... my father and I have had a strinf of bad experiences with dealership services on our CRDs and it may be worse than we thought. This is a fairly long story that I'll try to make short. At our first OC interval (6k miles) we took both CRDs to the dealership, one after the other, to have the oh-so-trustworthy dealer (we thought) do the first OC. I lived 200 miles away at the time but was visiting my dad so we had them both done at the local dealer, where I purchased the vehicle. We got the cars back, and I drove mine back home 200 miles. It didn't occur to me to check and make sure they didn't booger anything up (lesson learned on that one). When I got there, my dad called me frantically and said "check your oil, now." Well, they had put 12 quarts of oil in each of our Jeeps, not 6.3. I took it to the dealer up there, had it documented, and had them rechange the oil and put the correct amount in. My father had the same thing done at the dealer here. The receipts said 6.3 qu of 0w 40 synthetic as called for. My dad went back for his 12k mile OC recently, and they put in the correct 6.3 qu, with 0w 40 written on the receipt. Recently he looked at the sticker on his windshield, which was placed there by the mechanic at the dealer who did the change. On the sticker it says NOT 0w 40, but "5w 30 GTX." The filter they put on also has a different part # than the one listed in the owners manual. The part # on the filter in my Jeep is the same as my dad's: 05003558AA ... is this just an interchangeable filter to the one listed in the book? Is there a way to find out if the oil in my father's car is the oil they claim to have put in on the receipt, or if it's the oil they have written on the window sticker?

Basically we're trying to arm ourselves because the dealership has tried very hard to shrug off their mistakes and even bury them. There was no immediate damage from the 12-quarts-of-oil fiasco, but I believe there is still the possibility it caused damage that could effect the car down the road, i.e., oil pushed past seals because of too much pressure in the crankcase. They did not check anything for damage, just replaced the oil and told us there was nothing to worry about. My dad had to twist arms to get them to put in print that they had made the mistake ... they wanted it under the rug. According to my warranty, the warranty is voided if I use something other than 0w 40 Mobil 1. I don't know the specifics of 5w-30 GTX, but from what I know it's a gasoline-rated oil. Warranty aside, would this oil grade cause damage to the diesel engine? I know it's synthetic, but I also know that doesn't necessarily make it appropriate for the heavy load of soot it has to accomodate in a diesel engine. And it would void the warranty.

Sorry to ramble, but I just want to know how much of a fight this is worth. To me, it seems like a big deal. We have paid them for a service and they have twice done something wrong and tried to shove it under the rug. I also had another incident with them when I had a leak in my turbo inlet hose. It was makng a hissing sound, so I brought it in and told them about the sound. They drove it and told me that was the normal sound of the turbo spooling up. I told them it wasn't. They were very insulting, and treated me like an idiot (not rude, just sort of made it obvious they thought I was a stupid dingbat woman who didn't know anything about cars). I had to fight with them to get another guy there (the diesel specialist, who was out of town the first time) to look at it. They insisted there was nothing wrong with my car and I should ignore it, and only begrudgingly made me a second appointment. Sure enough, there was a leak in the inlet hose. No big deal, problem solved, but it's still annoying.

Obviously, we're doing out own oil changes from now on. But should we do something to bolster our case legally in case something goes wrong down the road? Or am I just overly protevtive of my vehicle?

Thanks to anyone who had the patience to read this ...

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2005 Liberty CRD Limited, Light Khaki on Slate - 142,000 miles
1987 Mercedes-Benz 300D - 314,000 miles
1978 Mercedes-Benz 240D 4spd manual - 371,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze 1.6L turbodiesel, 6spd manual - 58,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4spd manual - 132,000 miles
1994 Mercedes-Benz SL500 - 94,000 miles

Man talk about idiots, that sure is a dealer to stay away from for sure.

Now for the good news/bad news. Sounds like they put the gasser oil filter on the CRD, and if replaced before any prolonged useage no damage should pop up. This just shows you that if you want something done right, do it your self. That said there be times you have to put put your trust in someone else, most of the time we have no problems, but when it hits us it sure hurts.

Was the dealer also a Cummins and Sprinter dealership? Probably would not make a difference as the guy changing the oil is most likely some nit wit not able or intelligent enough to become a certified tech. I take the Magnum to a friends shop and do my oil change or let him do it, and will probably start letting him do the CRD. I just bring my oil & filter and he does the work. He don't stock any oil in his shop, everyone brings their own oil.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

I can't answer some of your specific questions, especially regarding how to deal with the dealership, but there are very experienced & informed folks on this board that I'm sure will. However, that certainly is a big deal. Not being an expert, I can only wonder what 12 qts could do. I know overfilling can stress & rupture seals but I'm not sure how that effect varies among engines, including this engine. That 5W-30 is a gasoline spec oil, which isn't good for us, though I doubt running on it for a short period would necessarily hurt anything. Also, you do not have to run on 0W-40, and as far as I know there is no diesel spec 0W-40 available anyway, in which case it's surely not the best choice. Everyone here seems to run on diesel spec 5W-40 (Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel, Amsoil, or Rotella), which IS identified in the manual as a legitimate, warranty-backed alternative to 0W-40. I think that filter is correct, at least according to past threads, but I'm not sure why it varies from the manual...maybe someone else knows...I've been sticking with Amsoil so I'm not sure about the Mopar filter. It's a VERY wise decision to change your own oil. It's such a simple job that provides so much peace of mind. I wouldn't trust anyone to do it unless I knew them to be all but infallible, as well as cheap...a tall order. In any case, never return to that dealer.

