dealer asking for proof of oil changes.
 

My motor started knocking last week, I pulled over immediately and shut the motor off. Had the car taken to the dealer I purchased the car from. I had them do the first few oil changes and they asked me if I had changed the oil since they did it and they are demanding proof of oil changes. The mileage of my car at the last oil change at the dealer is 7500 and the car is now around 22500. I am in the process of tracking this information down and I'm worried I may not find the needed paperwork. I am just wondering what the general procedure is for this situation. And before anyone asks I have been changing my oil and I remember where I purchased the oil for one of the changes at and O'Reilly can't seem to find any information for my purchase. Also why doesn't the parts department track what their customers purchase. I went to the parts department to get my paperwork in order for the oil filters, and they told me that unless you have a business account they don't save any information on who purchased what.

Try credit or debit card receipts and see if their point of sale system will be able to print off your actual receipt for that day.

I always change my own oil, and for oil changes done within warranty periods on our cars, I typically keep the receipts for the oil and filter, and take a picture with my cell phone (keeps the time/date stamp) of the fresh oil and filter in the engine bay of my car.

1. Since the car could have missed one oil change at the scheduled mileage this shouldn't be an issue. Remind them of that. Unless the can prove that missing the oil change is the cause of the engine knock then they have no ground to stand on.

2. For real dude? You expect a company that does millions of transactions in a week to keep your receipt because you can't seem to keep it? That's one of the more ridiculous things I've seen posted on this forum.

Easy answer...

Take it to another dealership.

Most dealerships are HAPPY to replace engines and transmissions while it is under a factory warranty.

Subaru/Toyota/Scion will supply the engine or transmission.

The dealership then gets to bill Subaru/Toyota/Scion for the work done.

Either way, the dealership profits.

Literally...about 10 years ago...my Maxima was popping out of gear in 2nd.

Took it to a dealership and they said it was my synchros and they could fix it..."OH WAIT this is under factory warranty? You are getting a whole new transmission!" That car was 2 years old with 10k miles (it sat for a year while I was in Iraq as a soldier).

Get a new dealer. Or print yourself a receipt from some mom n pop auto supply shop showing oil and filter purchased and be done with it. Not like they're going to send a CSI analyst to confirm its authenticity.

I buy my oil from Amazon. They keep my purchase records on everything going back to 1996 when all they had were books. I once added up my total spent there, pretty depressing.

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Odd, keep us updated on what happens...

Tell them prove the knock was caused by not doing oil changes. You will probably have to sign something saying you will pay repairs if that is the finding in their investigation, but if you actually did the oil changes then that won't be the finding...

Any updates on this?

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Did you buy the oil & filter at the dealer? Then they have on file under your parts history.

Hi Maritime,
Completely off topic but beware of using the Canada logo as your avatar as it can get you in trouble. Got a nasty letter from the govm'nt one time because I used the DND logo as mine on another forum!

I have my receipts submitted and they're supposed to be tearing it down today. I told them I want to see it all apart so I don't have all the issues you did. Call me today, I have some questions for you.

Have them pull an oil sample and send it for an analysis at Blackstone.
If the results show that the oil is fine, then they have no grounds to stand on.

This is EXACTLY why I let the dealer do all oil changes through the warranty period.
It is ONLY so they have the records.

The Camry engines had a sludge problem and it was blowing engines.
Anyone who did their own oil changes got screwed. The ones who had all of the changes done at the dealer got new engines.

I'm not too big on the idea of someone else touching my car unless I know them.

Actually, its quite common to track every transaction for audit, analytics, inventory, etc etc. Its not as ridiculous as it sounds. Any large successful company will track their sales. Data storage is cheap.

That being said, my Subaru parts department sometimes logs my purchase under my account, sometimes they dont depending on how large the purchase is.

Just picked up my car.

I expect any company that sells anything to keep some sort of record of what they sell. I expect a dealership to keep track of what parts and products they may require records for.

Proof of oil change - Personal maintenance log.

Pepboy's keeps record of your purchases so I don't see why O'Reilly doesn't.

Orielly is supposed to save records, but that's only as reliable as the person looking up the info.

This is why I have my own preventative maintenance sheet I fill out every oil change and attach the receipt for the oil and filter to it.

http://www.heyanthonyaz.com/wp-conte...rop-sheet.jpeg

I made my own using excel but this is close enough.

always keep your own records for servicing anything you want to claim warranty on

That's good advise. I did it for my pprevious cars, but I guess I was slacking on this car recordwise.

i record mine on excel and keep all receipts for oils.

So what did they end up doing, and what failed and why?

They replaced the short block. There was metal shavings consistent with bearing material in the oil pan. I knew when it started knocking that it was a rod bearing. They didn't really do much other than check out the heads and clean them after seperating the heads from the block. The tech said that he thought the motor had been raced at high rpm for a long time, but he also said this was his first Subaru motor.

Haha this is a great idea! Totally stealing this. Dont even have to change the name on the header!