Fuming!
 

Picked up my (new to me) '08 STI PPP hatch over the weekend.

Got it home and decided to go nuts on a really good clean and polish inside and out. Then, thought I'd check a few things. Now the car (just on 49k) was meant to of had it's 50k service before I collected it.

First check, oil.

I hit the roof.

It was over-filled. Bear in mind, I checked it from being sat cold, unstarted/disturbed for more than 24 hours - the level on the stick was at the top of the bloody 'twisted portion'! And it was jet-black!

Just found out this morning that it has infact NOT had it's service yet - salesman error - apparently the job card he filled out only had 'MOT' on it. So, 'possibly' (saying that loosley!) human error there fair enough - what about the excess oil? Salesman tells me he has spoken to the 'technician' they have working in the garage there who said he did check all the fluid levels....

So now I have to arrange to trapes back to where the car came from (not a million miles away, but not 'local') to have the service done. However I'm now really sceptical about them getting their hands back on it!

What I do is mark various parts of the car that I know need to be to be disturbed to do a service.

For example; A few blobs of nail varnish on the oil filter.

I also put a few blobs between the sump plug,washer,and sump right on the join (best with a warm engine so it dries fast) - if its messed with they won't align afterwards (just beware some garages use suction pumps through the dipstick tube :rolleyes: )

Just did this with our BMW which has a TLC service pack (free servicing) Some BM dealers have a bit of reputation for "forgetting" to change to the oil on a oil service :rolleyes:.

lol my dad does this, he just likes to argue with people though......

gutted for you mate,get them to pay for a full check over and service from a "specialist" thats if you have one near you??
good luck and hope you get it sorted out:thumb:

good idea :)

OP - i can understand your pain, especially as i bet it was a negotiation point for you when buying.

Yeah Pete.

Part of me is wishing I'd just walked away tbh. But I'd been looking for a good little while and it was reasonably local to me, had good miles, full (haha!) service history and only 2 owners as well as the PPP.

Thing is, I've no real idea how long it's had too much oil in it - it could even be the case that it arrived to them like that - who knows! I'm thinking there's good grounds for that train of thought as there's a fair film of oil vapour all over the top of the engine - could do with a good steam clean! (read that with a pinch of salt as I'm known for being 'particular' lol). Fingers crossed now that when it does get it's service (circa sometime next week) that the muppets use the right bloody oil and a good filter and not just some out of the random bottle they might have sat in the corner of the garage! And you can bet it won't be the true-to-gospel '50k service either!!! (i'm still looking for a full breakdown of that actually).

I think you have every right to tell them exactly what grade of oil / filter to use given the fcuk around they have given you. I would speak to the manager when you drop it off and voice your concerns.

I am not sure on the timescales in your situation, but if your really that pissed about it there may be the option to reject the car. I cant quote what time frame this is but worth researching before you take the car back / speak to the manager.

Pete

Be careful when looking at the dipstick on the hatch as it lies flat against part of the engine and one side will read that its overfilled and the other will read correctly, mine has caught me out a few times.

Ha, ha.......Good man. Sounds like me, the older (and wiser?) you get the more you distrust garage mechanics. Often with good reason!

JohnD

Fill the washer bottle to the brim and see if they still charge you for screen wash ;)
They said " we took some out" when I questioned the bill :wonder:

Ohh ok, cheers ABX! I'll remember that little tip for in the future then, but this was most definately over-filled as both sides of that twisted section above the 'measuring area' were covered.

But after I drained it (and this was when I found out how black the apparent new oil was) that once it was back down to the measuring area on the stick, one side was indeed higher than the other.

I'm dreading asking the next question, as in the passed it ALWAYS got a mixed answer and/or open a can 'o worms, but am I right in thinking the oil wants to be about a 5w40 (going by Subaru's recommendations), but do I tell 'em fully or semi synthetic? I've tended to opt for semis in my previous WRXs, but this is my first 2.5 and my first STI.

Bit of problem with this: What they should do is check the freezing point with a refractometer. That's what we do. If it there isn't enough concentrate (too much water), we drain some out to give space for more concentrate.

Now if you have a refractometer or use a good quality premix from empty, fine, but beware that some premixes are only any good down to -5 degrees, which is useless in winter. We use Quantum concentrate, and thats good down to -20 degrees if used 50:50. I defrost the windscreen screen with it in winter :D

PS nearly all 5w-40 oils are full synthetic.

5w-30 oils can often be either
10w-40 oils are mostly semi-synthetic (or part synthetic, which is the current buzzword :rolleyes:).

However, what constitutes as a "fully-synthetic" oil these days is highly debateable.

Oh.
lol.
I hadn't realised that!

Ohhh I don't want to get into it - somebody else will come along and we'll start the great oil debate again haha.