# Concerns after first service



## karter59 (Feb 14, 2014)

As for the fuel filter draining, it sits in a plastic housing that has a hex on the bottom (that I think is the same size as the oil filter housing hex) that you just unscrew, and tip the housing upside down to drain. No special tool for priming. Key on and start.
As for the DEF, I got almost 20,000 kms before I got the "you have 1000 kms before engine power reduction. Refill DEF tank" message. Here in Canada, the DEF top up is not included in the two years free service but I was under the impression that it is covered in the U.S.A.
Sounds like you don't have a very customer friendly dealership on your hands. Find a new dealership.


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## MOTO13 (Mar 26, 2014)

This is exactly why I do my own oil changes. I have little faith in GM techs. So your diesel doesn't have a def tank? Should have opened the trunk and asked them if they think you haul moonshine in the there or if there is a possibility that DEF might go in. You should state the name of the dealer.


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## Slammed2014Eco (Feb 13, 2014)

^ I would have been a smart ass too just sayin lol


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## warloc (Dec 10, 2013)

I refused to go back to any dealer for a "free" service after my one and only experience. Set up an apt 1 week in advance, called to pick up my car and was told "no oil filter in stock call back in 4 hours". That service took all day, what a joke. Started doing my own after that. Filter is included in oil change so your dealer is stroking you. The filter needs a 1.250" socket to loosen it, turn about a dozen times and oil will drain from the housing, remove the cartridge and install a new one, that's it. Oil filters are about 14 bucks, looks like they quoted a fuel filter, that doesn't need to be changed until 40K miles and needs to be "primed". The DEF is also included but go to a parts store or truck stop and fill it yourself, my CTD takes 2.5 gallons of DEF at my service interval of 6K miles. There is already some DIY instructions on oils and oil changes, I use Mobil 1 ESP 5-30w, the oil is criticle on these cars.


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## boraz (Aug 29, 2013)

warloc said:


> I refused to go back to any dealer for a "free" service after my one and only experience. Set up an apt 1 week in advance, called to pick up my car and was told "no oil filter in stock call back in 4 hours". That service took all day, what a joke. Started doing my own after that. Filter is included in oil change so your dealer is stroking you. The filter needs a 1.250" socket to loosen it, turn about a dozen times and oil will drain from the housing, remove the cartridge and install a new one, that's it. Oil filters are about 14 bucks, looks like they quoted a fuel filter, that doesn't need to be changed until 40K miles and needs to be "primed". The DEF is also included but go to a parts store or truck stop and fill it yourself, my CTD takes 2.5 gallons of DEF at my service interval of 6K miles. There is already some DIY instructions on oils and oil changes, I use Mobil 1 ESP 5-30w, the oil is criticle on these cars.


read his post again, slowly


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## smallheadz (May 11, 2014)

same here I order oil and filters online do it myself.


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## MilTownSHO (Oct 9, 2013)

Go back and have the fill your DEF tank like they are supposed to do and once you walk out the door, don't ever walk back in it.


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## revjpeterson (Oct 2, 2013)

Blender_Pretender said:


> Fuel Filter:
> I stood outside the garage while they worked to keep an eye on things. They put the car down without draining the fuel filter. They let me stand outside and watch but obviously weren’t thrilled. Once I started objecting they wanted me to go away. After talking to the service manager they put the car back up in the air and had 5 guys underneath it looking for the fuel filter. Didn't take anything off but came back and told me it would be 90.00 to drain the fuel filter. He told me draining the fuel filter wasn’t covered by the two years of free service that GM provides, He also told me the fuel filter required some kind of tool to prime it back up, you couldn’t just take it out and put another one in and cycle the key a few times. Is this true or BS? Since GM says to drain it at every oil change in the manual I’m surprised they wouldn’t do this as part of the service, leaving it to dealers to scalp owners. If you’ve replaced the filter or drained it at the dealer what have you been charged for the labor and filter? Looks like the filter is 84.00 on gmpartsnow.com.


