Waking up to a puddle of oil under my car = bad.
 

I noticed a puddle of oil under my car so I checked the dipstick and it read at the "L." I also saw the oil literally dripping from the bottom of my car. This was last night, and this morning it appears to be about the same (the puddle hasn't gotten significantly worse). I got my first service free from the dealer on Saturday. I just called them and they are calling me back.

Ugh.

Loose oil drain plug?? No wonder it was free.....eh

tisk tisk...

yup sounds like a service tech forgot to tighten the bolt down :shakes head:

Or maybe didnt use a new crusher...

or left the old rubber gasket on when he put on the new oil filter.

Lucky you saw the oil instead of driving off and having your engine seize up.

*PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT*

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE....do oil changes yourself or bring it to someone you trust. This is the third or fourth thread I see about dealers botching oil changes. I realize there are good dealerships out there, but I've seen this way too much on this site!!

It's not "rubber". Nissan uses a brass crush washer on their drain plugs. It is NOT re-usable. They are around $1. So if someone doesn't replace it, they're either stupid or don't know that it can't be re-used.

I just did my first oil change last night. It was very easy. Just remove 16 bolts and 3 fasteners, drop the splash pan and it's so easy that I didn't spill one drop.

Maybe he means the gasket from the oil filter itself? I dont know how this could have been screwed up. Even if you dont replace the crush washer it shouldnt leak if the bolt is torqued to spec (28-30 ft lbs IIRC). Thats some pretty gross negligence IMO. Is it just me or is service getting worse? Back when I had my 350's I never had this problem when I took it in for service at different dealers in different states.

i was talking about the oil filter gasket..... (i mean since that is what i said in my original post)



the oil filter uses a rubber gasket, the oil pan drain bolt uses a brass washer.....

:icon14:

oh and the brass washer CAN be reused... its not advisable, but its possible to reuse without leaking any oil. but yes at a $1 its silly not to buy a new one...

Dealer towed it to dealership. I just looked at it on the lift. You guys were all close. A new crush washer had been put on, but it hadn't been crushed! Drain plug had not been torqued fully (or really at all). I had been a quart low so I think I will be fine. I'm pretty lucky. Well scratch that, the dealer is lucky.

While it's probably worse at dealerships, this pretty much applies to most service centers. They don't put the certified techs in the oil change area.
That's where the "cheap" labor goes, and you are getting what you pay for.

I once took my wife's car in for her free change... one of the "techs" was changing the tranny fluid on the car beside hers and dumped it all over the passenger side of our car accidentally. Apparently he sprayed a little water at it, and then walked away.

I didn't find it until I got home. The manager got an earful, but it didn't change what happened. If I hadn't noticed it you can imagine what that paint would have looked like a few days later. :shakes head:

Dealers are a nightmare, I only go there when I get free stuff.

You can reuse them. I have for years on Nissans and never had a leak happen.

Sounds like they just hand tightened it :shakes head:

That's just silly.:ugh2:

Indeed I have seen that to many times:shakes head:

Ask for a Tech to do it
 

As the title above states, open your mouth and ask for a tech to change your oil.......... You're the customer not the guy behind the counter writing up the work order. Make sure that it is the same guy each time and the one that does all of the other repairs on your car. In this manner I know what I am getting each and every time I return to the guy that sold me the car.
:tiphat:

I think I am going to start doing my oil changes myself cheaper and I can start using an ester synthetic, but where do you guys dispose the old oil?

This is almost as good as mine... I picked up my brand new Z at 10:00PM, drove it for a while, parked it in the garage... Woke up at 6 am the next morning to a nice puddle of Power Steering fluid on the ground.

Same scenario - crush washer, not crushed. (except it wasn't the dealers fault - it was the factories.)

They are copper - not brass. Brass is pretty hard and isn't maleable like copper. You can reuse them as long as they aren't totaly mashed but at a $1 a piece why bother. I guess don't sweat it if you have to reuse it...

All auto parts stores and shops that do oil changes are required by law to take your old oil and dispose of it for you for free. I have a 5 gallon gas can that I use to store old oil in to cut down on trips.

When I had my first oil change, the 18yo timid nissan service tech actually had the stupidity to say it was the first 370Z he's ever changed the oil on.

I since bought everything to change all the engine and driveline oils myself.

Sorry to hear that mate, at least they took care of it. You should have asked them for free floor mats as compensation. Fark em. ;)

It sounds like the mechanics had a "Bring your kid to work day" and let them loose on your car. Muppets.

I just had my 1000km service, all good so far. They said the oil change was optional which I thought was weird so I had to pay for new oil, filter and washer.

Does the first service in the US include oil at 1000km? (600miles)

I also asked about the oil temp situation as I have been seeing 100C at normal driving. They said the car is designed to run hot and will only be a problem at 140C so not to worry.

I've been doing my own oil changes since I was 18, I have never purchased a crush washer for the oil drain plugs before. Never had any leaks either :) I might start on this car, but then again thats what I said about my 07 R6 and 08 Tacoma, and I still haven't purchased a new crush washer yet.

x2

Autozone, O'Reilly's

Most of the places that sell car parts take oil and send it off for recycling.

The fire station in my little hick town where I grew up, would let you dump oil in this huge canister behind the building for recycling.

Most crush washers are aluminum.

5 gallon bucket and lid is what I use. I'd use a jerry can if I could find one for cheap!

happend to me in my old car it it happend while i was driving didnt notice it till i parked the car and there was oil all over the place
from there on i started doing my own oil changes

i just did mine on the z yesterday takes about an hour and thats only beacuse of all the damn screws and i was really clean with it making sure there are no drips and splatters

Thanks for the responses. I got the mod fever just recently installed the Takeda Intakes (love them). I am probably going to be putting on the Berks HFC and Berks Catback exhaust once they start selling them. So I need to start doing my oil changes, I don’t want my dealer to give me hell when they see I modified the car. If I need to take it in for warranty work (hopefully on a rare occasion), I will put the stock parts back on so I won’t have to worry about the warranty being voided.

:iagree:

If you do your own oil changes, just make sure you keep the receipts for the oil and filters you purchase. In addition, try to keep good records of everything (ie: fill out the service schedule form that came with your car). If there's ever a need for warranty work you may need to show Nissan that you did indeed perform regularly scheduled maintenance.

Nothing silly about it.

You think that was bad. Back in '02 my roommate had her oil changed in her A4 the day we were leaving from LA to SF. I'm driving over the grapevine and start to see white smoke out the back.
Luckily I was just nearing an exit. I put it in neutral and coasted into a Motel parking lot. Turns out she was 2qts+ low of engine oil and tranny was 1qt+ over or something to that effect.
It took 2 months before Audi admitted fault and paid $8k to replace motor and tranny.
:shakes head:

These oil leak after dealer oil change stories pop up every 3-6 months. We were overdue. Sorry it happened to you. Now you realize the 'mechanics' working at Nissan can't even do a single repetitive task correctly. This is why my car has never gone in for anything other than warranty replacement work. Look at your maintenance manual and you'll see that it takes very little skill to do everything the dealer does at every service interval.

I keep my own car running...

the oil tech dude is the same guy that washes all the cars before they sell em.

if i have to take mine in it never really leaves my site. they know me by sight.

:iagree: