Just another reason not to take your S4 to an instant oil change shop....

[Militant-Grunt]

This has been covered many times and is getting way off topic but, while this worked in the past, don't count on it working anymore. Audi pushed some notice to hook every vehicle up for a rectal scan during every service....regardless of what the vehicle is in for. The alleged hidden tunes aren't necessarily hidden anymore either, and this includes removing the flash before going to the dealership. There are mixed results but if you have a tune, assume you're TD1'd and hope for the best. In short, if you take your Audi to a dealership odds are they will hook it up and if you have a tune, odds are they will see it and flag you. Doesn't matter if you ask/tell then not to hook it up first. If you have a dealership that's working with you and never hooking it up to the scanner, you're lucky and in the minority.

You do realize I'm a tech at a Audi dealership right? It is pretty much totally up to the technician and no one else, if I am not notified that the car is flashed, I will perform work as if it is not. I generally ask the moment I see any inkling of mods on the car that the customer be notified and asked if there are any modifications on the car. Like I stated before, down to the Service adviser doing the right thing. Just don't expect any engine warranty work on your car to be completed, or any software updates / recalls that involve flashing. Also, I'm not saying every dealership is perfect and will do this for you, but there are plenty out there that will do the right thing by you.

lol fine i'll take that loss, but what about the member here who went in for service and one of the techs hooked his car up for the airbag module recall? he got TD1'd immediately.

what everyone here is saying is unless you have some sort of close relationship with your service advisor, which i'm sure not all of us here do, even something as simple as a service interval with Audicare could still result in TD1.

This is correct, any flash, any check engine light that involves the use of Guided fault findings or Flashing through guided functions will do this. (Every time a flash is performed there is a check sum performed of all the modules, and guided fault findings leaves a detailed log of every module.)

[Silverbullet S4]

You do realize I'm a tech at a Audi dealership right?

Looks to me like we're pretty much saying the same thing. And yes, it's up to the tech if they are going to follow the guidance from on high and they can chose not to hook it up to the scanner. However, AOA is telling all techs to hook up every car to be scanned regardless of service. The actual letter was posted here a few months ago by another Audi tech which lead to several dedicated topics on TD1 and denied warranty claims stemming from it.

[BlackOnBlackA6]

Crap!!

[ZERO FRAME GRAB]

I'm glad my B6 Avant is too low to go thru Valvoline/ Jiffy Lube, so it will be wither do it myself or take it to Drive Auto Works. Those guys rock!

[adk_audi]

Thanks guys. I know how stupid it was not to do the work myself too.

I will say that luckily one of the police officers was extremely nice. He went over and talked to the tech and came back and tells me that he got a full confession. I was able to get them to at least confess to "cracking" the DSG fluid plug although they wont admit they drained it. No big deal since they admitted to opening it. They also admitted to damaging the aero pan. We'll see if the owner covers the bill. If not, looks like i'll be seeing what the limits are in FL for small claims court.

Mike

I am a new S4 owner just scanning the forums and this is the stuff nightmares are made of. It's a good thing you trusted your gut and saw that things weren't adding up. Imagine if it was just some schmoe who didn't know any better. I wonder how many cars the tech butchered before yours.

If you are using a sawzall to change oil, you're doing it wrong!

[jygesq]

Common sense would have not to brought car to this kind oil change place.

[Brother Owl]

Common sense would have not to brought car to this kind oil change place.

Common sense would have you checking your post for proper syntax and grammar...

[homelessNY_LI]

Common sense would have you checking your post for proper syntax and grammar...

I just can't believe this post is still going

[MerkurRS]

Common sense would have not to brought car to this kind oil change place.

I disagree-
There has to be a level of expectations when going to a business like this that they could perform a basic function if this is their primary business.

[hoorah]

I just caught this story on Jalopnik, and when I saw the location of the place (near me), I had to sign up for an account just for this story. I know someone that works at this location, and I would not be surprised if he was the one that did this (there are only like 3 people that work there to begin with). I asked him if it was him on facebook (I don't talk to him in person ever) and I will see what he says.

