@Steve_K1, I read that book, it’s wonderful and id recommend it to everyone here. And being a cynical native New Yorker myself, I understand your outlook on life perfectly.
That’s a pretty good problem to have … lol … I’ve never experienced anything like that in any of my vehicles. I mostly drive a lot of stop and go in an urban setting & change around 4-5 K miles, and the old oil has always looked very noticeably darker than the new oil. If you really want to test if the oil has been changed I think there are UV dyes you can add to the oil. They’re used to test for oil leaks, but you could use them – with the aid of a UV lamp – to test if the oil had been changed or not.
And here I thought this was recycled from about 5 years ago. Guess not, but here’s the thing, if you don’t trust them, then don’t do business with them at all, period. Holy cow. If you thought your accountant was stealing from you, would you try and trap them or quit them? Gee whiz. Why would anyone not change the oil to save $5 in parts?
Reminds me of my boss once who didn’t trust his housekeeper. He put a penny under the bed and when it was still there after cleaning, fired her. Ever vacuumed up a penny? It’ll rattle like crazy and can blast the fan apart. I mean really, if you can trust someone, why be a baby about it?
Your boss sounds like a scumbag
If the penny was gone from under the bed, maybe he would have fired the housekeeper for stealing?
When you have that kind of personality, you see wrongdoing in every single person you encounter
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The penny thing is an old ploy, had a housekeeping manager that would place one somewhere in a room to test out new hires, penny still there after room cleaning, goodbye. Probably quite a few pennies hiding in my car.
Steve, I don’t entirely blame you for wanting to verify the oil change. Nothing wrong with wanting to verify the work is done. It’s kind of your job as a consumer, in my opinion.
I’ve got a few thoughts on some of your comments and other posters comments:
-I think our 2013 Highlander has the same engine as your Venza (3.5 liter V6), but I’m not certain. I can tell a difference in the color of the oil on the dipstick at 3k miles. At 3k, it’s still “clean” and amber looking on the dipstick. But immediately following an oil change, it’s basically transparent on the dipstick.
-If you don’t want to get under the car, I think the slightly overfilling the engine with oil is a good idea. Overfill by 1/2 a quart. You can overfill immediately prior to the oil change in the parking lot if you want.
-Checking the oil level at the dealership after an oil change is a good practice. I don’t think the techs would think ill of you doing so. Honestly, they’re probably not watching you after your service is completed, they’re probably working on the next vehicle.
-Our Highlander does have a trans dipstick, although the trans is supposedly “sealed for life”. Does the 2011 Venza not? Either way, I believe changing the fluid is a good idea. If you’re interested in changing it yourself, measure the amount of fluid that drains out. Then put that same amount of new fluid back in. Our Highlander has a trans drain plug, and that makes it easier. I haven’t changed the filter, and I probably won’t. I just drain it out and put the same amount of fluid back in on all of my vehicles, although I do have the added benefit of a dipstick to double check that the level is correct. If you’re not changing the filter, it’s pretty easy and fairly precise to simply add back the same amount that you drained.
Good luck.
It seems I have a failure to communicate.
Let me say it again. It’s not that I don’t trust the dealer. I’ve taken my car to him for coolant and brake fluid changes, work a regular shop could have done.
It’s that I don’t trust the (unskilled, low paid) youngster doing the oil change. If his boss isn’t watching, the oil changer does nothing to my car – doesn’t change the oil, doesn’t change the (internal) filter – but says he did.
Have you ever bought a set of encyclopedias for your children, none older than three, costing a full month’s pay, from a salesman who rang your doorbell one evening in 1971? Ever bought an AMC Reliance (one of the worst cars ever made, for those of short memory) because Consumer Reports liked it? Ever seen, maybe even voted for someone who later was convicted for corruption? Ever read a newspaper or a book on world history?
Whew, I’m getting worked up here over a lousy oil change. But yes, call me paranoid and lacking trust in my fellow man. Once in a while, I am.
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Believe I’ll start doing that.
Thanks for the other good input, like adding a half quart next oil change. Thanks especially for “I don’t entirely blame you for wanting to verify the oil change. Nothing wrong with wanting to verify the work is done.” Some others on this forum can’t see that.
