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Stripped oil pan - Likely done by dealer...

Bodhi

Bodhi

Go Kart Champion
Today was the first time I changed the oil myself on my Wolfsburg.

It had previously been taken care of by VW free maintence until 36K, then a local well-known tuning shop (not naming names until I figure out who did it) changed the oil once after that.

I bought all my stuff from ECS, except the oil. I even got a new drain bolt, at $3 - why not?

Took my car to my brother's shop, since he has a lift, we start undoing the bolt and I feel some play like its been stripped. He comes over, and confirms. We get it out, sure enough - stripped.


So now i'm leaking a drop at a time, but I had no choice but to put the new bolt in...this is my DD.

I know that the tuning shop I went to last time used a drain hose and a pump to pump the old oil out. They never once went under the car and undid the bolt - I watched.

With that said, VW was the last to touch the oil pan bolt. Someone definitely over-tightened it.



UPDATE:
I'm re-tapping it tomorrow with a helicoil.
The dealer wasn't willing to help. They offered for me to drop my car off Today, and they MIGHT be able to get to it on Saturday - If not then Monday.

That's unacceptable, this is a time sensitive issue and they're acting like its an impossibility that it was caused by them. The GM blamed the indy shop until I stated that I watched them change the oil with an extractor, they never once went underneath. But when his tech did it, he threw it on a rack and changed the oil. I watched both times.

They said for me to bring my car and the stripped bolt so he can "Try" and get it warranteed. My dad was a former service manager so I had some tips on dealing with this. But my father and I both agreed that they'll just lure me in there, throw my car up on the rack, put a new oil pan in and say they're waiting for VW to let them know about the warranty status (Which won't get approved on an item that was broken due to user-error) then i'm stuck paying for the oil pan.

No thanks, i'll just take my chances with re-tapping it.

The dealership this whole time was VW of Huntington Beach, otherwise known as McKenna VW. Don't let them change your oil - with that said, why trust them to do anything beyond that? Their yelp page has already been destroyed by people other than myself as well. They have more 1 star reviews than 5 star reviews.
 
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T

totalgearhead

New member
During my first service at the local dealer I overheard some poor lady fighting with the service manager over her having to pay for a new oil pan. I think it was a MK5, she said always serviced at that dealer since new. The service manager gave a schpeal that the mechanics ALWAYS use a torque wrench to the proper spec on the drain bolt and if it stripped, it's a wear and tear issue and not the mechanics fault!!

I've been doing my own service on my cars since the 1980's and have never stripped a oil pan drain plug. Overhearing this service manger confirmed that all dealers are scum sucking bastards. I will do my own service, thank you very much. I wanted to do the first service at VW for warranty purposes, I will be out of warranty way short of 4 years and if this thing isn't worry free I will dump it......lol
 
Baldeagle

Baldeagle

Ready to race!
Same thing happened to me. I changed the oil once myself and the drain bolt came out with metal slivers in the threads. After the oil change I put that bolt back in- no leaks. For the next oil change, I brought the car to my dealership. When I brought the car home, I noticed it was leaking oil pretty badly. I immediately brought the car back to the dealership. They said it had a stripped oil drain plug hole. The plug was fine. The solution was to replace the oil pan. Not cool.
 
P

Paul@DeutscheAutoParts

Ready to race!
Bodhi said:
Today was the first time I changed the oil myself on my Wolfsburg.

It had previously been taken care of by VW free maintence until 36K, then a local well-known tuning shop (not naming names until I figure out who did it) changed the oil once after that.

I bought all my stuff from ECS, except the oil. I even got a new drain bolt, at $3 - why not?

Took my car to my brother's shop, since he has a lift, we start undoing the bolt and I feel some play like its been stripped. He comes over, and confirms. We get it out, sure enough - stripped.

So now i'm leaking a drop at a time, but I had no choice but to put the new bolt in...this is my DD.

I know that the tuning shop I went to last time used a drain hose and a pump to pump the old oil out. They never once went under the car and undid the bolt - I watched.

With that said, VW was the last to touch the oil pan bolt. Someone definitely over-tightened it.
Click to expand...

Im sorry to hear about your troubles. If you really have only taken your vehicle to that dealer for service then they will likely step up and replace it.

Just so everyone knows in my many years at the dealer we often heard from people claiming that their drain was stripped by us, even though they had gaps in their service history or had not been in for some time. So its tough to make a judgment call based on what your heard overheard. The proof is really in the pudding as they say.

