Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018 - 20

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

Draining oil quickly is key part of ultraexpress service sequence

RICHARD TRUETT
rtruett@crain.com

he key to express service at Motorcars Honda is the Engine Vac, a
machine that removes motor oil from
a hot engine in just over two minutes.
It usually takes at least five minutes to drain
oil in the traditional way: removing the plug
from the oil pan on the bottom of the engine
and letting the oil flow into a receptacle.
Motorcars Honda has a distribution deal
with Samson Corp., a Swannanoa, N.C., manufacturer that makes the device. Motorcars
sells the Engine Vac - rebranded from its
original name, the EvacMaster - to other
dealerships for about $2,000 to $3,000, depending on the model and features.
Tom Cates, a Samson product manager, says
removing oil from the top of the engine began
in the auto industry about a decade ago, in
European Mercedes-Benz dealerships. Other
brands, such as Peugeot and Volkswagen
Group makes, adopted the practice.
On many European engines, the oil filter is
on the side of the engine block and is accessible from above, so a vehicle doesn't need to be
placed on a lift or driven over a pit for an oil
change.
Cates says the EvacMaster has been avail-

JMS IMAGERY

able in the United States for 15 years. Several
thousand of the devices are in operation, he
adds, but mostly not in the service departments of new-vehicle dealerships.
EvacMaster works well with Honda engines,
Cates says, but may not draw out oil as quickly
in other brands of cars.
"Because you can use the shortest, fattest
straw on a Honda inline-four, you can evacuate
the engine in a minute or a minute and a half,"
Cates told Fixed Ops Journal. "When you take
the drain plug out, there won't be a drop of oil."
On Motorcars Honda's quick service assembly line, when the dipstick is removed, a reinforced straw is inserted down to the bottom of
the oil pan, and the old oil is vacuumed out.
General Motors has a few engines that would

seem suited to the EvacMaster because their
filters are mounted beside the engine. But the
automaker says it has not seriously considered
recommending the machine to its dealers.
"We really don't see a customer benefit in oil
evacuation, as it takes extra equipment to perform the oil change," GM spokesman Tom
Read says.
Toyota has not looked at removing oil with a
suction device, says Mike Jarboe, senior manager of service support operations for Toyota
Motor North America. Jarboe adds he does
not know of any Toyota dealerships using
such a machine.
Speedy oil changes are not the only benefit
of removing oil through the dipstick tube. Service managers need not worry about inexperienced lube techs stripping oil drain plug
threads. Fixing that error is often an engine-out job that can cost $2,000 or more if the
engine loses oil and seizes.
The two Engine Vac machines at Motorcars
Honda have proved their worth, says Trevor
Gile, the dealership's general manager.
"We had a guest complain that we stripped
his drain plug," Gile says. "But we showed him
how we changed oil. "Typically, we would have
had to replace that engine. But we were able to
demonstrate we didn't cause the problem." 

Fast service pioneer says price of Motorcars system is too high

RICHARD TRUETT
rtruett@crain.com

huck and Trevor Gile of Motorcars
Honda are marketing their ultrafast
express service system to other
new-vehicle dealers. Based on his
experience, John Rickards foresees a tough
challenge for them.
Rickards is president of Bobby Rahal Automotive Group, which operates 12 dealerships
in Pennsylvania. In 2005, Bobby Rahal Honda,
in Mechanicsburg, Pa., became what is believed to be the first new-vehicle dealership to
install a moving assembly line in its service
department - an innovation the Giles adapted for their system.
The idea came to Rickards during his visit to
an auto factory. Once Bobby Rahal Honda's
assembly line system was up and running, the
time service technicians spent on oil changes
dropped from about an hour to 30 minutes.
Rahal's express service system worked so
well, Rickards says, he was convinced he
could sell the setup to other dealers.
He figured they wouldn't balk at the

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FEBRUARY 2018

$300,000 price tag for the moving assembly
line and detailed plans on how to run it.
But it didn't sell. A Lexus dealership in California committed to buying the system, Rickards says, but abandoned the project when
the Great Recession hit. Bobby Rahal Honda
closed its assembly line express lane last year
to make space for a used-vehicle reconditioning center and body shop.
Rickards says he's impressed with how the
Giles have applied his idea and added innovative equipment, such as an oil evacuation machine and express parts locker. But he adds that
he thinks Motorcars Honda's $700,000 price tag
for its express lane system is too steep.
"I don't think they are going to have too many players at that kind of number," Rickards
told Fixed Ops Journal. "The capital expenditure - how many lifts can you buy and install
in a traditional building?
"Dealers are pretty savvy people," he says.
"Because it is all equipment costs, it's cash,
and it is hard to get a loan on that."
Trevor Gile, Motorcars Honda's general
manager, rejects the suggestion that his quick

service package is too expensive.
"When dealers are looking for ways to retain
their customers and expand their service departments, like anything else, you're paying to
do that. Rahal's system didn't include most of
the additional features we've installed.
"A lot of the costs in the $700,000, you'd be
spending anyway," he adds. "We are giving a
dealer the opportunity to pull express [service] out of the main shop and make the main
shop more efficient."
At the new Bobby Rahal Honda used-vehicle
reconditioning center and body shop, fast rotary lifts replaced the moving assembly line. But
Rahal's techs still do 30-minute oil changes.
"We put speed lifts in," Rickards says. They
raise the car in half the time. So we still employ the same quick service team."
Yet if Rahal were to build a new dealership
focused on high-volume service, it would
have a moving assembly line, Rickards adds.
"The customer today is demanding a faster
turnaround time," he says. "The old days of
having them sit around or drop their car off for
the day doesn't work anymore." 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fixed Ops Journal - February 2018