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2006 Jeep Liberty Limited CRD w/275000 miles

12qts of oil in the engine could definitely cause problems because that much oil would completely cover the balance shafts, thus turning them into giant oil slingers and foaming the oil horribly. With a filter change, 7qts should be about right (why the manual differs I have no idea).

The standard oil that we use at DCX/VM is Mobil 1 Full-synthetic 0w-40 for all temps above 32F. When working in the cold-chambers at DCX (-13C, -27C) Mobil 1 Full-syn 5w-30 is the approved oil for testing and calibration.

I have always been a big fan of using the Mopar Italian-made filters (by Ufi I believe) because they're designed to withstand the high pressures of the VM R428 engine during cold starts and operation. When starting with a cold-soaked engine with cold ambients, oil pressure is about 70-85 psi at idle and well over 100psi off-idle until the oil temps warm up and stabilize with the coolant.

Yes, in more non-technical terms, with that oil overage the balance shafts and cam would be whipping up an oil Starbucks Latte!
Now the oil pump would hate that frothy Latte, it would be like trying to drink the froth through a straw. I.E. lots of air mixed with the liquid Latte would make the pump strain because it hates air in the system.

A tell tale sign of this would be if you pulled your oil dipstick and looked at the oil on the stick. If it has tiny bubbles, that's your Starbucks Latte!

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2005 Black CRD Limited w/105,000 miles
Mann Provent 200, Airbox Mod, ORM Mod
New 545RFE, TC & Redesigned pump @ 25,020 miles
New EGR Flow Control Valve @ 25,020 miles
New Transfer Case input/output seals @ 32,787 miles
SEGR Kit @ 52,000 miles
SunCoast TC and Transgo Shift Kit @ 52,000 miles

If the engine didn't get more then a couple hundred miles on and no high rpm's and no oil has blown everywhere, you will most likely be ok. The reason I say this is I kind of doubt that 12 qts in this engine didn't cause a hydrolock from the bottom side, or at least blow oil out the dipstick. Did you actually measure the amount of oil drained from engine? Most likely the engine only had a couple of extra qts over fill. I have seen two VW TDI's hydrolock on oil when the persons forgot to drain the oil and just added another 4 qts of oil & filter then started the engine. One snapped the crank and threw a rod out the side of the block, the other snapped the crank and blew rod & piston on to shop floor, both engines blew oil out the dipstick tube. Yes before you ask I actually saw the second one happen to a Jetta TDI at a dealer, and saw the other one after it had happened at a oil change place and was towed into the dealership.

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91 MB 300D 2.5L Turbo. Her's

05 MB E320 CDI. Mine

Sorry to hear of your experience. This is what I would do:

1) Post the information on the dealer that did this, both in this thread and in the dealers to stay away from thread.

2) Never return to that dealer

3) File a complaint with DCX against that dealer and make sure DCX documuments what happened.

It depends on how many miles you ran it with 12 qts in it. I put in 6.5 quarts, and that gives me the max line on my dip stick. If you are checking the oil cold, don't just push the dipstick in and pull it out real quick....give it about five seconds before you pull it back out to read it.

How the heck do you put 12 qts of oil in a jeep? I mean, that is almost double the capacity and the gasser certainly doesn't hold 12 quarts. This dealer sounds like they have a bunch of crack heads working for them. This is why I try to do as much as I can myself. The fact of the matter is that most mechanics (except the very good ones) don't give a car the same attention they would their own car. To them, it is all about money and getting cars in and out quickly.

Do everything you can to expose that dealer for what they are....a bunch of incompetant idiots!

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06.5 Jetta TDI PKG 2 - Silver/Anth

Thanks for all the information, guys. Here's an update. We did find out that that filter is in fact the diesel filter, per the man my father spoke to at Mopar ... so at least they got that right. As for the oil, our plan is to have another certified mechanic remove oil from each of our cars and send it to Blackstone Labs, who can tell us whether it's the appropriate oil or not. I know that 0w-40 Mobil 1 syn is in mine, as when they RE-DID the oil change (at the other dealership in PA), they gave me the unused portion of a quart of it, still in the original bottle (rather than charge me for half of it, they charged me for the whole bottle, and gave me the leftover. They do sell it at NAPA around here ... my dad gave me 4 gallons for Christmas last year ... . I do know that the dealership here (the one that overfilled) charged us for 12 quarts of Mobil 1 0w-40 on the first round, and charged my dad for 6.3 quarts of it on his second OC ... so there should not be any other kind of oil in there, lest they were dishonest on the receipt.

FWIW, to give you guys specific numbers, when the second dealership re-did my OC last year, they found, in their words, that it was "almost five quarts over." So it did actually come pretty close to 12 in there. And I'd guess the car burned some oil during the 200 miles I drove it under those conditions, so it may have been a full 12 at the beginning. Amazing.

I will add updates. When this thing gets settled (if it does), I'll post more specific info about the dealership. I don't want to incriminate them until I know exactly what happened. My father did call the manager there and the manager seemed pretty concerned/appalled that these things have happened, so it may be the case of one or two bad apples working in their service dept. We'll see how it plays out.

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2005 Liberty CRD Limited, Light Khaki on Slate - 142,000 miles
1987 Mercedes-Benz 300D - 314,000 miles
1978 Mercedes-Benz 240D 4spd manual - 371,000 miles
2018 Chevy Cruze 1.6L turbodiesel, 6spd manual - 58,000 miles
1982 Peugeot 505 diesel, 4spd manual - 132,000 miles
1994 Mercedes-Benz SL500 - 94,000 miles

I would hope for better service at a dealer. However, I think it's really very unlikely any damage was done from the overfill, or the wrong oil type. Overfilling wont create extra pressure on seals. If the oil gets whipped to a foam to the extent the pump can pump enough oil, you would get a low oil pressure warning.