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Help - Dealer overfilled oil

Mike_Mac

Mike_Mac

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Messages
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Location
Devon
Car
2.2 CTDi EX
After thinking my hesitation had gone the car started to stagger a little bit today during one drive, which annoyed me, but as I was cleaning the EGR tonight anyway I thought I'd have a close look at it then...

When I stripped everything down there was black crud everywhere - the MAP was totally gunked, the large intake tube had a coating and the IMRC was thick with it too. While cleaning all these up (again) I wondered just how they'd got so oily so quickly... so I checked the oil, while it was warm to see this...

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The only thing I can say is oh S**t!! The oil looks like it's been overfilled big time and it has to have been when my local Honda serviced it 4,000 miles ago. To say I am fuming is putting it mildly - most especially because I'm normally religious about checking this - annoyingly the hesitation stuff has totally distracted me recently. I'm off first thing tomorrow to the local dealer by my work to get some of the oil drained, but come the weekend i'm going to be on the warpath at the one that did the service.

Urgent question - how bad could this be? Is there a good chance of engine damage? If so what's my best next step, as if it's resulted in engine damage then I want the dealer that ****ed up to foot the bill. I could really do with some advice on this!
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sorry to see the dealer over filled this bud, im sure over filling is just as bad as driving it with low oil level...
 
ukaccord said:
sorry to see the dealer over filled this bud, im sure over filling is just as bad as driving it with low oil level...
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AFAIK it can be worse as it over pressurises the oil pump, but i've never experienced it before, so want to see what the likely outcome is.

I'm pretty sure that's what led to all the oil in the air intake system. Wish I'd taken a photo of the MAP now - it was totally choked.
 
Just had the same situation a few days ago.
I removed the excess oil with a gardening tube that fitted the dipstick orifice and attached a trigger spray head and started squeezing. Good luck.
 
Michael, don't panic. It hasn't blown your engine up in the last 4k miles, so hopefully you will be ok till the weekend. That looks like maybe half a litre too much. Classic case of the dealer just filling it with the set quantity rather than taking their time to actually check the levels as they fill it. This is the reason I do my own changes or take it to my mates shop where I can watch him do it.
 
this is really one of my pet peeves when getting servicing done on the car...each time i check straight away to see if they have overfilled...a lot of the times they have, as people have recommended try to get out the excess oil via the tips stick with some hose or just nip down to a local garage to get done for very little money (£2-5 lunch meal?)
 
F6HAD said:
Michael, don't panic. It hasn't blown your engine up in the last 4k miles, so hopefully you will be ok till the weekend. That looks like maybe half a litre too much. Classic case of the dealer just filling it with the set quantity rather than taking their time to actually check the levels as they fill it. This is the reason I do my own changes or take it to my mates shop where I can watch him do it.
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Thanks Fahad - I knew the two marks = 1 litre, so from that thought it looked more like an extra litre plus, so that's a bit better. Considering how many miles I've done though - some of them at EGR purging engine speed, I wonder what was there to start with - certainly the intake system was covered in it.

Alnug said:
this is really one of my pet peeves when getting servicing done on the car...each time i check straight away to see if they have overfilled...a lot of the times they have, as people have recommended try to get out the excess oil via the tips stick with some hose or just nip down to a local garage to get done for very little money (£2-5 lunch meal?)
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Like I said I'll be down to do this first thing today. This is the first time I've not done my own servicing for about 4 years!! Typical!
 
Hence the reason I always check the level before driving over the forecourt :eek:

Check it again when cold. I find that the oil level can be slightly up when warm, due to the way the engine block must expand.
 
nodrogs said:
Hence the reason I always check the level before driving over the forecourt :eek:

Check it again when cold. I find that the oil level can be slightly up when warm, due to the way the engine block must expand.
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You're right - I normally do, when it is me doing the servicing, but was lulled into the 'it's a Main Dealer - it'll be fine' attitude!

