Nano

iTrader: (1)

I had my 2nd service(+-6000 miles) at a nissan dealer yesterday and witnessed and unfortunately, experienced a new level of service manager stupidity/ignorance/incompetence.

Because of particular events, I could not perform the oil change myseld, so I decide to bring the car to the dealer with 5 quarts of Royal Purple syntetic 10W40 motoroil(switching from mineral to synth)... big mistake

FIRST The service manager refused to make oil change because RP is not in the reccomended nissan list of oils!!!(is there such a thing???????????) After some argueing the service manager still would not do the oil change because he quote: "never heard of this oil before"... still some more argueing and the service manager was telling me that the RP 10W40 motoroil could NOT be synthetic because it's impossible for synthetic oils to be 10W40... FINALY(after me starting to lose temper), the servie manager agreed to put oil in 350z... BUT said that it would void warranty.... ..... after 30 minutes, calling and talking to 3-4 people in dealership(none of them knowing RP)... he agreed RELUCTANTLY to have oil change....

I was charged EXTRA for the time lost due to "oil approval".

I will not have anymore services at that particular dealer...

But I ask myself.... Am I going crazy? What is the nissan reccomended oil list? Is it my fault? if not.... how can people in charge of service be so incompetent? Should I notify nna about this? If I have an engine problem tomorrow who knows what that jackass is going to tell me...

Note: for all the cars I have owned, from vw to mercedes, audi, bmw, lexus, etc.... I have always done myself the oil changes and have always used the best oil(IMHO) available with original manufacturer oil filters...

Do not underestimate the incompetence of your average Nissan service manager...

jedoublery

Quote:

What is the nissan reccomended oil list?

Nissan specifies 5w-30 Motor oil for the 350Z. In a dealer's opinion, anything other than that is unknown and "NOT PROVEN" to be compatible with the motor. I wouldn't blame them for not wanting to put that in your motor.

Stress on the IMHO part. It is NOT dealer's fault to not stand by "your opinion".
Let's say you bring in a bottle of "Pro-Long" because it is the best thing "IMHO" for your Z, and you want them to put ONLY one bottle of that because that was how they used it on the info-mmercial. Who's fault is it when your motor blows up?

If you want to use Purple Royal, do it yourself. Dealer can only support what they are instructed to.

Nano

iTrader: (1)

You didn't get the point of my post... I could have brought 5W30 royal purple and the manager would have said the same thing... The point is that he doesn't understand viscosity ratings, that he doesn't know what API stands for... and that he thinks his shitty oil he buys for 25cents a quart(and resells at 10x that) is the best for my car... and that he threathens to void my warranty when the oil I intend to use respects all requirements on owner manual.

I am talking about motor oil, not additives AND read the manual again, 5W30 is preferred for all ambient temperatures.... but it mentions clearly that 10W30 and 10W40 may be used if ambient temp is above 0F (-18C). (all time low were I live is 36F and we hit 105F this summer)

jedoublery

Maybe you didn't get their point, (by the way, not flamming you) just letting you know that dealers are more hesitant with products that they are not aware of.

Do you think that the story would be the same if you brought in 5 quarts of 10w-40 Mobil 1?

Beamm

Yes.

Honestly, I don't know why people on these boards think they can go into the dealer and tell them how to do their jobs and expect them to bend over backwards to lick their your car clean (for reference see the thred on being banned from the dealer). The dealers don't have the most talented nor the most knowledgable mechanics (simple economics here, if they were the best then why are they working for a lower hourly wage at a dealership when they could own their own shop or work for an independant and make more money???) Man, these guys are (for the most part) just drones. They have a book. They follow the freakin book. If they don't follow the book they might get fired or get sued or have to pay for your car, and quite honestly they probably can't afford to have any of the above happen. So, the mechanic goes to the next guy up and then to the next and nobody wants to take the responsability for what might happen. It doesn't matter if it's something like oil...it's the rule and the rule is not to be broken. This is just their employment and don't confuse employment with enthusiasm.

So, I think it is totally your fault for what happened. No offense. The guy didn't know what the heck royal purple was. I'd never heard of it before i started reading this board and half my family members design cars for a living. So he didn't want to take a risk on it because he didn't want to put a crappy product in your car. He was probably just trying to cover his a** and look out for your best interests (maybe he thought you were swindled into buying some cheap crap oil off the net -- he had no reason to know that you're a 'enthusiest'). There was no reason to get pissed at him.

Here's how I dealt with my dealer:
When I was buying the car I went to the salesman and manager and said I wanted to meet with the head service writer to ask about car maintainence and repair. We sat down and I said 'if I want to have my own oil put in will you do it?'. He said 'sure'. I said 'what kinds do you guys recommend and what will you put in?'. I knew I wanted Mobil 1 in there but I wanted to see what he had to say. He listed off some oils for me and then agreed to do it for free for the first 5 changes if I brought in my own.

OK, sorry to be harsh but I thought it needed to be said.
<puts on flame suit>

Nano

iTrader: (1)

Na, that wasn't harsh, It's a nice post! You wrote some good stuff, insightfull. I have even to admit you are 100% right, word is that I should have arranged this with dealer before. The reason I posted this is that maybe there is some wisdom to be had from my story, that's all.

Undestand though that what bothered me the most was not that some drony mechanic refused to put an unknown oil brand in my car, what bothered me is that the SERVICE MANAGER didn't even know what the manual says about reccomended oils, he didn't know what SAE viscosity ratings stand for and he didn't know what API ratings represent. And I think this is very basic stuff and a required area of knowledge for a service manager. And I had to pay($$$) for his "education".

I also know that if you would have been there listening to the stuff the guy was saying... you would have been rolling on the ground from laughter, I only posted the facts, not the conversation...

Balls

i'm gonna agree with these guys... in MY humble opinion, the guy was doing you a favor by trying to steer you clear of possible drama. Just like the others say, I'm not trying to antagonize you, but Beamm hits the nail right on the head when he calls those guys drones....

Balls

well, don't i feel like the farkin a-hole...