You repugnant, rat-fucking piece of Nigerian 419-esque whale shit, I hope you slip on some oil in the service bay and break your fucking collarbone. Then, I hope the pain meds constipate you and you develop a case of painful hemorrhoids that are difficult to treat but cause no long-term health effects, just so you have to return to work in your crooked fucking dealership and sit in an uncomfortable chair and have THAT to remind you of the collarbone-breaking fall.

Why, you ask?

quote:

Said by Rat-Fucking Piece of Nigerian 410-esque Whale Shit:
“We recommend that you have your fuel injectors cleaned. Sludge can develop and cause problems.”

Yeah. Where do I even start with that. 2013 model with fewer than 30K miles, fed with first-world gasoline, and ZERO performance issues. And while Mrs. DM is spot-on 99% of the time in spotting these scams, she took the car in for an oil change and got upsold into this shit because the said rat-fucking service writer seemed so sincere and genuine. I can’t pimp-slap her because I don’t want her to think she’s not capable, and thanks to the wonders of the fresh hormonal Hell that her rolling into her early fifties has spawned, I can’t even gently explain why this is a scam without her crying, and I’d rather roll in broken glass than see her cry.

Monday morning, I’m visiting the service manager. Essentially, fix this shit, or it’s the last fucking dollar they ever get from me. I’d expect this from Jiffy Lube or some such place, but—naively—not the dealership, and by the way, would the service writer have had the balls to try this upsell on a guy? Sideline the whole OTHER fucking issue, that being "Explain what the fuck you actually DID to 'clean' the fuel injectors." As it is, I’m going back to doing my own damn oil changes. It’s a pain in the ass to do it in our current driveway/no-room 1-car-garage, but if its strips these bastards of the cost of that “fuel injector service” one oil change at a time, it’s worth it.

The service manager will apologize to you, promise it will never happen again, then pat the guy on the back for a job well done.

what was the charge?

Neighborhood of $129.

In other words, not enough shop time to have actually removed and reinstalled the injectors, in my amateur guess.

If I'm a betting man, basically a $129 bottle of rebranded (by BG??) 'Chevron Techron' poured into your gas tank!

My wife took her Ford Escape (hybrid, but that's not relevant for this discussion, nor is the color -- white) to a very large Ford dealer near us for scheduled oil change.

She mentioned to them that the brake and ABS warning lights were coming on at random times. They kept the vehicle for six days and said that they could not reproduce the problem, nor could they find anything wrong other than the brake fluid was a teensy bit low, so they added a few drops. $151.00 for that.

On The Seventh Day, I drove her over there so that she could retrieve her car. I parked maybe 20 yards away, where I could see her, and I watched while she got in, turned the key on, and marched back into the service office and came out with one of the managers in tow. Yeah, the problem that they could not find for $151 was right there, bigger than life.

I never drive her vehicle, but a few weeks later I took it to Discount Tire for unrelated service, and I discovered that if I touched, or even farted in the general direction of the parking brake pedal or parking brake release handle, the break and ABS warning lights would come on. Turn the ignition off, wait a few seconds, turn it back on and no warning lights. My conclusion: the switch that tells the system that the parking brake is on -- that switch has some sort of a fault. Maybe sticking, maybe not adjusted properly, maybe intermittent short. I'm going to get the vehicle to the independent service guy who I use for my service (my wife likes to go to the Ford dealer, but this might be the incident to convince her to break away from them), and ask him to check the problem, with the evidence that I found.

I think maybe our $151 for a couple ounces brake fluid might trump your $129 for injector service.

Side note: the aviation maintenance tech I used when the V-Tail was based at Orlando Executive, would clean the fuel injectors at each 100 hour inspection. He soaked them in Hoppe's # 9.

I have a mechanic that I trust and have had this conversation with him before. He said if you always run premium the injectors should die before they ever need to be cleaned. He said that if the car didn't require premium, you could always run it every couple of tanks for the same result. The good gas is apparently loaded with detergents and other goodies.

He said if you're running regular all of the time, they may need to be cleaned after 100,000 miles. Sooner if running junk gas, but it would be obvious.

I think most places that sell this service hook up to the port on the fuel rail and inject their concoction.

Dennis,

I feel your pain. No longer with her, but she engaged menopause early - and the crying was horrible to endure.

But you neglected to mention the unadulterated anger and rage that offset it with stark contrast.

It's all your fault.

Dump a bottle of Techron (available at Walmart for about $6) any time you begin to detect a performance issue.

At 40,000 miles, running regular unleaded, the car began to appear a bit sluggish. Ran it down to about 1/2 tank and dumped a bottle in. Drove it down to about 1/8 tank, dumped another bottle in at fill up.

Performance returned.

I'll toss a bottle in every several tankfuls just to keep things on keel.

It was recommended here and I took the advice. It works.

And yes, that was exactly what the dealership does in many cases. Or at best, what a1abdj said about the rail method.

I ran a 2000 Cavalier with a 2.4 in it 240,000+ miles and sold it with he original injectors in it. At about 100,000 miles, I tossed in about 4 oz of Lucas fuel additive for general purpose every other tankful.

