# Coincidental Leak? **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** mechanics, gaskets, coolant, oil, leaks\ **Created:** [October 25, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/coincidental-leak/21210 "2008-10-25T15:51:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![littlelady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b782af/32.png) [@littlelady](https://community.cartalk.com/u/littlelady)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/coincidental-leak/21210/1 "2008-10-25T15:51:32Z")
I recently helped my elderly mother take a 5 yo (Buick LeSabre) car to be state inspected. The car had been serviced by a dealer by my recently deceased father. The inspection turned into a set of shocks and a phone call from the (new) mechanic telling me that there was a little oil around the manifold that may never amount to anything since my mother was driving 3 thousand miles (!) a year. Lo and behold a week later there was coolant all over the garage floor one morning, requiring an expensive repair. My question is, is it possible for a mechanic to see two ladies coming and loosen a gasket to cause this problem? ---
**Author:** ![mcparadise](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/mcparadise/32/32_2.png) [@mcparadise](https://community.cartalk.com/u/mcparadise)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/coincidental-leak/21210/2 "2008-10-25T15:56:49Z")
Possible? Of course it’s possible, but it’s also possible that the two are not connected. What caused the coolant leak? How did you choose your current mechanic? ---
**Author:** ![littlelady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b782af/32.png) [@littlelady](https://community.cartalk.com/u/littlelady)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/coincidental-leak/21210/3 "2008-10-25T16:30:55Z")
I chose the new mechanic by looking at AAA approved shops only and checking Car Talk. This particular shop had no feedback on Car Talk, but I also chose it because it was easy to drive to for my mother and was not a gas station. Unfortunately, I had to leave town (there with my mother for my Dad’s funeral) and my brother arranged for the engine to be rebuilt at the dealer. So I did not get the rest of the detail. ---
**Author:** ![oldschool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e19adc/32.png) [@oldschool](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldschool)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 7:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/coincidental-leak/21210/4 "2008-10-25T19:01:23Z")
How could the mechanic who hypotheticaly “loosened a gasket” be sure the car whould be brought back to him for repair? In 30+ years in the garage I have never seen anyone do this and have never worked with people would would tolerate this I have seen techs accidentaly break things and make honest (maybe incompetent) diagnostic errors. ---
**Author:** ![texases](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/texases/32/862_2.png) [@texases](https://community.cartalk.com/u/texases)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/coincidental-leak/21210/5 "2008-10-25T21:49:43Z")
I would very much doubt that they did something to cause a problem, especially because you did what you could to find a good mechanic. This would be extremely unusual. ---
**Author:** ![littlelady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b782af/32.png) [@littlelady](https://community.cartalk.com/u/littlelady)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/coincidental-leak/21210/6 "2008-10-25T22:56:56Z")
Thank you, all. It makes me have a bit more faith. I started to wonder when the tappet (sp?) brothers said that a mechanic that doesn’t sell at least a set of shocks should have his boat taken away 😉