Gjohnson

iTrader: (1)

Ok, its been cold and storming down here and with my schedule I haven't been able to do an oil change on my Max. So I took it to the dealership so that they could do an oil change and let me know the cause of my massive oil leak. Well, that was Tuesday and tonight while sitting at the drive through at Taco Beuano I can here my car ticking. (Sounds like a lifter or maybe the VTC's, not sure never heard them) Well, it doesn't do this all the time, only when the car sits a while after being warmed up, so I poped the hood when I got home and guess what. No freakin oil cap. The guys at the dealership did not replace my oil cap. I checked my oil, and its not low at all, but this really ****es me off, and I don't know why my Max is ticking now. Any ideas, I was thinking of grounding my VTC's but I don't even know if they're the problem. I've been using synthetic oil, and they replaced it with regular 10w - 30.

By the way, come Monday somebody is getting an ear full.

EdzMax

Damn, thats f**ked up!!! Man if that happened to me, I would hate to be the manager that day!

davebond007

That happened to our Durango after we got our All Terrain T/A's put on. The bastards left the oil cap off.

Gjohnson

iTrader: (1)

From what I've read in past threads about VTC failure. The ticking is usually at start up, when the engine is cold. Is this correct?? Because my ticking doesn't occur until the car is warmed up and has idled for a short amount of time. To me it sounds like a lifter and not really ticking. I had a friend of mine that is a mechanic tell me that it might be possible that since the oil cap is missing that the enigne might me ticking due to lack of oil pressure, but he is not a nissan mechanic. Does this sound possible?

CandiMan

iTrader: (1)

No that does not sound possible. Not to be hating on your "mechanic" friend (regardless of Nissan mechanic or not) but a missing oil cap will not effect oil pressure.

IMO
1) Go pick up a generic cap from parts store, no need driving around with a missing cap and oil spitting under the hood.
2) When you get to the dealer state your feeling but yet be courteous. Things like this happen just be glad they didn't leave the drain plug loose. Maybe you and the delaer can meet in the middle for a free oil change or motor wash. The key is to be polite, but if you see being polite isn't getting no where then you can go getto style (but I'll leave that up to you)

Now back you the VTC's. I remember the first time I heard my VTC's, I was pushing just under 100K on the motor and I thought my motor was invincible due to all the VTC problems I was ready on the .Org and I wasn't experiencing none of it. Then one day coming out the supermarket (engine at full operating temp due to driving the car all morning/day) I heard something "WTF was that, please tell me that's not the VTC" That very same day I went to parts store and got a can of motor wash, change oil and filter. Within the following weeks I had to face the fact that the VTC's were heading south and the motor flush didn't work for "me" The ticking started infrequent (and not only when cold) but slowing started getting worst. I drove with bad VTC's for 13K miles. Put in rebuild units and I've been smiling ever since and I've had my rebuilds for 20K miles. Before you ask, I've been using Mobil 1 since I got the car at 29K and my VTC's starting ticking at 100K. Oh well, you've finally joined the club of the VTC's elites.

longjuanfeng

The last time I let someone change my oil on any car I own was on my brand new 87 Tbird Turbo Coupe. They left the cap off and the thing died on me about 2 blocks from the place because of the vacuum leak. Popped the hood and found the cap and a screwdriver and ratchet with extension and 9/16 socket sitting on top of the intercooler. F*** those guys. No one cares about your car the way you do. With all due respect to the professional mech's on this board it would have to be EXTREME circumstances before I'd let anyone change the oil (or for that matter do any routine type maintenence) on one of my vehicles. I know there are guys out there that can and would do it right but I'm not willing to risk my car finding one of 'em if I can do it myself and KNOW it was done right.

CandiMan

iTrader: (1)

I hear what you're saying, but maybe to him the cold stormy weather is extreme enough for him to bring it somewhere else. Besides a VE ranks up there as one of the easiest motor to do a LOF. But on a comical side I hate doing oil changes on my cars, I will jack the car up on the opposite side of the drain plug (left side) remove the plug and will let it stay like that for about 30mins just to make sure ever last drop of oil is out. At that point then I'll proceed. If I'm doing someone elses car, I'll pull the plug and 20-30 seconds later the plug is going back in. I'm just **** when it comes to my oil changes. That's all

D-sta

iTrader: (6)

Gjohnson be polite like Candiman said and see how that goes. It really sucks because of their negligence you have ticking noise because its something the VE is known to have and we you don't have it, it's a nice thing, and lets say it is the VTC's, thats not cheap for you to repair. I'll never bring my car into a dealer because all I can expect from them is to f*ck up. Also do you think they warm it up and stuff just the fact that they don't warm it up and stuff bothers the crap out of me. Good luck and hope you get your ticking repaired at no cost whatever it is.

