SMH- Low oil light

[Alfer]

Last week before our big winter storm I went to the location multi location tire/mechanic shop our company uses for oil changes/tires/repairs to get oil changed and tires rotated. I asked for the blended oil change but they ended up doing the full synth version for $10 more. Not a huge deal but still ticked me off a bit.

So last night while sitting in traffic I see the engine oil warning light coming on when car is idling in traffic, but goes off when driving. I go home and check dipstick and there is no oil showing on the dipstick. UGH.

I dropped the car off this morning and they didn't seem phased at all by the issue, just grabbed keys and sent me on my way.

So it's been 3 hours since drop off and no call yet. I'll be anxious to hear what they found, but I doubt they acknowledge any fault and just tell me to come get the car.

Sad that you can't trust anyone to do good work these days.

 

[skipgen]

Last week before our big winter storm I went to the location multi location tire/mechanic shop our company uses for oil changes/tires/repairs to get oil changed and tires rotated. I asked for the blended oil change but they ended up doing the full synth version for $10 more. Not a huge deal but still ticked me off a bit.

So last night while sitting in traffic I see the engine oil warning light coming on when car is idling in traffic, but goes off when driving. I go home and check dipstick and there is no oil showing on the dipstick. UGH.

I dropped the car off this morning and they didn't seem phased at all by the issue, just grabbed keys and sent me on my way.

So it's been 3 hours since drop off and no call yet. I'll be anxious to hear what they found, but I doubt they acknowledge any fault and just tell me to come get the car.

Sad that you can't trust anyone to do good work these days.

I had someone leave the drain plug loose once on my old Infiniti - when it fell out it looked like a NASCAR level engine failure! Fortunately, I shut it down immediately & had AAA take it to the garage and no harm done. My usually sharp Indie shop was mortified and gave me free synthetic oil changes for a year.

That they seemed unfazed in your case is concerning - like it was a common occurrence.

 

[Alfer]

They used to be a really reliable group of guys, but once Covid hit, the manager said finding a crew that will stick around etc has been really tough.

 

[skipgen]

They used to be a really reliable group of guys, but once Covid hit, the manager said finding a crew that will stick around etc has been really tough.

Lot of that going around, unfortunately.

 

[Alfer]

Well, the soap opera continues.
Preface this by saying I've had 3 vehicles serviced at this location over last 5+ years..

So I picked car up last night and they told me the accidentally chose the wrong vehicle on my account and put wrong amount/type of oil in my car but they redid with correct oil etc.

FF to this morning and sure enough, every stoplight I sat at the oil light came on. UGH. So I drove it back to shop and they of course shrugged and tried to guess what issue could be, maybe need lower viscosity oil etc. So I left it for them to figure out.

Stay tuned!

 

[skipgen]

Geez - Can't they look at a dipstick for oil level? The Genesis still has one....

 

[Alfer]

You'd think! If they did "accidentally" put in wrong oil/qty based on picking the wrong car on our account, the only 2 others are a 2009 Genesis (5W30) and a small 4 cylinder Chevy SUV. So I'm guessing they added the oil needed for the Chevy . My hope is that whatever oil they added, it hasn't gummed up any sensors or whatever.

 

[Alfer]

Said car is ready and said no light came on during drives, but changed filter?? I'm losing faith.

 

[Grover]

Last week before our big winter storm I went to the location multi location tire/mechanic shop our company uses for oil changes/tires/repairs to get oil changed and tires rotated. I asked for the blended oil change but they ended up doing the full synth version for $10 more. Not a huge deal but still ticked me off a bit.

So last night while sitting in traffic I see the engine oil warning light coming on when car is idling in traffic, but goes off when driving. I go home and check dipstick and there is no oil showing on the dipstick. UGH.

I dropped the car off this morning and they didn't seem phased at all by the issue, just grabbed keys and sent me on my way.

So it's been 3 hours since drop off and no call yet. I'll be anxious to hear what they found, but I doubt they acknowledge any fault and just tell me to come get the car.

Sad that you can't trust anyone to do good work these days.

Here is a possible solution, replace the aftermarket oil filter with the OEM filter from the dealer. The OEM filter is about $14. What I can tell you is that if you place these 2 filters side by side you would swear the OEM filter would never work, you would be wrong. My journey to this conclusion is a long one but before you spend somewhere between $500 and $1,200 replacing a sensor that may not be defective try this, so far it has worked for me. A word of caution the OEM filter needs to be pressed on with some force, but the dealers do this everyday, I asked them because my repair shop said it would not fit it but it does and my repair shop did it.

 

[surprisinguy]

I've always bought my own oil (7qts synthetic) and an OEM filter - my shop changes the oil/filter for $20.

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[Alfer]

Sorry for delay. Our whole office caught covid last week so been out recovering.
So the soap opera continues..

