oil. Never trust these idiots.