BAD SERVICE!! GRRRRRRRR!!

After taking my wife to a massage appointment tonight, I noticed what looked like a wisp of steam coming from the left front of our ST at a stop light. Looked at the Temp Gauge and all was well. Huh? Got home, opened the hood and found the idiots at Lakewood Ford here in Tacoma had not put the oil fill plug back on, and even the dipstick was just hanging there, after doing an oil change for me today!!





I'm so mad I could .... (fill in the blank)!!

I'm not overly concerned about damage as I had only driven about 35 miles or so (although 25 or so miles were on the freeway at 70MPH) and the dipstick, when inserted properly, shows about 90% full.

Guess where I'll be tomorrow morning?

Ken

That’s exactly why I do ALL my own oil changes and many other service points on all of our cars. The oil change bay at the dealerships is occupied by an entry level mechanic. I used to be on a Z06 forum and would read about dealerships that had filled the oil from the valve cover cap which had “do not remove” stamped on it. The tech did it anyway and hydro locked the motor, which then totaled it. Broke two Titanium connecting rods. Those are dry sump engines and are only to be filled at the reservoir tank. Unexcusable.

man I would be so upset.

Wow......I would tell them you want the engine flushed and refilled with new oil and a filter. They should also pay to have the engine bay detailed. On the bright side at least it was done at a dealership and if any issues were to come of it they're liable for damages. Just make sure to have everything documented. Sorry for the aggravation, hopefully you have a good dealership and they make it right.

I’d tell them I appreciate the effort but I didn’t order the undercoating special.

Time to drive past that dealership and find the next one. That's terrible! I'd be so pissed!

I'm a retired ship Captain who had the good fortune of working with the same ships Engineer for many years. He was great at his job, but always got irritated with me when I checked his work. As I told him, you know more about these engines than I do, but I'm the guy who has to drive it.

Thanks for the comments ... I'm waiting until they open!!

It's really sad as once upon a time, this dealership was really well run. It's not only close to our home, it's right across the street from a Park n Ride that my wife uses for her commute. So I always have a "loaner" ... just grab her car from the P&R garage and carry on! But this is the last straw ...

Actually, this is the second bonehead error the service department inflicted on me. Last fall, I called and told 'em I had seen some snow tires online at Ford Service that I wanted for our son's Fiesta. (It snows a lot in the eastern portion of the state where he goes to school.) After several times mentioning the word "snow" tires, the service rep said, "Oh, I see we can get some Hankook's for a better price," so, I said OK ... no issue with Hankook snow tires. He takes it over and when he comes home, they had put on the exact same Hankook A/S tires as were already installed (and at about 7,000 miles, the originals certainly showed no wear!!) Went back and they did re-install the originals and refunded the $$. But, the service guy clearly ordered the wrong thing, plus the tech should have caught the error and said "Huh? Why are we replacing these with the same thing?"

I can understand they are having trouble with finding qualified help, and this COVID crud doesn't help. But clearly they need some better management to step in and clean things up (no pun intended). Like having a fellow tech take a quick second look to make sure the drain plug is snug, and all of the other access plugs are in place. Maybe 2 minutes of "quality control"?

Ken

Final installment and the ultimate shock: Picked our ST up tonight after driving a Ram pickup loaner for the day. I was hoping for a warm reception from the Service Manager, a totally cleaned and washed ST, and maybe some sort of gift certificate for a future oil change or something similar. INSTEAD ... the Service Advisor only took me out, they had cleaned it well and washed out all of the oil, topped it off and made sure all was secure ... but didn't even bother to wash the car itself. Then, the advisor had the audacity to remind me there was a survey coming from Ford and she'd appreciate a great rating because, after all, she had been helpful in getting this fixed!! Good thing I had a mask on as she would have seen my jaw drop!! I muttered something non committal, grabbed my remote, and headed off into the sunset. At least there's no oil smell anymore as I drove home. I guarantee it's the last time I will ever visit that dealership!! And, NO, I will NOT be giving them a 5-star rating!!

Cheers!!

Ken