Re: Help!.....Major Oil Leak(s) (archive)

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Don't be put off by Greg coming down on people who don't work on their own cars, he does everything by himself, been telling him to get a girlfriend for years :-) You should see him at the park on a See-Saw ! It's really funny when he calls himself on the telephone! Funny guy. But he and the others are very correct in saying that too much oil is very very dangerous. I wouldn't wipe up the oil in the garage, I would take pictures immediately. Then I would go send them a certified letter signed receipt requested telling them how your car was before you took it to them for service, then list what they did using their invoice number and then describe to them in detail what has happened with the oil on the floor and your fear that the engine may be damaged. If you have all ready made an appointment to go in on Monday, wait a day or two and send the certified letter to them on Monday Overnight mail so they get it tuesday. Also send a copy of the letter overnight mail to BNA of North America. In the letter tell them that they have 10 days to completely and properly repair your car to the perfect mechanical condition the engine and oil system was in before you took it to them and they damaged it. Then call them on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning and request if they have received your letter and tell them very nicely that you are absolutely scared to death over what they may have done to your car. Repeat to them over the phone, always being very nice and calm, that the car has never leaked anything, especially oil, has never used any oil and has never had any major internal engine problems. Tell them that you have heard many horror stories from qualifed and very knowledgable mechanics that too much oil in this engine is very dangerous and could possible damage the rear main seal as well as many other points of pressure in the oil system. Tell them that you are going to have the car checked by another BMW dealer service department when the car is finished as well as a qualified BMW club of America recommended specialist in your area. Tell him that you may sound calm, but you are extremely disturbed to find that this has happened to your car in their shop and you want their full cooperation to immediately repair any and all damage that has resulted due to their overfilling the system, especially any and all oil leaks that the car has now.

Also make sure that you have witnesses that you can depend upon who will verify that your car has been overfilled with oil. The BMW Club recommended mechanic for one. Go to him and have him check the engine and witness how much oil in in the car and showing on the dipstick and see if he can pinpoint where the leak is coming from. All before you take the car back to the dealer. You can't do any of these things to protect yourself after you take the car back. Also make sure you have the pictures of the garage floor with the oil puddles. Take pictures of the excess oil on the dip stick as well showing with the oil and without the oil so that they can see in the picture how much over the line the oil is. Also, take pictures of your very clean garage floor which has no oil spots on it except the new one that is now in the middle of the floor under the engine.

This sounds very drastic and it is, but this is exactly what you have to do in order to deal with them on level terms. They will use anything and everything they can against you, don't doubt it. They record everything they do and be careful to read everything you sign before you sign it, they will wisely put in questionable terms to help their position if you are not careful and sign without looking. Such as 'Customer requested Oil change and origin of leaks'. In small type of you are being rushed through things you won't see the words and you will sign and later they will produce these invoices and say "see here where you requested us to find your leaks!" I right I have been fucked once too many times.

The only other thing you can do if you don't want to go to all this trouble, is simply take the car back, pray that they are honest and be ready to pay out anywhwere between $250 to $5,000 to repair the car before it's back to normal. What can I say.....I'm a bit burned by their legal stealing, hence the name Stealers.

Help!...I had BMW Northwest (dealer) change my oil last week. I went to go drive my '91 850i for the first time since then today and was horrified when I was backing my car out of my garage to notice a puddle of oil and a bunch of small drip spots around the puddle. I called the dealer only to have a woman on the phone tell me that service department was not in today. Okay...by this time I am steaming upset at the mess they created (not to mention my plans foiled). The car had absolutely zero oil leakage before they put their greasy hands on it, now there is a puddle (literaly) of oil in my garage as the car continues to drip oil. I checked the oil dip stick and notice that despite the fact of at least a half quart of oil on the floor the oil lever was still way above the full marker. My question to you all is the cause for this mess I have because the idiot mechanic at the dealership put too much oil in my car or is there something else going on that is creating this? I didn't have a leak before I had my oil changed. Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it.

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