All of my vehicles get the same treatment.

I've never touched a fuel injector.

600,000 miles driven in the past 10 years in my wife's and my car. Not a single drop of fuel injector cleaner ever ran through the tank. Scam. Cars run perfect.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
I have a mechanic that I trust and have had this conversation with him before. He said if you always run premium the injectors should die before they ever need to be cleaned. He said that if the car didn't require premium, you could always run it every couple of tanks for the same result. The good gas is apparently loaded with detergents and other goodies.

He said if you're running regular all of the time, they may need to be cleaned after 100,000 miles. Sooner if running junk gas, but it would be obvious.

I think most places that sell this service hook up to the port on the fuel rail and inject their concoction.

THIS. They probably use a pressurized can of cleaner that hooks to a port on the fuel rail. Most likely it wasn't necessary.

Techron is an excellent fuel additive and Costco sells it pretty cheap. If you add it, do it to the tank right before you get the oil changed as any fuel additive can put crap in the oil from cleaning stuff off (carbon/sludge etc) or dilute the oil.

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
Neighborhood of $129.

In other words, not enough shop time to have actually removed and reinstalled the injectors, in my amateur guess.

Nobody does that. There are two kinds of fuel injector cleanings. One is to disable the vehicle's fuel pump, cap the return line, hook a pressurized container of cleaner to the fuel rail so it will go through the injectors and run the vehicle off that. This is a bit of a hassle, in part because your vehicle has no return line. Sometimes this might be done if there is a known or suspected problem with the injectors but they aren't easily accessible or are too expensive to replace. The other is a fuel additive in the tank and a solvent run through a vacuum port on the intake manifold. This cleans carbon and sludge buildup off the inside of the intake and the back sides of the valves. This crud does build up, but not at 30,000 miles. More likely this is what they did ... if they actually did it. Short of actually watching them, there is no way to prove or disprove it. $129 is probably about average for dealers, maybe even a little low. It is $89 at my independent shop in small-town Tennessee. I would personally not have recommended this service at such low mileage.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: egregore,

quote:

The service manager will apologize to you, promise it will never happen again, then pat the guy on the back for a job well done.

This!

While I would go in and do exactly as you plan to do, I would also in the back of my mind know that I will never give them another dime.

I had a similar experience recently. I took my Tacoma in to check a recall issue. I was told my frame was rusted, and it would be replaced under the recall. I was further told my catalytic converter needed replacing (at 47k) and it would cost 900 bucks. I drove directly to CarMax and got an appraisal for about 2k over blue book (they told me manual transmission/4 cylinder trucks were in demand.) I asked about the rusted frame and the converter issue. They told me there was no rust and my exhaust system had a loose bracket. I accepted their offer. If I need another car, I will buy used from Carmax or online somewhere. I am SO SICK of crooked ass dealers.

And this is why I do my own work. Last time I had someone else work on my car, it was to tune it for modifications I had done. He was a performance shop with a dyno. I would've had to pay $300 for the program and also know what I was doing. For $250, he tuned it on the dyno. It just wasn't worth it for me to try myself and risk blowing the motor up with an incorrect air/fuel ratio.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
I had a similar experience recently. I took my Tacoma in to check a recall issue. I was told my frame was rusted, and it would be replaced under the recall. I was further told my catalytic converter needed replacing (at 47k) and it would cost 900 bucks.

If the vehicle was less than 8 years old, you should've told them to replace it since it's under warranty. Emission control devices are covered for 8 years or 80,000 miles, whichever comes first.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
I never drive her vehicle, but a few weeks later I took it to Discount Tire for unrelated service, and I discovered that if I touched, or even farted in the general direction of the parking brake pedal or parking brake release handle, the break and ABS warning lights would come on. Turn the ignition off, wait a few seconds, turn it back on and no warning lights. My conclusion: the switch that tells the system that the parking brake is on -- that switch has some sort of a fault. Maybe sticking, maybe not adjusted properly, maybe intermittent short. I'm going to get the vehicle to the independent service guy who I use for my service (my wife likes to go to the Ford dealer, but this might be the incident to convince her to break away from them), and ask him to check the problem, with the evidence that I found.

I drove a buddy's Ford F150 for a week while my truck was getting body work after a fender bender.

I hop in go to drive off and the car is throwing errors about the parking brake being on. Odd. Reset the brake. Nope. Engage and release the brake. Nope. Make sure it's up, fully power cycle. Nope. Shoot him a text, he says it's just the sensor, drive with it or try and get it to turn off, doesn't matter.

Really? I got it to turn off by holding the release latch *and* lifting on the backside of the pedal with my foot. Fixed. Seriously? He tells me later that if you so much as sneeze on the pedal that happens. This is the truck he has some plug-in tuner for and constantly messes with the ECU, has it strand him for some mysterious gremlin, complains about the transmission needing work, the rear end is shot with less than 100k, etc. But don't you care call his Ford shit.

