- Joined
- Jul 5, 2018
- Posts
- 1,168
- Reaction score
- 2,063
- Location
- Out
- Ram Year
- 2017 QC 4WD SLT
- Engine
- Pentastar 3.6
Okay, so I go in at 31500 miles on the odo to get the big look-over done, nose-to-tail. Came to $tons total for servicing all-round ( right down to cleaning/inspecting all sensors and the fuel injectors - I think the only thing they didn't do was swap the tranny fluid, since it's ZF). I figured with the B2B warranty running out, I'd give it a go... took the day off to do it.
The Dealership: St. Helens Auto Group, in Warren, Oregon. As a small rural dealership, they sell more trucks than anything else.
The good: In spite of having thieves stealing a vehicle (and an F-350's custom wheels) last night from the dealership, they handled the morning rush of customers, no sweat. They got all my stuff done in like 2.5 hours total.
The bad: one of the mechanics was a new guy, who didn't realize that if you're not careful with the seal on the 3.6 v6 oil filter, you'll break it. Neither he or I knew it was broken until 6 miles down the road (state highway), when I get a CEL, then suddenly my truck bellowed blue smoke everywhere behind me... I pulled over, got out (while the engine was still running - just long enough to quickly ensure that none of the smoke was coming out of the exhaust pipe), and quickly popping the hood, I find that oil was spewing everywhere in the engine bay (and the cap was tight, so...)
The Outstanding: So I immediately haul ass back to the dealer. They drop everything to handle it - I mean everything - and get their top mechanic on it, as well as the kid who worked on it. Poor kid got a solid lesson about oil seals on the 3.6 Pentastar, and everyone, from him to the P&S manager, is personally apologizing like mad the whole time. They assured me (and showed me) that I still had the majority of my oil still in the engine. They then do a *complete* oil and filter change again (Synthetic, like before), then power-washed the engine bay until it was impeccable, then inspected/cleaned everything that they had so much as breathed on today... all while I watched from a distance (I didn't feel like hanging around the customer lounge anymore today). My filthy truck also wound up clean, top to bottom.
The TL;DR: I actually want to give mad props to these guys. For a small and often over-worked dealership (Their Service Department is almost always slammed), these guys do amazing stuff.
Am I mad? At first I was rather horrified (as in 'crap - my engine is about to explode!'), then I was momentarily miffed, but then...
...I've done maintenance for years before going white-collar. I know what it's like to screw up something due to some engineer who has never had to put up with the results of bad design (a small O-ring for an oil filter seal? Urgh). It happens.
These guys went way out of their way to remedy the situation. When they were done, it was like nothing ever happened. The only thing I lost was around 45 extra minutes or so.
Will I go back? Believe it or not, sure. I was that kid once, decades ago - as was everyone else who had ever turned a wrench, or wrangled a soldering iron, or swung a hammer. The look of horror on his face when he saw the engine bay, then the later look of intense concentration as the top mechanic showed him what he should have done (as I watched from a distance - he couldn't have seen me offhand), told me all that I needed to know about his dedication towards becoming better at what he does.
The Dealership: St. Helens Auto Group, in Warren, Oregon. As a small rural dealership, they sell more trucks than anything else.
The good: In spite of having thieves stealing a vehicle (and an F-350's custom wheels) last night from the dealership, they handled the morning rush of customers, no sweat. They got all my stuff done in like 2.5 hours total.
The bad: one of the mechanics was a new guy, who didn't realize that if you're not careful with the seal on the 3.6 v6 oil filter, you'll break it. Neither he or I knew it was broken until 6 miles down the road (state highway), when I get a CEL, then suddenly my truck bellowed blue smoke everywhere behind me... I pulled over, got out (while the engine was still running - just long enough to quickly ensure that none of the smoke was coming out of the exhaust pipe), and quickly popping the hood, I find that oil was spewing everywhere in the engine bay (and the cap was tight, so...)
The Outstanding: So I immediately haul ass back to the dealer. They drop everything to handle it - I mean everything - and get their top mechanic on it, as well as the kid who worked on it. Poor kid got a solid lesson about oil seals on the 3.6 Pentastar, and everyone, from him to the P&S manager, is personally apologizing like mad the whole time. They assured me (and showed me) that I still had the majority of my oil still in the engine. They then do a *complete* oil and filter change again (Synthetic, like before), then power-washed the engine bay until it was impeccable, then inspected/cleaned everything that they had so much as breathed on today... all while I watched from a distance (I didn't feel like hanging around the customer lounge anymore today). My filthy truck also wound up clean, top to bottom.
The TL;DR: I actually want to give mad props to these guys. For a small and often over-worked dealership (Their Service Department is almost always slammed), these guys do amazing stuff.
Am I mad? At first I was rather horrified (as in 'crap - my engine is about to explode!'), then I was momentarily miffed, but then...
...I've done maintenance for years before going white-collar. I know what it's like to screw up something due to some engineer who has never had to put up with the results of bad design (a small O-ring for an oil filter seal? Urgh). It happens.
These guys went way out of their way to remedy the situation. When they were done, it was like nothing ever happened. The only thing I lost was around 45 extra minutes or so.
Will I go back? Believe it or not, sure. I was that kid once, decades ago - as was everyone else who had ever turned a wrench, or wrangled a soldering iron, or swung a hammer. The look of horror on his face when he saw the engine bay, then the later look of intense concentration as the top mechanic showed him what he should have done (as I watched from a distance - he couldn't have seen me offhand), told me all that I needed to know about his dedication towards becoming better at what he does.
