I knew they could be overpriced, but I was always skeptical about the stories of dealers messing up...until it happened to me. After having my oil changed at the local BMW dealership, I parked my car and didn't move it for about two weeks due to snow-storms. When I finally moved it, there was a small puddle of oil on my garage floor. I took it to the dealer to have them check it out. They said the drain plug had "bad threads" and that I needed to either have it repaired with a heli-coil ($300), or get a whole new oil pan($1800). I thought the dealer should take some responsibility for the damamge. So, I mentioned to the advisor what a coincidence it was that I never had any problems until they changed my oil. He said "sometimes the threads just get stripped" and his tech did nothing wrong. I told my boss (who is a PCA clubracer), and he insisted that the best fix was a time-sert instead of a helicoil. So, I took my car to an independent shop where he has his cars worked on. They put it up on the lift to do the time-sert, and the mechanic says "There's nothing wrong with your car, this drain-plug is fine." Needless to say, I was happy but shocked. He said it looked like a tech spilled a little oil and it slowly leaked out. So, I guess the dealership mechanics DIDN'T EVEN LOOK AT IT, and they were fine charging me $300-1800 to do a repair that didn't need to be done.
that sucks, you're lucky you went to someone else but I'm sure plenty of people have fallen for their BS
Having worked in a dealership I can tell you that drain plug threads do on occasion fatigue and fail - especially when few people use a torque wrench to tighten the drain plug. A properly installed Timesert or Heli-coil will work fine if needed. Some dealers are unscrupulous and some are lazy. They probably never inspected the car and just shot from the hip. Many owners just trust the SA and they can get hosed as a result. Some SA's are honest and competent and some are ignorant and sleezy.
KCP37, What independent shop in Tulsa did you take your car to? I am in Tulsa and also looking for an alternative shop. Thanks for the info.
