First oil change at the dealership....wow!

Lbear said:

There's a stigma today that working a trade is for "dumb" people and only IT work is for intelligent people. That's absolutely not true. Yet, that is the stigma today. Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs talks about this and even petitioned congress about it.

That's why teenagers and young adults, most of them today, cannot do simple mechanical skills like changing the oil or even repairing household issues.

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Eh, that' a bit of a stereotype and as an IT professional, I am going to take some offense to that and call some BS. While I think there are definitely some situations where you are correct, that is a blanket statement that is not entirely representative of the truth.

For me, it had nothing to do with thinking trade work is dumb. I have a huge amount of respect for people that do trade work because you have to be incredibly smart and talented to do things like plumbing, electricity, mechanical engineering, construction, etc. skillfully and correctly. But consider the times. This has been the computer age for a while now. That doesn't mean trades are going away, quite the contrary, but it does mean that you have less and less exposure to those skills and learning them. The last person in my family to do any trade work/mechanical engineering was my Grandpa. He died when I was 14 in 2006, and I didn't live in the same state as him to learn those types of skills from him directly. Hell he had been fabricating parts and building his own engine for years up until the time he died (sadly left unfinished). We moved away from there when I was 8.

Neither my Mom or Dad or Step-Dad had any knowledge of these kinds of skills. They don't do their own oil changes, or fixing their own issues around the house past very minor ones. So who the hell was I learning any of it from? No one, that's who. They were into IT work, then consulting, and running their own business. That's what I learned, so probably how I got started into IT.

So call it whatever you want, but some people just have no exposure to this kind of stuff like they would have had many decades ago. So yeah, many simply have not learned it growing up, including myself. It's not "hurr durr trade work is for dumb people". It's simply a sign of the times and living in the computer age.

I only started learning these things myself because I have an active interest in knowing how to take care of things myself. So now I do my oil changes, I'm going to replace my spark plugs, I replaced my garbage disposal, I fixed the running toilet, etc. Minor sure, but it's got to start somewhere.

The quality of work by service departments varies between dealerships. For instance, the Ford dealership in Grand Prairie, TX, sucks. My dad once took his Ford Focus there for an oil change. They released the car to my dad without putting back the oil cap at the top of the engine, which made for a messy engine bay. The dealership where I take our Mazdas is generally pretty good. They have had some slip-ups, but none that are "bad" and they always make it up to me if there is an issue.

At the end of the day, taking it to the dealership or changing the oil yourself is determined by how much you put a value on your time. What is that "time" that you spent changing your own oil worth to you? Could you have used it to do something else more meaningful? Or is changing your own oil meaningful to you? You're either going to be "buying" time for yourself, or you're using your time to do it yourself. If you have the skills, the tools, the space and the time to do your own oil changes, then you'll save money doing it at the cost of your time (which is no biggie since you presumably had time to do it). Other people, like my wife, will not be able to change their own oil and so she would still have to take her car to the dealership or an independent shop for service.

Mazda usually, almost always, sends out an email to do a survey regarding your recent dealership/service experience. I have found that they are very sensitive to the info you enter into these surveys, so it is a good place to detail your recent service experience.

As for people nowadays going into IT? Is that really true? Or are those people mostly doing the freelancing thing? The reason I ask is because there are always opening for software developers or IT people in our field. If everyone is doing IT now, which I'm sure they aren't, what are young people doing nowadays?

finch204 said:

As for people nowadays going into IT? Is that really true? Or are those people mostly doing the freelancing thing? The reason I ask is because there are always opening for software developers or IT people in our field. If everyone is doing IT now, which I'm sure they aren't, what are young people doing nowadays?

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Yeah it's true, but it heavily depends on area too. Denver here is a hot tech market, so lots of IT jobs. People think of IT as only the tech support guy but it covers a huge swath of skill sets both technical and business/process.

Young people are doing whatever. Went to my nephews graduation last week and what those kids wanted to do ranged from nursing to IT, to mechanical engineering and everything in between.

DurtyByrd said:

So my wife took her car to Capital Mazda in Cary, NC to have her very first oil change on her brand new 2017 CX-5. It did not go well, to say the least...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/drz6r4puwtqka5o/IMG_20180610_122848.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ig7h6dntg9ai4xc/IMG_20180610_122855.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b18wnopgksk19h8/IMG_20180610_122909.jpg?dl=0

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I too live in the Triangle area. I took my Mazda CX-5 to Southern States Mazda in Raleigh about a month ago for its first oil change. I inspected the work and saw no issues. You may want to give them a try. I had an appointment and waited less than a hour for the service. People were courteous and the waiting room was pleasant.

