Volemangler

I recently had my STi8 serviced after its 1000 run-in. I eagerly picked the car up and immediately drove it about 100 miles down to the New Forest to visit my brother. I was driving briskly, but rarely taking the engine above 5500 rpm. After I'd had dinner, I had a whim that I should look under the bonnet and check nothing had fallen off, and that the oil was ok. This is when I noticed to my disbelief that the oil was barely registering on the end of the dipstick. The car was on level ground and had been parked for hours. The shops were closed and after a frantic visit to every filling station within a 20 mile radius in my brothers (rather incredible) 911 Carera Cabrio, I resigned my self to the fact that I was stranded. Next morning, I phoned the dealer back in Cheltenham who told me to put oil in car and take it in to them. I put just under a litre in, which eventually took it just over the full mark. I didn't know if the car had lost a lot of oil or had simply been underfilled, so I erred on the generous side.

After taking the car back home, covering the same distance I had previous travelled with a now full sump, the car had lost no oil, indicating that it had been underfilled. Of course, now there was oil in the car, I had no proof that it had been underfilled, and the dealer denied any wrongdoing.....not even an apology. They drained off the excess and sent me on my way saying that a low level of oil as I had described would do no damage and that "I waould know it if it had". They also said that by over filling it I could have caused oil to be drawn into the turbo, but that this hadn't happened, thankfully. They told me that they fill the sump to a level which settles half way between the Low and Full marks. My car way short of a good 3/4 a litre when I checked it though, with the level sitting maybe 4mm from the bottom of the dipstick. And I could have potentially driven around with the car underfilled llike this for a few thousand miles.

Anyone have the knowledge and experience to tell me if my engine could have been damaged, and if so, where I can take it to independently verify this ? Feels OK apart from a hesitation in 2nd gear somethimes, which I think has always been there. I'm reliably informed this could be down to a hole in the ECU mapping.

The dealer is due to fit my PPP when it finally arrives, having been on order with them since January 18th. I think I may cancel this and order from elsewhere !

Bignuts

Let us know the dealer ???

Rasher

Did you ask the dealer the reason for the oil registering below the dipstick just after it had received it's 1000 mile change by them???
Especailly as the car doesn't seem to have a leak.
I would be very interested to know their reply

Nige

Volemangler

The dealer is CD Bramall.
Yes, I asked the dealer why it was registering low, and they told me it was because they fill to a level between the Low and Full marks.....in effect denying that it was underfilled at all, but that I was in error. I could not pin them down about this and they never admitted it.

Rasher

******************** My wife used to work for Quicks until he bought them out.
***********************************
I do feel sorry for you
I don't know where you stand legally as it is your word against theirs.
It's no consolation I know but if anything does happen to the engine it is under warranty

******************* please keep comments factual *****************

[Edited by Rasher - 3/22/2003 12:31:29 PM]

[Edited by Josh L - 3/22/2003 5:15:51 PM]

Volemangler

Cheers Rasher, but the car seems OK. I'm just really bl00dy annoyed.

Josh L

Whilst I appreciate that there are several member with experience of this dealer, could you please ensure that post are limited to factual statements rather than parsonal/abusive ones.

Many thanks

Josh

Hoppy

I hope I'm wrong but just suppose...

Oil filter is fitted without pre-filling it. Car is filled with oil to mid-level on the dip-stick.

When car is started, it is running dry and the bearings pick up while the filter fills up. This is regarded by some as the most likely cause of the mysterious Scooby big-end failure

Dealer then forgets to recheck the oil level and serious damage has already been done Give-away is that the oil level is now low.

As I say, I hope I'm wrong and it's only a theory, but I don't chance it and print out detailed instructions when my car is in for service (including disconnecting the crank sensor and turning the engine on the starter to cirulate new oil).

Good luck

Richard.

Rasher

Josh I do appreciate the fact that from time to time you have to edit threads,but the statement I made was based on fact I would gladly e mail you the correspondance my wife received regarding the way she was treated during the transition period when Quicks changed to Bramall Quicks making it impossible for her to remain with the company.
Also I would gladly e mail you with correspondance I received when trying to make as it turned out an unsuccessful warranty claim with said company in relation to my wife's Ford Focus.
So as you can see I feel very bitter towards this company, but have very good reason.
I hope that you understand.

Thanks
Nige

[Edited by Rasher - 3/22/2003 5:35:24 PM]

SiDHEaD

They are useless. I've had loads of duff info from them. The latest being telling me they couldn't reset my alarm PIN, and i would have to pay for them to fit a modification to stop radio interference. Took it elsewhere and they are changing my PIN for free.

Wont be going there again even though its up the road from work. I'll quite happily travel the extra 15miles to somewhere decent.


Andy

[Edited by SiDHEaD - 3/22/2003 7:11:10 PM]

PSI3

Volemangler, dump them, go to Simpsons in Highworth Near Swindon, just bought my third Impreza in two years from them, nothing but praise especially for the service/parts department.

simon

Josh L

Rasher,

You might consider them to be useless, but just calling them a bunch of 'self abusers' isn't acceptable.

If you wish to say they are useless because......., then that is based on fact, and would be OK (within reason).

Josh

Phil Harrison

So far as my STi 7 is concerned...... it used a lot of oil quite quickly untl it had really loosened up. Also, there's been a thread on SN which suggests that the margin between low and high marks on the dipstick isn't as big as you might think..... just bear it in mind.

Phil

medders

Simpsons are very good with me and I have no complaint, but they did leave the oil filler cap off my brothers MY99 turbo causing the engine to cease working.
They did fix it, but flatly refused to say exactly what they had fixed.

The car was never the same again.

Paul

yikes

If the car was never the same again, then surely they _didn't_ fix it?

Volemangler

I'm astonished by the level of apathy and incompetence which which appears to have been demonstrated by some UK Subaru dealerships. I thought Lotus dealers were bad, but their offences are beginning to seem minor by comparison. It's a shame that such a brilliant product as the Impreza isn't always backed up by the sort of service it deserves.

Josh L

There are 4 dealers with 30 miles or so of me, but I still choose to do a 180 mile round trip to another. Having said that, I can't say I've ever had bad service from the two local ones I've used, I just prefer the other.

Admittedly, I would never use one of the local ones because of the poor attitude of the sales staff years ago, and I excersied my right to spend my money elsewhere.

There's always a few that ruin it for the rest, but I think it's fair to say that when reading most dealer complaints, the same names do come up again and again.

Obviously this doesn't help anyone whose local dealer isn't up to much but, IMHO, most of them are pretty good, and much better than the Ford and Honda dealers I experienced when I used to lease cars.

Josh

SiDHEaD

A dealer left the oil cap off mine (before i had it) - it had to have a new engine and a new turbo.

Andy

Volemangler

I've dumped CD Bramall and I'm going to get Simpsons to check the car over and fit the PPP which CD were going to fit......probably to the glovebox.

Fuzz

Thought I managed to put across that CD ******** were a bunch of ***** some time ago. i.e when i bought my car last august.
It was sold to me as one owner .... it had two !
it was sold with a de-cat with the cat in bubble wrap in the boot for MOT. ...... On picking up car cat was nowhere to be seen.
when I actually complained they said it would pass an MOT without cat and it was not illegal to drive .... it did not pass the MOT (at another garage)

never ever going back.... (sales)
have been back to parts and totally ignored selling dealer as he walked by

Andy
(self edited to save mods the bother )