[Speedy1975]

So lured by the "free" oil changes my 2SS came with, I checked around and found what seemed like a pretty decent dealership. I mean it's just an oil change right? Who can mess that up? 10 quarts of synthetic add up so seemed like a no brainer.

Service center is great. Enclosed delivery with giant automated doors that shoot up and down in seconds when you pull in. Nice cute attendant to check you in, and a nice lobby with 70" TV, breakfast, coffee, snacks, and complimentary brand new laptops for customer to use while waiting. I sat at the bay window looking in to the service dept so I could watch the work being done.

I see the tech change the oil, he was careful to put the arms of the lift in the right spots, all good signs.

I asked them to cross check my work on the rear differential oil cooler line recall and to mark that as completed for my car in their system at the same time. I saw a different tech come over and check, scribble some notes in the paper work, and done.

Now, my gut told me to check the oil level before I moved the car, but the cute girl had already opened the door for me and I didn't wanna come off rude opening the hood and asking for a paper towel, so I drove home.

Checked when I got in my garage and sure enough, oil didn't even register on the dipstick!

I called the dealer back and asked for the head honcho over service to pull my vehicles record and tell me how many quarts the tech had put in the crank case. 9.0 was his answer. Sooooo, I said, how many quarts does a 2016 LT1 take.....he tapped some keys....."oh I'm sorry Mr. XXXXX 10 quarts is the proper amount, and I grill and grill these guys that the last thing they do before closing the hood is check the dip stick".

So then I tell him I'm certainly not going to start the car and I needed someone to bring me oil to get the level proper. THEN we'd discuss how to check for engine damage and what we were going to do from there. Mr. Head Honcho does come to my home immediately with oil, I let him double check the dip stick, and watch me add 1.5 quarts to make it mid way on the dip stick reading.

I then told him I'd drive this oil for a few thousand miles and would then send off a sample for analysis to Blackstone Labs, at his expense, which he agreed, and we'd see what the analysis says and go from there. I then called GM to document the issue with them as well, for all the good it'll do if the engine has bearing damage.

I'm doubtful it hurt anything driving the 15 miles home, but geeze you can't even get a proper oil change at what appears to be an excellent dealer.

[gw6211]

lol, send off a sample?

one quart of oil low will not damage the engine, there is NO WAY they would make an engine that couldnt handle being one quart low. it would make no sense, your car is fine, drink a beer, it will be fine, i promise.

[gw6211]

oh, and there is no perfect place to take your car, you are dreaming if you believe that. The reason, human beings work at everyone and there are no perfect humans. Sorry, pick one.

[ron scubadiver]

12.093 @114.43MPH bone stock

-sweet!

[cellsafemode]

simple things go to the lowest ranked employees. if it's simple...can't mess it up... it's best to do it yourself.

[MiamiBlueCamaro]

We demand that every Chevy dealer have a master technician work in Camaros and Corvettes or move "us" to the Cadillac dealer...........

[Megahurtz]

1.5 QT low won't do any damage unless you were Auto Crossing the car. Even then maybe not even. Relax and drink a beer like others suggested.

Side note: I always check my dealers work. I also do my own oil changes.

[JAM32]

the reason I do take my car to the dealer:

So they have everything documented and when something happens within warranty I can say hey, you did all the maintenance, its your fault.

Actual example: Got an '06 Acura RSX type S as the second owner in '07. had 19k miles on it. always took it to Acura for oil changes and everything else. Oil change was 100 bucks each time, but I wanted them to do all the right checks any make sure any other things were done on schedule. I drove this thing like I stole it. Had a lot of torque for a little car so losing traction at green lights was common. also loved down shifting on the highway to blast by somebody. One such time though I money shifted it from 6th all the way down to 2nd going about 80 mph, I was aiming for 4th. Bounced off the redline like crazy, felt so bad. but car kept on chugging along like nothing happened. And the engine sounds pretty sweet for a 4 banger. So sweet that I often redlined it in first before shifting to second when I was trying to beat someone off a green light. I say often, but probably not more then 10 times over the life of the car. Explanation of that: I learned to drive a stick on an '89 civic that had no tachometer. can you believe that, no tach? So I learned to listen for the shift. Civic would sound sort of gravely as you approached the line. But the RSX was the opposite, of course it had a tach, but I was used to just listening, and that baby just seemed to sound sweeter and sweeter as you approached 8k rpm until it started bouncing off the line.

