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Zerks?

2K views 10 replies 8 participants last post by  Diesel52 
#1 ·
My dealer saga continues. As some may recall, I posted my experience with Chevrolet's 24 month free maintenance and the hassle I had with the DEF top off in another thread. Well, the hassle continues, only not with DEF. During that trip to the shop, the dealer was also supposed to do a 23 point safety inspection and lube the chassis. Neither one were done according to the service write up. So this week when I received the recall notice on the EGR gasket tab cutting into the engine wiring harness, I told the service I also wanted the inspection and lube done. A few hours later when I picked up the truck, I noticed the paperwork said Lube Checked. I went in and asked service what the hell is a lube check? The reply, we check the levels on the dipsticks and 'stuff'. When I told him they were supposed to do a chassis lube, not an oil level check, he claimed they did that too. So out to the truck we went - and when I pointed out there was no indication on the upper ball joints they had been wiped off, let alone any grease added, he took the truck back to the service area again. Before he left, I told him I wanted to know how many Zerk fittings were on the truck. He returned about ten minutes later and told me there were a total of 6 and they had either added grease them or if the boot was full, left them alone (which is fine). I replied that my old truck had more Zerk fittings on it and he stated that Chevy had eliminated several with never-lube type sealed fittings.

Since I was not dressed to crawl under the truck at the time, I let it go and came home. This morning, I crawled under and immediately found 9 fittings, and yes, they needed grease.

I have dealt with this dealer for years and never had a problem, and I'm not sure at this point whether I got two unlucky trips or what the hell is going on. I do know I'm pissed. This isn't rocket science, and it concerns me that if they can't get stupid simple stuff straight, what will happen if a complex problem arises. I've always maintained that customers spend a short period of time with the salesperson and the rest of the vehicle's life with the service department. This doesn't look promising. :shake: :thumbsdow
 
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#3 ·
Your experience is not uncommon, most people never think twice when being told that something was done, my experience has been that most shops dont grease all the fittings (if any) and some that do over grease them and blow out the boots. Even if you find a good dealer their turnover rate around here is high and you likely wont get the same tech twice. Lube techs arent mechanics and typically are poorly paid, couple that with the fact that oil changes are a loss leader for shops and you arent always going to get top quality work. If GM pays for the maintenance like they pay for many other things the tech doesnt even get paid the time it actually takes him to do the work. Its only going to get worse as GM continues to screw the techs.
 
#4 ·
A happy ending?

Went back today and spoke to the person in charge of the service. I told her the whole story including the DEF top off fiasco, which she said she had already heard about. She immediately had the service person drive the truck back and put it up on the hoist. With me standing there, one of the master techs counted the Zerk fittings - and came up with 9. He suggested the guys who do the oil & lube jobs probably missed the two inner ones and the one on top (that almost everyone misses). Instead saying "we'll tell them about it" I suggested they bring them back and show them to them. Service manager thought it was a great idea and that's exactly what happened - all while I was standing there. When they were all done, the Service manager asked if I had a dealer reward card. When I told her I did, she told me she was going to add money to it. I'm not going to say the amount, but it's significant.

So, my faith is somewhat restored. I can understand the kind of help you get for minimum wages. What I can't understand is why when I told the service write up guy my old truck had 11 Zerk fittings, why he didn't come back panicked saying they could only find 6 instead of trying to pass off them being eliminated. We shall see how it goes from here.
 
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#6 ·
I wouldnt assume that the service writer knows anything about the truck, he may have simply been repeating a BS excuse that one of the techs told him.
 
#7 ·
#8 ·
Good link! :thumb:


Maybe we should email it to all the GM dealers. :whistle:
 
#10 ·
You get what you inspect, not what you expect. Sorry it's come to this with a dealer. Seems like most businesses are about minimizing work and maximizing bottom line rather than getting the job done right. My local dealer is batting about .700 so far and I figure that's pretty good relatively speaking but I still check everything and do a lot of the work myself.
 
#11 ·
Zerks

For my LB7 can I ask if the threads are metric or imperial please? I have to replace one and the thought of having to drive it up on blocks to take one out hasn't happened so far. I did try several and all they did was strip!:mad:
 
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