Heritage07 said:

Its because slacker parents dont take the time to teach their kids anything and coddle them into their adult life.

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(hmm) you are probably right

DurtyByrd said:

There is no blue rag...In that first picture, the blue is a pool of oil leaking through the cover. The second picture is just to show how far back it is making a mess. The third picture is the pool of oil in the driveway from sitting over night (1 night).

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Wait why the color blue though....unless its a reflection of the driveway tricking the camera.

CX-5um said:

Wait why the color blue though....unless its a reflection of the driveway tricking the camera.

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I did have a blue beach towel on the ground to lay on while snapping pictures. That is most likely the source of the blue reflection in the photo.

As Ronald Reagan used to say and this applies to work done at the dealer -- Trust but Verify.

Always

wlong01 said:

As Ronald Reagan used to say and this applies to work done at the dealer -- Trust but Verify.

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Most definitely. One of my favorite quotes.

Man, that is a crappy dealer.

Puyapim said:

Most definitely. One of my favorite quotes.

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Dad taught me to always do a walk around, and pop the hood at the dealer before you leave, after you get work done. (detect)

Unfortunately this wouldn't have helped you in this instance, but good thing for all that the oil level did not reach critical. (boom02)

Throughout 30 years of getting vehicles serviced, (not just Mazda's), I have found the dipstick laying in the fender channel, the oil filler cap left off, the air filter housing not clamped together, mechanics tools left behind underhood, etc.

mazdadude said:

Dad taught me to always do a walk around, and pop the hood at the dealer before you leave, after you get work done. (detect)

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This is a good rule to follow.

ColoradoDriver said:

For me, it had nothing to do with thinking trade work is dumb. I have a huge amount of respect for people that do trade work because you have to be incredibly smart and talented to do things like plumbing, electricity, mechanical engineering, construction, etc. skillfully and correctly. But consider the times. This has been the computer age for a while now. That doesn't mean trades are going away, quite the contrary, but it does mean that you have less and less exposure to those skills and learning them. .

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As usual, I agree with my younger brother. I swear we must have been separated at birth.
I fell into IT. It was an odd career path. But I absolutely have always had respect for mechanics, and plumbers, and HVAC guys. MAD respect for plumbers. I cannot even imagine some of the, yea, I'll say it: s*** they've had to deal with. If I didn't land in IT I'm sure I would be doing something more 'skilled', if you will.

Also, as my brother said, times have changed. In 1970... hell in 1980... there wasn't a 5 minute oil change place at every corner.

ALTHOUGH in the modern days defense... in 1980 we didn't have YouTube. ANYBODY should be able to change oil today by doing a 2 second YouTube search, amirite?

As to OP's issue... hey... mistakes do happen. Can we be a little more forgiving since there was no long term damage done and OP was smart enough to catch it. Although I'd be making the dealer clean my damn driveway. You betcha.

7eregrine said:

As usual, I agree with my younger brother. I swear we must have been separated at birth.
I fell into IT. It was an odd career path. But I absolutely have always had respect for mechanics, and plumbers, and HVAC guys. MAD respect for plumbers. I cannot even imagine some of the, yea, I'll say it: s*** they've had to deal with. If I didn't land in IT I'm sure I would be doing something more 'skilled', if you will.

Also, as my brother said, times have changed. In 1970... hell in 1980... there wasn't a 5 minute oil change place at every corner.

ALTHOUGH in the modern days defense... in 1980 we didn't have YouTube. ANYBODY should be able to change oil today by doing a 2 second YouTube search, amirite?

As to OP's issue... hey... mistakes do happen. Can we be a little more forgiving since there was no long term damage done and OP was smart enough to catch it. Although I'd be making the dealer clean my damn driveway. You betcha.

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(drinks) Cheers!

Too true on the youtube point. But it also means you have to take the initiative to want to learn those things. I for one, am glad I did!

I'd learned this long time ago. Now, I've been doing my oil changes since day 1 of a car.

Whomever uses dealers for oil changes gets lowest quality service possible. Period.