My car doesn’t have a transmission dip stick, and the owner’s manual (I’ve just rechecked) makes no mention (in almost 700 pages) of checking or replacing the fluid.
The engine in my Venza is a 2GR-FE. Smooth as silk.
“Scrapyard” in your name brings back memories in the '70s and '80s, when I gave the one nearby a lot of business. Boy, but aren’t cars better made now?
Do you know this for a fact . . . ?!
Or do you merely think this is a possibility, due to your admitted paranoia . . . ?!
I thought we weren’t going to get political
And it’s kind of hard for you to justify that statement, anyways, as we don’t have a valid point of reference. One of them is currently president, whereas the other never served in that capacity, and we literally don’t know how things would have turned out
And just what does that have to do with your oil change paranoia ? I doubt if you were forced to by that set.
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I don’t buy that kind of stuff from door-to-door salesmen . . . I just say “I’m not interested at this time” and close the door
However, I will place orders for Girl Scout Cookies if they happen to knock on my door . . . can’t get myself into financial trouble doing that
Gee, now I wonder if the surgeon removed my appendix or did I just have gas pains?
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I don’t understand why everyone is down on the guy for wanting to verify. Sure, they’re probably changing the oil. They’re probably putting in the correct amount too. But everyone would probably advise that he verify the correct oil level after an oil change. What’s the difference, other than one (the oil and filter being changed) is harder to verify than the level?
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Thanks for sharing your brilliant strategy with us. It had never occurred to me. I’ll be sure to try it next time.
I used it as an example where I’ve been trusting in the past (“Your children will be using these books in no time”). Not as much anymore.
I hope you’re not being sarcastic . . . because I wasn’t
By coincidence, my wife’s niece had her appendix removed just last week. A couple days ago, she came down with a high fever and severe abdominal pain, and yesterday had a second surgery.
The hospital is in a foreign country. It has a pretty good reputation – Americans go there for elective surgery – but I’m thinking – yes, paranoid again – that the operating table and tools weren’t as clean as they should have been, that the surgeon wasn’t as experienced or careful as an American one.
No way to prove it, of course. Just have to hope the second operation does the job, that sepsis doesn’t set in, that there’s a full recovery.
(Some readers will now say I’m equating surgery and oil changes.)
I know mine is gone because it burst, so I would have been dead now if they didn’t clean me up pretty good and take it with them. Sent the surgeon a thank you card. Then later on did another opening so I have the mark of Zorro now, but all work done well.
As far as my boss, it would be a former scum bag because he’s dead now. We got along pretty good but he did have his moments. He was a twin and at his funeral his twin was there. Talk about weight, he looked just like his brother. I had to double check to make sure. Size, mannerisms, speech, etc. Spooky.
The oil on several of our “cleanest” cars looks water-clear right after a change and at 3000 mi. is still transparent but definitely has a light yellow cast. Your idea of comparing spots side by side may work, but I suggest checking again after the second spot is a few days old as they may “age” when exposed to air and moisture out side the engine, but after a few days would have aged about the same amount. Placing them on separate pieces of paper towel may be wise as they may flow quite some distance and blend. You also may notice changes over time in color from center to periphery of the spots, due to different molecular species (of different colors) diffusing at different rates, and this factor may vary between the samples (this is the basis of paper chromatography, one can observe it after leaving black tea leaves on a paper towel).
As for overfilling a half qt. or so, sometimes dealerships overfill our cars by as much as a half quart, and occasionally more (they claim they are setting the bulk pump to the specified quantity, and I suppose dipstick calibrations may vary). If a dealership did this inadvertently it would be a shame to draw the wrong conclusion. Be a cautious with the UV dye approach, a little of that stuff seems to go a long way, there will be some residual following an oil change, and it would be good to be calibrated ahead of time on how much change to expect (you could perform a dilution experiment with fresh oil, outside the car).
This is an interesting challenge, and sometimes it’s good to “trust but verify”, but in the end I’m with the guy who suggested that you’d eventually see a difference if your dealership was doing this repeatedly.
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Offer to pay double if they will video the change for you. Frankly I do not see any other solution as your issue is trust. With regards to your oil color, keep in mind not all the oil is changed some remains in the engine and will discolor the new oil slightly. In this day and age of google reviews I would think if this was the regular practice at the dealerships, others would have noted it by now.
Might be too late for that
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