[JohnMB]

When I bought my 3.5SE I told the dealer I liked the convenience of places like Oil Changers for getting my oil changed. Not to mention it's cheaper. He cautioned me though, saying that, and I quote, "the young guys at the Oil change places are overtightening the aluminum parts that are on the new Alti's, which is causing damage". My more car savy friend says he seriously doubts that they made the oil caps out of aluminum. Anyone know?

 

[javentre]

I doube he was referring to overtightening the oil cap - more likely the oil pan and drain plug - you can strip them - then you have to retap the threads or replace the pan.

25 ft lbs is all it takes to do the drain plug w/ a new crush washer

 

[jkwright]

The pan isn't aluminum; nor is the drain plug. They're stamped steel and steel, respectively. Just FYI. And John, the dealer is feeding you a usual scare-tactic load of BS. The monkeys that they have doing oil changes at most dealers are no better (or worse) than the Jiffy Lube crowd.

Jarrod K. Wright
'02 3.5 SE 5-speed
'02 G20 Sport 5-speed

 

[2002Altima]

There is some truth to the chain stores not necessarily knowing about your car. But, now that YOU know, you can tell them not to overtighten it because they might strip it.

I worked at one of those Kwik Kar / Jiffy Lube places back in highschool, and the people that worked there longer than I did would always say to me, "That's a ford. it takes a blah blah blah size filter" "That's a volvo. The oil drain plug is hard to get at" They kind of prided themselves in knowing about a lot of cars.


When I took my car to the dealer for an oil change, I also asked them to take a look at a warranty issue problem. The service manager straight up told me that it was a saturday and they only have people there who knew how to do oil changes and wash cars. He basically told me that they were incompitent workers. Even the dealer can make the mistake and overtighten that lug nut and cause a problem. I would be willing to bet that if the dealer DID strip out your drain plug, they wouldn't tell you, but just re-thread the hole and put the drain plug back in.

So, after all that....... Mistakes can happen anywhere.

 

[marks]

get one of these ! www.fumotovalve.com

 

[javentre]

at a lot of dealerships - the same tech's that change out racks are the same ones that do oil changes. Your chances of getting an ASE certified tech - for an oil change is MUCH greater at the dealer than ay Jiffy - cause if they were certified - they wouldn't be working at a jiffy lube


Steel or Aluminum it doesn't matter - they can both be stripped.

 

[jkwright]

Steel or Aluminum it doesn't matter - they can both be stripped.

True, but the point I was trying to make is that the dealer wheeled in a load of crap when he mentioned "young guys" overtightening "aluminum parts"; there's none to be had during an oil change on an '02 Altima. (And thread-for-thread, aluminum strips much easier than steel, as the metal is substantially softer.)

You get the idea. Once a dealer lies to you, it's usually a good time to move on to the next one, or even better, take care of simple things like oil changes yourself. It hardly takes an ASE-certified technician to unscrew a bolt and a filter.

Jarrod

 

[javentre]

It hardly takes an ASE-certified technician to unscrew a bolt and a filter.

Agreed, it just takes someone who gives a crap about their work and shows some pride in what they do.

 

[JohnMB]

Ummm...just got off the phone with the service manager at the Nissan dealership I bought my car at. Their Nissan oil change price is between $25 and $30, depending on Nissan deals being offered at the time of service. That's cheaper than Oil changers. Looks like I will be using the dealer service after all.

 

[2002Altima]

Better make an apointment and have 3 hours of time you want to kill. Then when their done, bring a rag because oil will be all over your engine cover.

That's at least how it went at my dealership.

 

[marks]

JohnMB -
The dealer won't do it in 30 minutes or less. Plan on camping out in the waiting room for a while.

 

[JohnMB]

bring a rag because oil will be all over your engine cover

If so, or if I find that the job was not done well, that will be the last of my business they'll see. Supposedly they are indendently rated as the #1 dealer in sales and service nationwide for their Volkswagon line. They're a combo dealership, Volkswagon, SAAB and now Nissan. They're going to have to drop the SAAB line due to taking on Nissan.