It's been drained off now, so all I can do is wait and see. I feel like i'm keeping the diesel faults section going single-handed just now!
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Well I had the dealer in Salisbury drain the excess oil off and have chatted to my local dealer in Exeter who seem happy to provide appropriate compensation - probably a refund of the money charged by the other dealer and I'll also ask for a reduced charge on my next service to compensate for the fact that it wasn't done correctly on the previous one. So far the car seems ok, so that pretty much wraps it up for this.

One thing I did notice was the difference in the the two dealers.

The Salisbury one's attitude, especially from the tech guy, was downright patronising and arrogant. He got a bit better as the conversation went on and later when he called me up, but initially didn't seem to believe that anyone but him might know something about engines. When I mentioned this to someone I work with who has a CRV he said he'd experienced exactly the same thing with that dealer.

The Exeter one, on the other hand, didn't give any hassle at all, were perfectly polite and reasonable and the tech guys were happy to have a quick chat to discuss some of the issues. This has backed up my first impressions of them, but I always feel it's when you have to make a complaint that you see the real colours of a business.

Put it this way - I will still take it back to my local dealer, even if they did make a mistake.
 
Yep, everyone makes mistakes, and it's a long way to Salisbury.
 
I've been there myself, local dealer did it to me twice, the second time was even after I pointed out that it had happened previously.

It was blamed on an incorrectly calibrated autofill system.

I now do all my own oil changes etc.

Whilst it always feels so wrong to do, you need to check the oil level when you go to pick the car up, you might get labelled as a fussy guy, but then they will check to make sure the level is right.
 
CJM said:
Whilst it always feels so wrong to do, you need to check the oil level when you go to pick the car up, you might get labelled as a fussy guy, but then they will check to make sure the level is right.
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Totally agree with you on that one - plus if they know you do that they're more likely to make sure they get it right.
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So now that you have had the oil drained do you feel any difference with the car, positive or negative?

I'm always cautious about overfilling mine and you have to take into account some thrmal expansion on these engines so I normally fill out 3/4's full and then allow for some thermal expansion.

Will you be cleaning the EGR etc now to get the car back to its former self?
 
Shab if you follow Michael's progress, you'll see he's disabled the EGR altogether with our software.
 
F6HAD said:
Shab if you follow Michael's progress, you'll see he's disabled the EGR altogether with our software.
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And I had cleaned it out before. TBH it seemed to drive ok with the overfill, but there was still the hesitation. As said, that has now gone! :)
 
Sorry meant to say what was the result after you cleaned it pre erg removal. Also have you noticed your engine getting louder or anything?
 
Shabz said:
Sorry meant to say what was the result after you cleaned it pre erg removal. Also have you noticed your engine getting louder or anything?
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In order - No change after cleaning and pre-EGR OFF Map; No the engine has not changed in note at all, apart from not hesitating.
 
Quick Update to conclude this thread:

I've just had a call from the senior Service Manager at Hendy Honda in Marsh Barton, Exeter to apologise, in a very genuine manner, for the overfill. The photo I provided, as well as the other information, was very useful to him and he is now dealing with it internally to re-educate the technician concerned. He was very frank in that it was most likely the technician, rather than an incorrectly calibrated machine at fault.

As compensation he has offered to provide me with a refund of my costs to get the oil removed and give me my next service free (oil/filter and fuel filter drain). In addition he has given me free inclusion on the Honda Happiness roadside ***istance/recovery deal and consideration towards the costs incurred if any main seals etc pop within the next 12 months/20K miles.

To be honest this is over and above what I would have expected as reasonable compensation, so hats off to Hendy for sorting this out so promptly and to my complete satisfaction. At no point was there any quibbling, the Dealer immediate took responsibility for the mistake and has now provided me with peace of mind should anything happen.

As I've said in previous posts mistakes are going to happen. What's more important is the company responsible's attitude and response that is most telling, and in this case I don't think they could have done more. :)
 
Excellent feedback mate... And the dealer has handled it very well. Nice to see that sort of service post mistake.
 
Good result for you and Hendy its how dealers deal with any issues that seperates the good from bad ime.
 
Nice to know some dealers can own up and take responsibility for their mistakes.

Sounds like they were mortified
 
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