I drove "fixed" car home and by mile 5, light came on. ugh. I decided to stop in at the branch closest to me to explain issue and they were kind enough to pull car in even though they were closing soon. This crew says wrong oil was put in at other branch and they put in correct 5W30. He drove car with no more light.
The next 2 days were fine, but on 3rd of driving it around, light kept coming in at every stoplight. At this point the shop is closed so I'm going to try to get car in tomorrow. Add to the mess, last night i went to check oil level and to my surprise the bottom of the dipstick was broken off!

So now I have 1 inch chunk of dipstick floating around somewhere AND light going in and off!

So with broken dipstick am I anticipating it lodging into the engine this destroying it??

 

[joegr]

...
So with broken dipstick am I anticipating it lodging into the engine this destroying it??

No, it could never make it past the oil pump pickup screen, and the screen is large enough that the tip would not block flow. Also, the tip should be floating at the top of the oil in the pan, not down at the bottom where the pickup is. There's really no danger that it will ever do any harm.
Unfortunately, it is likely that your oil pressure sensor is failing. For whatever reason , this often seems to happen right after an oil change.

 

[Andyj]

The dealer put in the wrong oil?

 

[Alfer]

At the second location he said it was pretty obvious that the first location tried to fix the on/off oil light by putting in 0W30 or some super thin oil.

 

[Grover]

Here is a possible solution, replace the aftermarket oil filter with the OEM filter from the dealer. The OEM filter is about $14. What I can tell you is that if you place these 2 filters side by side you would swear the OEM filter would never work, you would be wrong. My journey to this conclusion is a long one but before you spend somewhere between $500 and $1,200 replacing a sensor that may not be defective try this, so far it has worked for me. A word of caution the OEM filter needs to be pressed on with some force, but the dealers do this everyday, I asked them because my repair shop said it would not fit it but it does and my repair shop did it.

As a follow-up, since replacing my aftermarket filter with the OEM filter the low oil pressure light has not come on. I am so pleased that my independent repair shop worked with me on this solution. I have solved my issues with the low oil pressure light and encourage others to try this solution before spending a lot of money replacing the sensor. It may not work for you, but it worked for me.

 

[Alfer]

Well, last night I spoke with the general manager of the family owned business and we discussed the comedy of errors I've had and he said he will go to the location that did initial oil change to go over my cars issue with their crew. Dropped it off this morning.

He was very apologetic and nice about things but sadly, I don't feel all warm and fuzzy about the next attempt at fixing the issue.

We shall see tonight how it went!

 

[Alfer]

Got car back Wednesday eve and the guys there said they flushed the oil, put in new and added BG MOA oil cleaner. They also said they used their scope cam to look for broken dipstick and found nothing.

They then said that after all that was done, the light did end up coming on and they said they want to replace the oil sensor. HOWEVER, they said they will pay labor and pay for dipstick, but want me to pay $200 for the sensor. I told them I didn't feel I needed to pay anything due to the way this all played out, Meaning the light never came on until they changed oil with the wrong oil (twice).

The regional manager called the next day to go over things and I told him I didn't feel I owed anything to get things fixed and he pretty much agreed but said he needed higher up approval.

So while I've been waiting to hear back I've been driving the car much more and as of today (Friday) the light has not come on. So I think I'll be calling the RM and telling him what I'm seeing so far and to hold off on any repairs until I feel we are in the clear. I will tell him that I would like to get at least the new dipstick for the time being and to at least make a record on their end noting that if light returns, they will cover the sensor repair.

 

[joegr]

... HOWEVER, they said they will pay labor and pay for dipstick, but want me to pay $200 for the sensor.....

I would have jumped on that immediately.
This is a known failure that 99.9% likely had nothing to do with that oil change, other than the fact that these failures seem to often come right after a [proper] oil change. If they did anything wrong at all (that's a big "if"), they would only have caused the sensor to fail a few days before it was going to anyway.

 

[skipgen]

I'd let them pay for the sensor after all the hassle.

 

[Looney100]

What a disaster! A example of why I’ve done my oil changes myself for decades. They are done better, faster, and cheaper when done myself.

Plenty of incompetence demonstrated here. I’m trying to imagine the most likely scenario, given the symptoms you describe, and nothing is obvious. Perhaps they first put in the incorrect amount of oil because they were referencing the wrong vehicle - which is why you saw the light and nothing on the dipstick.
Is the warning light a low oil LEVEL warning or oil PRESSURE warning? The oil level sensor shouldn’t care about what oil is in the pan, so aside from the sensor coincidently failing at the same time, the ongoing sensor issues don’t make sense. An oil PRESSURE warning would make sense, as it could be that something too viscous may not be able to move through the system properly. There should be nothing done during an oil change that would give them the chance to ‘break’ a sensor.

Claims that they could tell that the incorrect oil was used, upon inspecting the oil. This is absolute BS. There‘s no way some quick lube shop has the necessary tools to test the characteristics necessary to determine this.

Also, get the BG MOA crap out of the engine. NEVER use oil additives. Owners’ manuals will often EXPLICITLY advise this, and their use is a great way to have an engine warranty claim denied.