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Garage Discovered They Have Overfilled Engine Oil For Several Years


birdseye
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We have had an unbelievable load of hastle at Bromsgrove Toyota dealership service dept, one thing after another so we have now cancelled our service contract

I mentioned that every time we have the car serviced they overfill the oil which reduces MPG. Not possible replies the service chap, it's an official measuring device which can't go wrong. I go out the front & dip the oil, it's about 25mm above the maximum mark as usual, they come out expecting me to have made a mistake, manager tries to claim the ground isn't level etc, drives it back in the workshop & 20 minutes later embarassed mechanic tells me they have been unknowingly overfilling hundreds of cars by 1 Litre for years & also admits it adds extra strain on an engine. We note that they now say there is slight misting round an oil gasket, I wonder if it's caused by overfilling & if so they have caused it ?

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Too much sump oil causes an excess of crankcase pressure resulting in oil seal and gasket leaks and reduced fuel economy.

I would ask Toyota to investigate the dealership involved with a view to some form of compensation or a warranty that no defect will arise because of the over filling of oil during the time that this dealership has provided service under the contract.

When I worked for VOSA, I advised many consumers to take this course of action with satisfactory results.

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I'm going to write to Toyota UK & point out the problems I've had recently with Westlands Bromsgrove

here's further examples of the last two weeks

We have a service contract, every year the car comes in for service & MOT, last week we take it in as usual, collect it but not realise it's not been serviced until we note the book is not stamped so we have to book another visit.
This time they service the car but tell us it needs a new heat shield (£103) over the exhaust as it hanging off even though it was MOT'd a couple of days before. Reception girl lies & tells us we had a notification of this on last years MOT but we still have the paperwork & the only mention is a slight leak on the exhaust. ( The exhaust is new, we had it fitted in July after the flange broke off, I won't go into full details but she quoted £1800 to start with!, followed by £1200, followed by £630 with a £50 charge if we didn't have the work done by them.)

On the way home the we notice a loud rattling noise & keep stopping wondering what it is, I discover the heat shield is now hanging off on top of the exhaust & they knowingly let us drive off although when we drove in to Westlands it obviously was not.
We phone up to complain & ask for the general manager but told there isn't one so we speak to the service manager again who offers to fix the shield back for free. So we return yet again but he makes no attempt to come & see us to apologise.


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Ask for the dealer principal. Failing that if it is part of a chain go over his head to their head office (& copy in Toyota UK to any correspondence).

Be nice but imply/insinuate that you will use social media if you do not get satisfaction.

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Ask for the dealer principal. Failing that if it is part of a chain go over his head to their head office (& copy in Toyota UK to any correspondence).

Be nice but imply/insinuate that you will use social media if you do not get satisfaction.

I'm trying to find details of the CEO of Westlands group but no luck so far.

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Surprised to read of your problems at Westlands. I've been dealing with their Hereford branch for many years now (through Avensis, Corolla & Prius) and have never had a problem with their workmanship thus far. Strange how standards vary so much within the same group.

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I emailed one of the other Westlands dealerships who were kind enough to give me the contact details of the group MD

Leaving bad feedback on their own website will result in it getting rapidly deleted I would think ,already typed a letter to Toyota UK for posting tomorrow so I will await replies.

I've been a customer there for 5 years & it's been o.k till recently although apart from reception staff most I remember from 5 years ago

I rarely if ever complain like this but it's gone too far & they seem to be covering each others backs regarding this

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Just be aware you need to write to Toyota GB, who are the organisation responsible for sales and aftercare in the UK -

Toyota (GB) plc

PO Box 814

Portsmouth

PO6 9AY

United Kingdom

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  • 4 weeks later...

Interesting. My car was in there for its 10k service recently. Would have been just before your Prius went in. The service manager seemed decent but the receptionist was a bit ubiky.

Just before that I had it in for investigation for a rattle and they weren't happy when I said I wasn't paying them so they should put it back together. It was from some sweets which had dropped into the chassis and they were going to put expanding foam in to fix it. I said I hadn't agreed to any chargeable work being done. In the end they did it and I paid, but I wasn't happy they were just going to do it and charge me without telling me.

I wonder if I should check my oil now. I haven't noticed any drop in MPG. Probably the opposite actually, I'm getting better than ever in though it's winter.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Two of my last 4 services have had the oil overfilled. I was told that a 'computer dispenser' puts in 'just the right amount'. Well I said, it clearly is the wrong amount. I suspect it is laziness in that the whole amount is shoved in the car.

The correct approach is to put 3+ litres in. Start the engine, run for 3 minutes. Leave switched off for 5 minutes, and then progressively top up to 3.7 litres so it is 3 mm below maximum. But who is going to do that, unless it is your car?

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