"...Now let's get you covered in leeches." - Dr. Nick.
Unfortunately, they don't make a leech capable of sucking excess oil from the belly of a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. During a routine oil-and-tire-pressure check, Editor-in-Chief Oldham noticed the oil level on our oil-burning Jetta was nearly two quarts too full. The level was so high, in fact, that it was registering higher the plastic indicator allowed.
No sense continuing driving around like that, I took it to Volkswagen of Santa Monica, where we had the initial service, to see what they had to say...
"Hi, I had this Jetta serviced here a couple-thousand miles ago, just checked the oil. You put too much in."
*sideways glance* "Let's just see what we have here. I'll get a rag."
*Checks oil. Starts looking mad.* "Follow me."
We walk into the labyrinthine service area that looks more like an Ikea display than a dealership. He sits down, I've managed to walk into a glass divider.
*2-minutes of typing*
"You still at 310-xxx-xxxx?"
"Yep"
"I'll call you when it's done."
"Thanks."
About an hour later I got a call that they had drained and refilled the engine with the correct amount of oil.
So in the last few weeks, we've had a Jetta with too much oil, and a Flex with loose lug bolts. Good times.
Mike Magrath, Vehicle Testing Assistant @ 16,542 miles
cah11705 says:
12:28 PM, 06/28/09
makes me glad i do most basic service myself. Most people just don't really care enough about the car to make sure its done right,
roadburner says:
12:47 PM, 06/28/09
I count my lucky stars that both my BMW and Mazda dealers are first-rate with regards to both parts and service. Ditto for my Triumph dealer. Before I bought the MS3 I was leaning toward a GTI but the service departments of the Louisville VW dealers are so notoriously bad that I eliminated the car from consideration.
nealibob says:
01:07 PM, 06/28/09
Yea, that's scary.
@roadrunner: if you already have a German car, I would think the MS3 would be a super easy choice :)
roadburner says:
04:33 PM, 06/28/09
nealibob: It was at the time, unfortunately. In retrospect I wish that I had waited and picked up a nice E46 330i ZHP or M3...:(
dalaw says:
05:22 PM, 06/28/09
Happened to me before. The Honda dealer I went to one time overfilled my oil, about 1 quart extra, and took me 2 visits back to the dealer until they corrected the level. I was very angry.
pengwin says:
05:24 PM, 06/28/09
Hmm, odd, i like my VW service department, nice people, tell you everything upfront..much better than the toyota dealership. the VW sales dept..thats another story. but service is top notch.
nealibob says:
06:01 PM, 06/28/09
@roadrunner: fair enough. I briefly had a MS3, and I was fairly pleased with it. Especially since I only paid like 21k for a grand touring. It's a ton of torque on the front wheels though, so half of the fun is the unpredictability. :)
altimadude00 says:
07:39 PM, 06/28/09
What kind of damage would too much oil do to an engine exactly? And was the service manager mad about giving you more oil than required, or that his techs screwed up the original service?
--Sorry, newbie questions.
kingkhalas says:
08:44 PM, 06/28/09
an hour is too long for this.
zadrik says:
11:28 PM, 06/28/09
Are you running biodiesel? Too much oil in the engine can be a side effect of running biodiesel in engines using late post injection. See the following article.
http://www.savebiodiesel.org/issue.html
2006vr6 says:
04:57 AM, 06/29/09
Maintenance facility should take it in the shorts. Cripes - who are they using for service. Hey - I know. Put in one of the lot drivers to fill in for Bob. What a bunch of knuckleheads! Crap - one could go to Jiffy Lub and get better service for less than this. Maintenance shop needs a wake up call. Hey..there are always opening at Jiffy Lube, Q-7 stations. Maintenance shop needs to give customer something....nice keyring, coupon, hat, something.
audisport says:
08:39 AM, 06/29/09
This is just a reminder that you need to double check the work that these shops do on your vehicle. I had my tires rotated at a Belle Tire in Michigan and the lugs on one wheel were barely hand tightened. After the car shook badly as I drove down the road, I turned around and headed back and spoke to the manager. He kept insisting that "his guys would never do something like that" like perhaps I had loosened the damn things after I left.
vikstk says:
10:10 AM, 06/29/09
Checked the MINI's oil level (did first, 15000 mile, service at Irvine BMW/MINI dealer)... guess what ? 1 quart over the 'MAX' indicator !!! ***mad***
stingray454 says:
11:42 AM, 06/29/09
Could be a bad CDR (a diesel equivalent of a PCV valve). If the oil level goes up by itself again, that is the likely culprit. Or, it could have just been a brain-dead mechanic put too much oil in.
canadaphant says:
12:20 PM, 06/29/09
Zadrik-Biodiesel only went in the old Jetta, this one uses the regular stuff.
santiagofdz says:
01:00 PM, 06/29/09
@roadburner.
I am in exactly the same camp. I would have considered a GTI, but having a dreadful experience with the only VW dealership in town I was never going to consider the GTI. It's a shame, because VWs have some toughtful touches.
The Mazda dealership over here has so far kept me thinking that I made the right choice.
allthingshonda says:
06:37 PM, 06/30/09
Would the BMW electronic oil level system give an indication that it is over filled with oil? I know it alerts when oil is low. Score one for the old fashioned dipstick. This seems to be common, it has happened to me once and I had to return to the dealer a few miles after driving away because the engine had a vibration. Turns my Nissan Pathfinder was serviced after an Armada and the tech did not reset the pump. Six quarts was pumped into an engine that could only hold 4.5 quarts.
lightflyer1 says:
02:47 PM, 07/14/09
Go to www.tdiclub.com to read some of the horror stories about total dealer incompitance. Not only overfilling the oil, but the wrong oil to boot. Reusing one time use fasteners and generally poor work. I had to sell my 2006 as the have really bad cam and clutch issues. Cams are failing routinely between 50 and 90k miles, just after the warranty expires. 4k repair with the same inferior parts. I loved the car itself and the 45 mpg it got, but reliability and service (nonservice) issues were just too much to deal with.
longo2 says:
11:55 AM, 08/22/09
Actually they do make an oil sucking leech for just those occasion where you would like to draw out a little or a lot without crawling under a propped up car on the driveway and letting the oil gush out of the pan.
The generic name for these things is "Fluid Evacuators"
They pull the oil up out of the pan through the dipstick pipe, by vacuum power. Just give the handle a few pumps to get the vacuum built up and the oil starts to flow into the unit. They cost anywhere from $45 to $55.00
Great for sucking out dirty oil from the bottom of the oil filter canister on TDI's and changing a/t fluids without removing the pan.
(I find mine great for changing the oil in my garden ecq. engines, a REALLY messy job in most cases.)
Any good shop should have one, that little overfill could have been solved in about 2 min without so much as an oily rag involved.