Okay, back to why I always too it to the dealer. About 70k miles into me driving it like an idiot/bad ass, she throws a rod. happened just as I was doing a hot start to take a left onto the highway and wanted to overtake some dude in a lexus who had the inside lane. You guessed it, I red lined it in 1st before shifting. then she starts acting all funky. made it a few miles before I realize I can't accelerate and I have to get her towed. this was at about 92k miles, but my powertrain warranty was for 100k. so guess what? brand new 2.1 ltr v-tech from Acura. they kept it for a couple weeks while guys came down from Acura corporate to check everything out. But my dudes at the dealer assured me, you took it here for every oil change and scheduled maintenance, you've done everything by the book, so they have to replace this engine. And sure enough they did.

tl;dr. Take you car to the dealer while she's under warranty cuz if something bad happens, even if its kinda your fault, when they've documented all the work, they will replace what you broke.

[Drysideshooter]

Having Blackstone do an oil analysis is never a bad idea. I have done it for years with my airplanes and vehicles. As far as worrying about any damage from being 1.5qts low, as others have said, your engine is fine. It sounds to me like you got a less than great tech, but it sounds like the service manager was great.

[COmaro]

I told this story before, but I'll tell it again to drive the point home that this is not a Chevrolet problem.

I have a 2013 Boss 302 Mustang. It takes 8.5 quarts of 5w50 oil. I took it to the dealer for three oil changes, and they *never* got it right. Every single time I had to pull the dipstick out and show them that they had left the car over a quart low. The last time, I had even taken the step when I brought the car in, of handing the service advisor the owners manual supplement showing that it took 8.5 quarts of 5W50. What did they put in? 7 quarts of 0w20! It says "5W50" right on the oil filler cap that they had to take off to put the 0w20 in!

Dealer lube lines are staffed by morons.

[Speedy1975]

Originally Posted by MiamiBlueCamaro

We demand that every Chevy dealer have a master technician work in Camaros and Corvettes or move "us" to the Cadillac dealer...........

This is about the best advice in this thread. All the "1.5 quarts low is no big deal" comments are a bunch of fan boys. It's completely unacceptable and if this is what is accepted no wonder the techs get away with it. If I were running that service department this tech would have been fired.

Originally Posted by COmaro

I told this story before, but I'll tell it again to drive the point home that this is not a Chevrolet problem.

I have a 2013 Boss 302 Mustang. It takes 8.5 quarts of 5w50 oil. I took it to the dealer for three oil changes, and they *never* got it right. Every single time I had to pull the dipstick out and show them that they had left the car over a quart low. The last time, I had even taken the step when I brought the car in, of handing the service advisor the owners manual supplement showing that it took 8.5 quarts of 5W50. What did they put in? 7 quarts of 0w20! It says "5W50" right on the oil filler cap that they had to take off to put the 0w20 in!

Dealer lube lines are staffed by morons.

UN REAL.

There is ONE shop locally that is run by a buddy of mine. He is a complete perfectionist and is the only guy I'll let touch any of my cars if I don't have time to do a job. He's helped me swap transmissions, pull heads, etc and I'm thankful to have him. If you're in the middle TN area and need hot rod work done PM me and I'll hook you up.

Oh, and I just got an email for a survey about my "recent visit" LOL

[GTIanZ28]

at 1.5 qt low shouldn't there be a "Low Oil" warning? If they can do it for fuel why couldn't they do it for Oil?

[DeliveryMan]

Speedy, I think it's great that you took charge like that.
That type of service is unacceptable.

[nbryant]

Originally Posted by Speedy1975

All the "1.5 quarts low is no big deal" comments are a bunch of fan boys. It's completely unacceptable and if this is what is accepted no wonder the techs get away with it. If I were running that service department this tech would have been fired.

They never said it was acceptable! They stated his driving it at the that level did no harm. Maybe you should read the "fan boy" quotes a little closer before you rant.