Your dealer has no clue what they are talking about with this. The process for draining the filter involves removing the right-hand aero panel in front of the rear wheel and opening a drain plug on the filter housing until the water stops coming out and Diesel fuel starts. It does not involve removing the filter or opening the filter housing in any way, nor does it require any special tools. Past threads have revealed mixed results regarding whether it is necessary/recommended to drain water from the fuel filter at every service or only if the vehicle indicates (through a DIC message) that it needs to be drained. My dealer (who has provided awesome service even though I didn't buy the car from them) has never drained mine and I'm at 26,000 miles without a problem. I know that the tech actually studied up on the CTD service procedures before my first service, and I haven't had a problem, so I haven't made a big deal about it. I know that if I came in with the DIC message up, they'd take care of me right away. The filter itself is estimated to have a life of 30,000 miles, but another member here has discovered that the DIC readout is actually based on 1000 gallons of fuel. My filter is on pace to need replacement around 36,000 miles. 



Blender_Pretender said:


> DEF:
> They backed the car out of the garage without filling the DEF tank. I asked about DEF and was told my car didn’t have a DEF tank. What a surprise to me! The service manager told me when I objected to this that they would only top off, not fill the DEF tank. I thought the DEF tank was designed to last roughly an oil change. Do most dealers fill it for you, or are you on your own for this during your freebies?


The DEF tank is underneath the floor of the trunk. If you are in the U.S., filling the DEF tank is included in the 2yr./24k included maintenance, and that is clearly noted on the literature for this program. They estimate that the 4.9 gallons of DEF should last about 10,000 miles. That seems about right, as my DEF tank is typically around 35% after a little over 6000 miles. If the dealer can't get their act together or if you just don't want to deal with it, you can usually get DEF at the pump for $2.79/gal. from Pilot/FlyingJ and many other truck stops. It's also available for around $10-15 for a 2.5 gal. jug at parts stores, fleet/farm stores, or Walmart. 



Blender_Pretender said:


> I’m curious what your experiences have been with these issues, and if you’ve watched them do it. I’d rather watch rather than going off the receipt when this is not a car they deal with often. This was at a dealership in a major metropolitan area that moves a lot of vehicles so I was hoping for a better experience. They seemed pretty clueless about the car.


My dealer doesn't try to hide anything from me or keep me away from seeing what's going on. In fact, they even let me go out in the shop and the tech showed me around the underside of the car, pointing out where certain components were. I do all my own service on every other vehicle I own, and with my steering and emissions issues, they've even been interested to know what I had found in my research and taken that into account when working on the car. They go over everything with me before performing the service, and they have made sure to learn the correct parts and fluids and order them when I make my appointment.


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

I feel your pain with the dealership. Go back and read some of my post, I was glad when the last free service was done. All four services had to babysit them on the DEF fill wait on oil filters from other dealership just a mess. I just recently had to have a EGR valve replaced at 52000 miles and not happy with the way it went. Part can be cleaned but Chevrolet wont let dealer do it. Sell you a new one for 750.00. I would hope each dealer would send the diesel techs back to school for this car. Don't get me wrong I love this little diesel but Chevy has dropped the ball on the service end of it. Also the market end to.


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## KpaxFAQ (Sep 1, 2013)

Never used a single free service, drained the factory fill at 3,000 miles, refilled with the synthetic low-saps 5W-30 or 5W-40 flavor of your choice and never look back. I could jack my car up on jack stands, take the bottom panel off and drain the fuel filter and put it all back together in under 15 to 20 minutes tops.... $90...lol


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## Jim Frye (Mar 16, 2011)

I seem to sense a pattern with the CTD service threads. I recall similar complaints with the 2011 MY Cruze (and well into the '12s also). First year U.S. production and the dealer service departments are generally unaware/unable/unwilling to service those cars. I bet we'll see the same for the second generation Cruze, which is why I'm waiting until the '18s before making a buy decision.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

Blender_Pretender said:


> DEXOS 2:
> Called the dealership before I went in to make sure they had the correct Dexos 2 oil. I was told GM only requires them to stock 5 quarts at a time so they would need to order it and set up an appointment with me. I got there and asked if they received it and was told they had enough to do one oil change. I walked by the garage and saw another CTD so I went back to the service guy to double check if they had enough to do mine, wondering if the lube guy would put a non Dexos 2 5W30 in it just to get it done, or just out of not knowing the diesel required something different. After a lot of back and forth with the service and parts department I was told we were good to go.
> 
> Fuel Filter:
> ...