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

WTF?! What dealer was that?! I've got some contacts at Jackie Cooper still...

At minimum, make them replace your oil cap. ba$$tards.

Gjohnson

iTrader: (1)

Yep! Jackie Cooper. And I've always had good things to say about them.

Oh, by the way, I will be polite, but I just won't let them take advantage of me. The only thing I'm really after is a new oil cap. I figure with a 165,000 miles the VTC's probably just gave it all they had. I really haven't heard of VTC's lasting that much longer than that.

Gjohnson

iTrader: (1)

I think what really made me mad, was that the only real reason I went there and paid $36 for an oil change, was to have them diagnois my oil leak. And not only did the not do that, but they left off my oil cap.

99SEL4ME

Now it's time for my .02. Leaving the oil cap off to me is bullsh$t! That's just careless. Before you close the hood always give a quick once over to be sure you replaced all caps, dipsticks etc. You expect that kind of sh$t from Jiffy Lube, where it's mostly kids working. ( no offense to you young guys ). You're driving Maxs, so you got to be decently intelligent. Anyway, there's no excuse for that at a dealer. A dealer did that to me, only it wasn't the oil cap, it was the power steering cap and the oil dipstick. I opened the hood a week later after the LOF to remove my hood bra, and saw the power steering cap laying on top where the spark plugs are, and the oil dipstick laying along the inside of the fender!!! I was like WTF!!! I went back to the dealer and gave them an earful. I asked to speak to the tech that did it, when he came out I said to him, and I quote " What's up with my dipstick ? Dipstick!! So from now on every time I go for an LOF, I always pull aside and look under the hood to be sure everything is in place, never trust anyone. I used to work at a Nissan dealer and that kind of stuff was happening and the General manager every time he had a customer come back with a missing oil cap or whatever after the shop closed he made all techs sign a paper that said the GM woiuld deduct from their pay an oilcap or whatever was missing. He was tired and embarrassed to keep having customers who put trust in the dealership come back for petty careless crap like that. Good GM huh? I would have done the same. Moral of the story, you can bet your a$$ every Nissan that drove off the lot from that day forward had all caps intact!!

Paul89SE

Stick with conventional 10w-30. It will protect better than sythetic because the molecules are closer together. If your oil leak doesn't get any better try one of those oil treatments to stop leaks. Frickin idiot dealers.

harrymay

the toyota dealership did that on my old celica, well they left out the dipstick.

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

Just to add a useless Factoid:
if you leave the oil cap of a subaru it won't idle.

MrGone

iTrader: (30)

all subaru's? I'm going to go try on my moms outback.... maybe I can get her to sell it now

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

I believe all but only know for sure on my old GL10 Turbo.
Something about the crankcase being pressurized

MrGone

iTrader: (30)

Grant, I guess we're going to have to wait until Monday to see how it went with the dealer?

Thats funny because when we got our All Terrian T/A KO's put on the bastards didnt even open the hood, and if they did, I would have seen it and beat them with a tire iron.

Also letting some dealer change the oil? no-no. Jeeze, maybe you need to drop your Durango off at 'Gones Shop and let me work alittle magic

nubiannupe

iTrader: (9)

awww... we know YOUR version of "magic"...

LOL

MrGone

iTrader: (30)

hahaha

na, he came over today and we replaced his front brakes, now hes excited because his new pads are red (he's a ricer)

internetautomar

iTrader: (30)

Raybestos Pads?

shoult

iTrader: (1)

#1 Sorry to hear about your problem with the dealer...

#2 NEVER go to a dealer with any car that is out of warranty.

#3 Go back to conventional or synth blend. Pure synth oils have a tendancy to leak out of smaller holes and gaps then conventional. This means you both burn and drip more synth then conventional. I've seen cars that go 3000 miles using 1/2 quart on conventional oil use 1-2 quarts MORE when using pure synth.

#4 When you go back to the dealer start out pleasant, but stand your ground. Ask for REASONABLE remedies. A new oil cap (or your old one back) and a free future oil change are reasonable. And if you had a stock cap you can't ask for that $90 blue anodized Nismo cap as a replacement. If an oil film has sprayed over the engine compartment then asking them to clean the engine compartment is reasonable.

This kind of thing is why I always watch when somebody else is working on any of my cars. If they won't allow it, I won't allow them to work on my vehicles.