I remember asking him what it was like working there a few months ago and distinctly remember him saying that the high end luxury cars werent fun because of all of the clips on the undertrays. I guess he started working smarter? /s

[blackfunk]

I just caught this story on Jalopnik, and when I saw the location of the place (near me), I had to sign up for an account just for this story. I know someone that works at this location, and I would not be surprised if he was the one that did this (there are only like 3 people that work there to begin with). I asked him if it was him on facebook (I don't talk to him in person ever) and I will see what he says.

I remember asking him what it was like working there a few months ago and distinctly remember him saying that the high end luxury cars werent fun because of all of the clips on the undertrays. I guess he started working smarter? /s

Ohhhh boy. Might mean that everyone with a Luxury car who's been there recently may want to get under their cars and check. His attitude is inexcusable. He, point blank is in the wrong profession if that's his attitude.

[jokingjimmy]

Ohhhh boy. Might mean that everyone with a Luxury car who's been there recently may want to get under their cars and check. His attitude is inexcusable. He, point blank is in the wrong profession if that's his attitude.

Actually you have a really good point! I hope people in your area with cars like ours goes out and double checks they still have an intact underbelly shield/pan/aerothingy lol.

[hoorah]

Ohhhh boy. Might mean that everyone with a Luxury car who's been there recently may want to get under their cars and check. His attitude is inexcusable. He, point blank is in the wrong profession if that's his attitude.

I took a look at his FB page and he had a picture posted from Valvoline on Jan 06. The OPs letter from December 18th says the employee was fired, so its either not him, or they didn't fire him. I suspect it didn't happen to be him, but that doesn't mean he wouldnt have if given the chance. If it wasn't him, I'm still curious to hear about the story from his end just to see if they own up to the mistake or claim that the customer was being too difficult or something.

His attitude is pretty poor in general (not just working on cars). Its sad at first when you see the series of poor decisions he's made along the way and how its affected his life, but over and over again he refuses to learn from those mistakes and never owns up and takes responsibility. I don't feel sorry for him.Though, thats besides the point now since it looks like it wasn't him.

[hoorah]

Okay, so I got a hold of the guy. He claims that he was the manager that day, although I suspect that might just mean he was the most senior person there that day as I doubt this guy is really a manager. Regardless, he basically just said that the guy was lazy, cut the splash pan, and got fired the next day. He car had to be towed because they couldn't get the right kind of transmission fluid (right- as if they had a say in the matter by that point) but made no mention of the police showing up. He ignored most of the pointed questions I asked such as "if you were the manager, were you supposed to check their work?" and "who told him he was all set to go when they knew they didnt do it right?" then stopped responding at all. Pretty much went as I expected.

[Thumper3]

I never go to quick lube places.

Never.

I had a buddy back in my young days when I was fresh from High School and slinging auto parts for Kragen. He used to work at a quick lube place....said he was fed up with the low pay and bullshit..........so.......he decided to quit.......after working a full shift pulling the inspection plugs from every manual transmission and differential on the cars that came through his bay that day.

I do it myself (99% of the time) or have a reputable shop/dealer do it if I'm busy.

This story just further re-enforces my opinion on Quick Lube places.

OP has nerves of steel and the patience of a saint, most people would have been hauled off to jail after Dominic Toretto'ing that tech with his own wrench........

[adk_audi]

This story is 9 years old, but I cannot tell you how many times this story pops into my head and haunts my thoughts. I had to come back and find this thread because I just saw a post on the justrolledintotheshop subreddit that a Valvoline shop just did the same thing to someone! Complete with a picture of the cut out aero pan! Someone that worked there commented that the practice is encouraged by management for returning customers because the fasteners are all different on different cars or could be worn. I get they are low cost and you get what you pay for in terms of quality and service but, I don't think anyone expects their car to be purposely damaged. Totally messed up!