It never ceases to amaze me how pathetic some service departments are. Welcome to the forum, and I hope your experience with the car is much better than with your service department. I am just shy of 90K miles and have never drained the fuel filter in between changes, and have gone over 40K miles on each fuel filter without issue. Even when I replaced the filter, it was just a matter of cycling the key a few times (see my DIY threads for more info)

My service experiences were uneventful. The only minor issue I had was with the dealer not knowing if the DEF was included, but this was back in July or August of 2013, and GM had it coded wrong in the system. It has since been fixed. GM pays the dealers a flat $75 to do this service, so it is to the benefit of the dealer to try to get out of doing the DEF, but it is absolutely included and a good dealership will honor this. Draining the fuel is not necessary IMO and it is not included in the free service.


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

Diesel I now your getting close to replacing the timing belt, let us know how that goes and cost. I'm about 30,000 miles behind you. 54000 on mine.


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## Blender_Pretender (Nov 14, 2014)

Thanks for all the replies guys! Good and bad to know I had a typical experience. I was leery before my purchase about what my service experiences would be like, especially if I had real problems, but it was to intriguing a car with all the highway driving I do. I didn’t know if the forum had any restrictions on calling a dealership out so I left that alone. If anyone in the Houston area has had a positive experience at a dealership with this car I’d love to hear about it. Is there any documentation online that states they are supposed to cover DEF fill ups? When I was there I showed them where the DEF tank was and had them fill it up/top off for me, but they wouldn’t touch the fuel filter without getting paid. Is there a % indicator for the DEF tank? I’ve only noticed a screen that says DEF level is OK. Since my family just bough three vehicles from them within the past six months or so I was surprised they wouldn’t just humor me and do it. I pretty much knew I was being lied to about the fuel filter but what can you do but buy your next vehicle somewhere else?


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

you should be fine on DEF if you just top it off every oil change. I drive 90 % interstate and change the oil at 7000 miles. I only use a little over a gallon of DEF for that 7000 miles. I go to the truck stop at the pump about 3.00 to top off


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## Gator (Jul 14, 2013)

I changed my fuel filter at around 45000 miles and never drained it. I drive a semi and we seldom drain them. The DEF is part of the service plan, I went through the same crap with my dealer over the DEF. I printed off the service contract and always had it with me after the second service.


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## revjpeterson (Oct 2, 2013)

Blender_Pretender said:


> Thanks for all the replies guys! Good and bad to know I had a typical experience. I was leery before my purchase about what my service experiences would be like, especially if I had real problems, but it was to intriguing a car with all the highway driving I do. I didn’t know if the forum had any restrictions on calling a dealership out so I left that alone. If anyone in the Houston area has had a positive experience at a dealership with this car I’d love to hear about it. Is there any documentation online that states they are supposed to cover DEF fill ups? When I was there I showed them where the DEF tank was and had them fill it up/top off for me, but they wouldn’t touch the fuel filter without getting paid. Is there a % indicator for the DEF tank? I’ve only noticed a screen that says DEF level is OK. Since my family just bough three vehicles from them within the past six months or so I was surprised they wouldn’t just humor me and do it. I pretty much knew I was being lied to about the fuel filter but what can you do but buy your next vehicle somewhere else?


When it gets below 35%, it will start to display a percentage instead of "ok".


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## farmallgray (Nov 28, 2013)

I bought mine from a dealer about an hour away. I scheduled an appointment with my local dealer a couple weeks ahead. I actually know the one service writer who I scheduled it with. A asked about the Dexos 2 and he said they had it in bulk. They had sold at least 2 diesels. When my wife took it in for the appointment, they drained the oil and discovered they didn't have the filter. So they gave her a loaner (new Subaru) to run her errands while they sent a runner to another dealer for the filter. I don't know if they added any DEF because I had added a gallon a few weeks before that.


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## MOTO13 (Mar 26, 2014)

I just turned 8K and just for laughs I looked at the def tank for the first time. Since I have never had a low def warning, I wasn't too worried. I put a stick in the tank and there was about 1" wet on the stick...don't laugh either. So I figured I'd add a gallon or so. Nope, took all 2-1/2 gallons from the def I bought from the store a couple months ago. Just barely overflowed into the tank cup.


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## karm (Oct 31, 2014)

The DEF is so cheap, I really don't care so much about having to fill my own in the first two years. What I really worry most about is that the dealership wont use Dexos2. I don't think there is any way to check.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

karm said:


> The DEF is so cheap, I really don't care so much about having to fill my own in the first two years. What I really worry most about is that the dealership wont use Dexos2. I don't think there is any way to check.


Why won't the dealership use Dexos2? Sounds like ignorance or defiance. Either way it's not acceptable IMO.


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