What would you think?
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 116
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From: Kansas City Kansas
What would you think?
Not too long ago the dealership replaced the clutch packs on my 06, C6 auto. When I got the car back, I noticed that the car had been driven 15 miles, the oil percentage had gone from 94% to 89%, the fuel was down two ticks and the avg mpg had gone down from 23 to 13.4. I was told that they did not drive it over 65mph and that they had to drive it for five minutes to the left and five minutes to the right to get the clutch packs to seat. I was also told that the DIC readings would be off since they disconnected the battery to change the OnStar antenna. They accounted for the lower gas mileage saying that they left the car idling while they changed the OnStar antenna.
Truth or Bull?
Plus I was a little suspect when the service order writer did not know how to find and log the miles; therefore he listed it as 16,000 when I actually had 14,481 when I took it in.
Truth or Bull?
Plus I was a little suspect when the service order writer did not know how to find and log the miles; therefore he listed it as 16,000 when I actually had 14,481 when I took it in.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 973
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St. Jude Donor '08
I wouldn't worry, these guys don't get paid for driving around. And they even get paid less for waranty work. letting it idle will change the average fuel especially if you don't have many miles on it since you last reset it. They should have driven it a bit in slow 8s to break in the packs.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 116
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From: Kansas City Kansas
Originally Posted by Atomic Punk
if it's fixed, count your blessings.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,208
Likes: 1
Originally Posted by ajsjr
Not too long ago the dealership replaced the clutch packs on my 06, C6 auto. When I got the car back, I noticed that the car had been driven 15 miles, the oil percentage had gone from 94% to 89%, the fuel was down two ticks and the avg mpg had gone down from 23 to 13.4. I was told that they did not drive it over 65mph and that they had to drive it for five minutes to the left and five minutes to the right to get the clutch packs to seat. I was also told that the DIC readings would be off since they disconnected the battery to change the OnStar antenna. They accounted for the lower gas mileage saying that they left the car idling while they changed the OnStar antenna.
Truth or Bull?
Plus I was a little suspect when the service order writer did not know how to find and log the miles; therefore he listed it as 16,000 when I actually had 14,481 when I took it in.
Truth or Bull?
Plus I was a little suspect when the service order writer did not know how to find and log the miles; therefore he listed it as 16,000 when I actually had 14,481 when I took it in.
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Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2000
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From: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
St. Jude Donor '13
Originally Posted by Whiterock1
If everything else was true, how the hell could the oil life go down that much in 15 miles? I can't even imagine anything but 60 passes at a drag strip!
If you let it just sit and idle, the oil life would eventually go to 0 with no miles added.
Ford says that for engine wear (not oil life), each hour of idling is equal to driving 33 miles. So if you want to see how much engine wear is on a used police car, take the odometer reading and double it.
Pro
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 664
Likes: 0
From: Fort Walton Beach FL
When I got my car back from the dealer auto body it had the same mileage but it looked like they had let it idle quite a bit too (they were probably listening to tunes on my MP3 CD while it was sitting there in the paint shop since I noticed it was a lot further down in the playlist). Since I burned a lot of gas in the loaner car I would say everything evened out though.
So I'm inclined to say you should believe them and they were telling the truth since the alternative is too horrific to consider, i.e. breaking in new clutch plates by doing burnouts in the parking lot sounds like the worst possible scenario I can imagine.
So I'm inclined to say you should believe them and they were telling the truth since the alternative is too horrific to consider, i.e. breaking in new clutch plates by doing burnouts in the parking lot sounds like the worst possible scenario I can imagine.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 254
Likes: 2
From: Beachwood (Cleveland) Ohio
Not long ago, a local owner of a brand-new Porsche 911 took his car to a nationally known tire store to get a different set of tires installed. He returned after work to discover the "technician" took is car out for a joy ride on the highway and totalled the thing. The dealer was sued for a replacement plus emotional damages. The "technician" is now asking if you want fries with that.
You just never know
Doug
You just never know
Doug
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 10,348
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From: Franklin, Tennessee NCM Life Member #1631
Cruise-In VI, VII & XII Veteran
St Jude Donor '07-'08-'09
If you had the window valet installed you could check and see what the highest RPM and fastest speed recorded on your car and have the peice of mind you are seeking. But, on the other hand you might find out just how hard your car was driven. If all is well with the repairs do you really want to know?
Race Director
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 11,907
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From: Between a rock and a hard place, S.E. PA
Originally Posted by Whiterock1
5% oil life is roughly 400 miles. They drove it 15. How much idling would it take to make the equivilent of 385 miles, I wonder? Logically you would be talking about several hours--or a very hard 15 miles.
I'd be more concerned about the service writer making up numbers because he/she is too lazy to find out how to read the odometer. That info is routinely turned in to reporting agencies and used to find odometer roll-backs. Carfax could send up a red flag if he gets another service or inspection before he reaches 16k miles, and it could be there forever because nobody will know how to fix it.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 2,208
Likes: 1
Originally Posted by C5pilot
Oil life is measured by revolutions (engine hours or hobbs) AND engine temp. There is no correlation between that and miles, period. It's in the manual.
I'd be more concerned about the service writer making up numbers because he/she is too lazy to find out how to read the odometer. That info is routinely turned in to reporting agencies and used to find odometer roll-backs. Carfax could send up a red flag if he gets another service or inspection before he reaches 16k miles, and it could be there forever because nobody will know how to fix it.
I'd be more concerned about the service writer making up numbers because he/she is too lazy to find out how to read the odometer. That info is routinely turned in to reporting agencies and used to find odometer roll-backs. Carfax could send up a red flag if he gets another service or inspection before he reaches 16k miles, and it could be there forever because nobody will know how to fix it.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 25,025
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From: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
St. Jude Donor '13
Originally Posted by Whiterock1
I said the equivalent of 485 miles. While miles per se may not be the determinent factor, equivalency of time idling vs time driving can be established. The reasonable man would conclude idling at 800 rpm vs driving at 1800 rpm would require a much longer time to reduce oil life proportionately.
Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 3,786
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From: Pleasanton California
If it was me, and the car came back with a good repair & in as good a shape as I sent it off I wouldn't trip. 
The Chevy dealer I go to always logs the odometer when you drop it off, so you know exactly how many miles they put on it. They get a lot of Corvettes there, so I have no suspicion they would take mine (which is just another one on the list) out for a joyride.
The Chevy dealer I go to always logs the odometer when you drop it off, so you know exactly how many miles they put on it. They get a lot of Corvettes there, so I have no suspicion they would take mine (which is just another one on the list) out for a joyride.
Last edited by djfullshred; Sep 26, 2006 at 11:25 AM.
Team Owner
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From: Northern NYs Adirondack Mountains,http://www.visitsacandaga.com.
Originally Posted by ProfMoriarty
IMO, they hammered the hell out of your car.
Remember the parking garage scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"?
Remember the parking garage scene from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"?
I used to live in a area that had 3 large dealerships close by on the main road. I saw a lot of their test rides. The old saying "Drive it like you stole it comes to mind"
Racer
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 331
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Seems reasonable except for the avg mpg. Think the car was probably driven hard to cause change like that. You could disconnect the bat yourself and see waht the DIC readings are after you reconnect. I would think that either the info is stored in non volatile mem thus would not be lost or would display zero or ? or similar. Don't believe it would just put up random or erroneous readings like he told you.