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
You repugnant, rat-fucking piece of Nigerian 419-esque whale shit, I hope you slip on some oil in the service bay and break your fucking collarbone. Then, I hope the pain meds constipate you and you develop a case of painful hemorrhoids that are difficult to treat but cause no long-term health effects, just so you have to return to work in your crooked fucking dealership and sit in an uncomfortable chair and have THAT to remind you of the collarbone-breaking fall.

Why, you ask?

quote:

Said by Rat-Fucking Piece of Nigerian 410-esque Whale Shit:
“We recommend that you have your fuel injectors cleaned. Sludge can develop and cause problems.”

Yeah. Where do I even start with that. 2013 model with fewer than 30K miles, fed with first-world gasoline, and ZERO performance issues. And while Mrs. DM is spot-on 99% of the time in spotting these scams, she took the car in for an oil change and got upsold into this shit because the said rat-fucking service writer seemed so sincere and genuine. I can’t pimp-slap her because I don’t want her to think she’s not capable, and thanks to the wonders of the fresh hormonal Hell that her rolling into her early fifties has spawned, I can’t even gently explain why this is a scam without her crying, and I’d rather roll in broken glass than see her cry.

Monday morning, I’m visiting the service manager. Essentially, fix this shit, or it’s the last fucking dollar they ever get from me. I’d expect this from Jiffy Lube or some such place, but—naively—not the dealership, and by the way, would the service writer have had the balls to try this upsell on a guy? Sideline the whole OTHER fucking issue, that being "Explain what the fuck you actually DID to 'clean' the fuel injectors." As it is, I’m going back to doing my own damn oil changes. It’s a pain in the ass to do it in our current driveway/no-room 1-car-garage, but if its strips these bastards of the cost of that “fuel injector service” one oil change at a time, it’s worth it.

I would demand my money back.
I had the dealer pull this shit on my wife.I called the service manager and called him out on it.
He tried to tell me they had a machine they hooked it up to for cleaning the injectors. I told him "they may have a machine that does that but they sure as hell didn't use it on my wifes car". "I looked around on the fuel rail and lines and I cant see any sign that they touched anything". You charged me over $100 to dump something in the tank."
He was silent for a few seconds then offered to refund our credit card. I have never had her car serviced there since.

quote:

Originally posted by DennisM:
You repugnant, rat-fucking piece of Nigerian 419-esque whale shit, I hope you slip on some oil in the service bay and break your fucking collarbone. Then, I hope the pain meds constipate you and you develop a case of painful hemorrhoids that are difficult to treat but cause no long-term health effects, just so you have to return to work in your crooked fucking dealership and sit in an uncomfortable chair and have THAT to remind you of the collarbone-breaking fall.

Why, you ask?

quote:

Said by Rat-Fucking Piece of Nigerian 410-esque Whale Shit:
“We recommend that you have your fuel injectors cleaned. Sludge can develop and cause problems.”

Yeah. Where do I even start with that. 2013 model with fewer than 30K miles, fed with first-world gasoline, and ZERO performance issues. And while Mrs. DM is spot-on 99% of the time in spotting these scams, she took the car in for an oil change and got upsold into this shit because the said rat-fucking service writer seemed so sincere and genuine. I can’t pimp-slap her because I don’t want her to think she’s not capable, and thanks to the wonders of the fresh hormonal Hell that her rolling into her early fifties has spawned, I can’t even gently explain why this is a scam without her crying, and I’d rather roll in broken glass than see her cry.

Monday morning, I’m visiting the service manager. Essentially, fix this shit, or it’s the last fucking dollar they ever get from me. I’d expect this from Jiffy Lube or some such place, but—naively—not the dealership, and by the way, would the service writer have had the balls to try this upsell on a guy? Sideline the whole OTHER fucking issue, that being "Explain what the fuck you actually DID to 'clean' the fuel injectors." As it is, I’m going back to doing my own damn oil changes. It’s a pain in the ass to do it in our current driveway/no-room 1-car-garage, but if its strips these bastards of the cost of that “fuel injector service” one oil change at a time, it’s worth it.

After the last time my friendly neighborhood honda dealer tried to fuck me I wrote a nice letter to Honda and explained to them that if this is the way their dealers were going to treat people I would be hard pressed to ever drive another Honda. I honestly expected nothing from them but was pleasantly surprised when a $50 Honda gift card arrived with an apology and yesm the card could be used for parts/service at any dealer.

Is there anyone that doesn’t have such a story? Makes you wonder how these dealerships stay in business.

Min involves an oil change that took 30 m8nutes, then I had to wait another 30 minutes for the service manager to do a quality check on the work...yeah! When the kid brought up front, you could smell hot oil, there was oil dripping out from under the engine compartment. The kid gets out and ask if I’ve had any alternator issues because the light is on. I reach in turn off the engine and pop the hood. Up pops the serpentine belt and there oil on EVERYTHING. The service manager did get a lesson in humility in front of every customer in the service department.

You could have bought around 17-18 bottles of Chevron Techron for 129 bucks...

Put a bottle in every 3,000 miles, works great.

I run shit fuel in my Frontier and have never put any injector cleaner in it.

I only change the fuel filter every hundred thousand miles.