A couple days ago I was driving normally and heard a clink. I was watching the road and didn’t see anything but I slowed down a little and started looking for a safe place to turn off as I was on the freeway. When I checked my rear I noticed white smoke. I quickly turned off and turned off my car. As soon as I did, ALL of my oil started rushing out of my car. I should mention I had taken my car for an oil change a little over a week before at the dealership.
The next day after having it towed the tell me the oil gasket failed. They said that my car was completely fine and that they fixed it. Now I tend to be a trustworthy guy but I don’t want to be screwed when it comes to my car. Are there any glaring issues here? Should I have asked more questions? They didn’t seem very happy and the service I got was awful, not even an “I’m sorry for the inconvenience”. I only drove for about a minute to pull over and that’s when the oil started rushing out.
So I guess I’m asking if I should be more ticked off this happened and could there be more wrong with my car?
I am guessing that you mean drain plug came out. You have this documented with the dealer and you still have warranty. By having it towed I tend to think they are correct and you should be fine. I would from now on after an oil change check the oil before leaving shop , the next morning and watch for oil spots.
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While I would also worry about the future health of this engine, in light of the fact that it came with a 100k Powertrain Warranty, I think that the OP should be okay. If there are any issues resulting from this incident, they should show-up well before the expiration of the warranty.
And, as was already stated, it is always a good idea to do an under-hood check before leaving an oil change facility, and then again the following day. Additionally, someone who wants to get the maximum life out of his engine should check the oil every few weeks, between oil changes.
I think that the dealership is too embarrassed to admit that they had forgotten to tighten the drain plug and are blaming it on a failed gasket instead.
If it had been the oil filter gasket there would be only a small dribble after you shut the engine off.
I suppose the drain plug gasket could fail, and allow the plug to freely turn until it came out.
Either way, the fact that oil was rushing out when the engine was off, means that it was not starved for oil.
Had it been just a dribble…it would be worse!!
The clink that you heard was probably the plug bouncing off the ground and hitting the bottom of the car.
As long as it was documented on your copy of the work order, I wouldn’t be too concerned.
BUT keep any paperwork that the dealership gave you…including the oil change.
This happened to my niece when she took her car to Wallymart for an oil change. They forgot to tighten the oil filter and before she realized what was happening,her engine seized. Wallymart paid for a new engine after a long court battle.
Not necessarily, I’ve had an oil filter gasket fail completely before, if it the engine is running you’ll lose quite a bit of oil in a relatively short amount of time. I lost a little less than quart in less than a minute when it happened to me.
I understand that. But while the engine was running, in the time it took him to realize something was afoot, he could’ve lost 50% of the oil in the system easily.
It was probably the oil filter seal that leaked, a pint of oil leaking onto the ground after stopping can seem like a lot of oil to some people. If the drain plug fell out most of the oil would have drained on the road before the vehicle could be stopped.
It’s possible the gasket was damaged on the new oil filter. Or it got damaged during the installation. Or it was missing from the new oil filter, and the shop didn’t notice. Or the old gasket was left stuck on the engine when the old filter was removed, and the shop didn’t notice it, and installed the new filter with a double gasket. Or new oil filter was installed cross threaded. Lots of possibilities, any could result in this symptom. Given there was no engine damage (at least according to the shop), unlikely to be the drain plug fell out. Oil filter leak of some kind, due to gasket interface problem.
OP should carefully document everything the shop has told them, and put it in writing, and send that to the shop by certified letter. If the shop disagrees with something, they have the opportunity to reply in writing to you. Then at least you’ll both agree what the situation is. Or if you don’t agree, at least you’ll know what you don’t agree about. Everything has to be in writing. Presume anything they’ve told you verbally will be of no value to you if your engine goes belly up later. I expect you’ll have no problem, and can just file the paperwork away. If a problem later develops, you have the paperwork.
One further idea: If such a thing is possible, a location is available to do it, etc, it is probably in OP’s best interest going forward to learn how to change their own oil and filter. Post oil change problems are a common occurrence as posted here, and most of the problems can be avoided by the car owner doing this important job themselves. No need to be a pro-level auto mechanic to change your own oil and filter, at least for the majority of vehicles.
I’m going to theorize that it was the drain plug that fell out. Then, the slight vacuum pulled by the PCV system kept too much oil from draining. Stop engine…oil gushes out.
An oil gasket (drain plug or filter seal???) did not fail. The odds of that are about zero.
However, a mistake tightening the drain plug/filter or allowing the filter flange to be double gasketed due to the oil oil filter seal sticking to the flange can cause loss of motor oil.
The clink sound could have been the noise made by the drain plug falling out and hitting the pavement or bouncing up and hitting the undercarriage of the vehicle.
Whether or not this is documented is unknown. Unless the OP received a copy of a repair order stating the drain plug fell out or whatever then there is no record of it ever happening.
I suspect the OP did not get a repair order copy at all.
As for warranty and if the problem is the above then that is not a warrantable procedure from corporate Kia. That would be a dealer mistake and they will be on the hook for any damage.
It could have been the oil filter gasket and oil was still running down when you had it turned off. I don’t know how the filter is laid out on these but have come across cars where the oil drains over some other component of the car like the front subframe and there is no easy way to drain it out without it getting on something else. Maybe it was from the filter gasket being doubled.
I did this once and boy did the oil come gushing out with the engine running! I always make sure the old filter still has the gasket after that experience.