ajderzie

1. Just because they changed your oil in your LS7 last time perfectly, doesn't mean they can do it twice.

2. There are 2 drain plugs. One for the small reservoir at the bottom of the crankcase and the other which drains the dry sump holding container.

3. Draining only from one plug will not get all of the oil out.

4. Removing the plastic fuel rail cover and opening the "sealed" cap (which is not really sealed) and filling it with 4-5 quarts of oil is not a good idea.

5. Doing number 3 and number 4 at the same time is a double bad

6. Topping off the sump, after draining from one plug and filling oil in the "sealed" cap under the fuel rail is a triple bad

7. Starting the car after a triple bad is a quadruple bad (even if you drained the sump and refilled it because the crankcase is still overfilled with oil)

8. If seeing white smoke coming out of your exhaust causes you to immediately shut off the engine, you did something good!

9. If engine freezes, don't be surprised

10. If your starter is toast after trying to start a frozen engine, don't be surprised

Moral of the story is if someone puts oil in the valve cover cap and not in the sump, do not start the engine. Drain all of the oil from BOTH drains to get all of the oil out the crankcase. Then follow the correct procedure. We all know it so I'm not going to repeat it.

Next moral of the story is don't go to the 10 min oil change place or watch them like a hawk, otherwise change it yourself.

Last moral of the story is don't flame the guy who lives in manhattan and has no place to change his own oil; whose manhattan dealer refuses to touch Corvettes (or even change their oil); who was luckily able to get his car towed (thanks on star) to a real dealer and have the engine drained and compression tested (all is well) and the starter replaced; AND who learned his lesson and is now passing it on to you.



PS. Wife says that she deserves credit for picking me up from far away dealer. She also says that she told me not to do oil change.

Mandatory pic of wife:

Wooo

Do what wife says

AirBusPilot

Probably best to give the oil change guys a briefing on how to do it.

sublime1996525

From all the bad dealer experiences I've read I don't think it matters if it's a 10 minute place or the dealer. It all depends on the staff. Hope they paid for the starter.

bass mechanic

you had me at 10 minute oil change..
i already knew what the rest of the post would be describing.

what gets me every time is out of all the cars an oil change place would work on, how many of the various models require you to remove a cover with no obvious signs on how it comes out. with a 60K+ car eventually removing it, having to forceably remove a cap that says "do not remove on it"
fill nearly 10 times the amount oil that was drained
and never once questioned if they were doing it correctly?

it just goes to show the true lack of intelligence needed to be a lube tech. i think the only qualifications you need to get that job is
1. have you ever done an oil change before?
2. do you know what an oil filter looks like?
3. your asked to confirm the correct order to replacing the oil, drain old, REPLACE PLUG then fill
4. know how to read a dipstick
5. know the difference between weights of oil

and most importantly always take the wiper blades off and point out how badly worn they are along with the air filter and cabin filter so you can sell an over priced equivelent to an unsuspecting customer.

i kid you not, i once had an accord i took to jiffy lube that i have actually just stopped by the auto parts store the day before and installed a new set of wipers to be told 1 day later that they were in need of replacement!

i believe that was THE LAST time i have ever gone to an oil change shop!

i do understand the OP delimma not having the ability to do yourself. however its hard to be sympathetic when if it were my car i would be standing right in front of the car making sure it was done right!

capevettes

These stealership oil change stories never cease to amaze me. I just did mine at home 2 days ago. It really isn't rocket science.

Also: I would follow your wife's every command

20psirabbit

It's pretty horrible that your local dealer won't change the oil on a car they sell and should service, that's the most ridiculous part. Glad it was ok after the hiccup, nice pic of the wife

Bills Z06

You're a lucky guy for two reasons:

1) The oil change guys didn't cause any permanent damage
2) You have a smart, beautiful wife

You might look into joining a local corvette club in your area. I'll bet there is at least one member that has a lift and would be willing to help you change your own oil.

lebvette

Exactly what I do. I tell them there are 2 drain plugs. I supply the filter and the exact amount of oil, and show them where to put it in.
The manager always does mine, and really enjoys looking at the car.
I only get the oil changed once a year, so I remind him about the procedures each year.
Never had a problem.

CorvetteRL

I just pay a little more and take it to the Chevy place!

hedgehead

Judging from mandatory wife pic, the ills of the day can soon be forgotten. Good for you.

skudlw

My Chevy place really knows what they are doing. Never had an issue with their work.

Mr. Gizmo

Thats the way to do it

When taking your Z to a chevy dealer there is no excuse for them F'ing it up. - However it will save a lot of grief if you get in the service manager's face and tell him lots of chevy mechanic know it alls have F'ed these cars up on the oil change and he better damn sure get a mechanic that knows how its done.

When taking it to jiffy lube or any 10 minute oil change place and not knowing exactly what the oil change procedure is and not standing there with them instructing and watching them every step of the way - that's the Z owners fault when it gets F'ed up.

RUGBY

Fail & Win in the same thread, nice!

thisismyusername

Yep, those places are never a good idea. After my family losing two engines on two different cars because they didn't replace the drain plug, I'll never go there.

160KTS

My biggest question is how in the world did your car fit over the little rails at the oil change place? Or if they put it on a lift.... how did they do it with no pucks? I can't blame ya for taking it somewhere since you live in NY though.

383vett

Keep the wife and get rid of the car. You don't deserve both.

andy82

Totally forgot what you were saying after looking at the picture

ajderzie

Thanks for going easy on me guys!

0Anthony @ LGMotorsports

Maybe I missed it in the owners manual and DVD but I do remember on the C4 ZR1's they made a big deal out of the oil changes and not to take it to any quick change oil place. They should do more than that with these cars.