If they are a reputable dealer they will stand behind their work and you should not have any issue with getting your oil pan replaced.

If not let us know an we should be able to offer you an oilpan for a much better price than your local dealer.
http://www.deutscheautoparts.com/Vi...Repair/EngineParts/06J-103-600-AF/1825/140585

Hope this helps
 
svickstc

svickstc

Go Kart Champion
jesus mighty...

why ive been doing my own shit since was i 15 years old...i have very few trust in people these days
 
Bodhi

Bodhi

Go Kart Champion
totalgearhead said:
During my first service at the local dealer I overheard some poor lady fighting with the service manager over her having to pay for a new oil pan. I think it was a MK5, she said always serviced at that dealer since new. The service manager gave a schpeal that the mechanics ALWAYS use a torque wrench to the proper spec on the drain bolt and if it stripped, it's a wear and tear issue and not the mechanics fault!!

I've been doing my own service on my cars since the 1980's and have never stripped a oil pan drain plug. Overhearing this service manger confirmed that all dealers are scum sucking bastards. I will do my own service, thank you very much. I wanted to do the first service at VW for warranty purposes, I will be out of warranty way short of 4 years and if this thing isn't worry free I will dump it......lol
Click to expand...

Baldeagle said:
Same thing happened to me. I changed the oil once myself and the drain bolt came out with metal slivers in the threads. After the oil change I put that bolt back in- no leaks. For the next oil change, I brought the car to my dealership. When I brought the car home, I noticed it was leaking oil pretty badly. I immediately brought the car back to the dealership. They said it had a stripped oil drain plug hole. The plug was fine. The solution was to replace the oil pan. Not cool.
Click to expand...

svickstc said:
jesus mighty...

why ive been doing my own shit since was i 15 years old...i have very few trust in people these days
Click to expand...

This is what I get for taking advantage of free maintenance until 36K.

The local shop did infact top drain the car with an evacuator for the sole reason that it is easy to strip the oil pan. That, and their oil extractor works well-enough so they don't have to undo the bolt.

The dealer is telling me to pound sand. I asked to talk to the GM, what's it going to hurt.
 
crashdb

crashdb

Go Kart Champion
Don't quote me on any of this, but someone told me that VW had a replacement oil pan with a steel thread insert because of stuff like this.
 
crashdb

crashdb

Go Kart Champion
Iunno. It all makes little sense to me. I have a steel pan on my 2011. In order for it not to leak I have to crank the plug in pretty tight.

If this ends up going the wrong way with you, I would look at something like a Helicoil kit and get a new plug (obviously). I used one of these on a GM 4.3 aluminum pan and it worked like a charm.
 
svickstc

svickstc

Go Kart Champion
crashdb said:
Iunno. It all makes little sense to me. I have a steel pan on my 2011. In order for it not to leak I have to crank the plug in pretty tight.

If this ends up going the wrong way with you, I would look at something like a Helicoil kit and get a new plug (obviously). I used one of these on a GM 4.3 aluminum pan and it worked like a charm.
Click to expand...

should never have to crank an oil pan bolt on tight...hence where all the problems come from...

hand tight at best...the heating and cooling expand and contract causing a seal...i hand tighten mine and a quarter turn on the wrench for a little snug...science and metallurgey do the rest
 
Bodhi

Bodhi

Go Kart Champion
crashdb said:
If this ends up going the wrong way with you, I would look at something like a Helicoil kit and get a new plug (obviously). I used one of these on a GM 4.3 aluminum pan and it worked like a charm.
Click to expand...

At this point it is what i'll do.
 
McQueen77

McQueen77

Banned
Baldeagle said:
Same thing happened to me. I changed the oil once myself and the drain bolt came out with metal slivers in the threads. After the oil change I put that bolt back in- no leaks. For the next oil change, I brought the car to my dealership. When I brought the car home, I noticed it was leaking oil pretty badly. I immediately brought the car back to the dealership. They said it had a stripped oil drain plug hole. The plug was fine. The solution was to replace the oil pan. Not cool.
Click to expand...

mirror image of what happened to me. same exact scenario. i ate the cost of an oil pan over it. terrible. if the bolt is even slightly over-torqued if will cause a hairline crack in the cheap ass pan and/strip the plug. nevermind that ive done 10000 oil changes on 15 different cars before the GTI, guess they had to cut costs somewhere so why not the oil pan? why the hell not?
 
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