Dealer failed to secure oil drain plug and the engine is damaged

Hahahaha! That was fantastic.

Are you the original author of the Dark Sucker Theorem? :wink:

http://web.mit.edu/kolya/misc/txt/dark_suckers

@shadowfax. Thanks for the reference to the ā€œDark Sucker Theoremā€. I think this may be based on ā€œcontrapolarā€ electrical power which was described in the April 1956 issue of Popular Electronics magazine. The article described this contrapolar energy that made electrical devices do just the opposite. There was a picture of a desk lamp connected to the contrapolar device and.area around the bulb was black. There was a picture of a soldering iron plugged into the contrapolar device and frost had built up on the soldering iron. I wanted to build the contrapolar device for a science fair. There were no.plans or electronic diagram from which one could build the device. After reading and rereading the article, there was a line in small print just above the title that read ā€œIn Keeping With The First Day of Aprilā€.
Unfortunately Popular Electronics ceased publication years ago.

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If thereā€™s dark energy, why not dark suckers?

I remember Discover magazine sucking me in with Hotheaded Naked Ice Borers, which were purportedly a species of rodent living in Antarctica which could direct enough blood flow to its overly large head to melt ice and carve tunnels through glaciers. The article went on to explain that the borers would burrow underneath penguins and then melt the ice underneath the prey so their quarry would fall into their collective jaws.

In my defense, I was a gullible teenager at the time. :wink:

Well weā€™ve all been sucked in. Now Iā€™m old enough to be retired so not a kid, but my wife pointed out foot prints in the snow on our deck a few years ago. I investigated. They came up to our patio door and as I followed the tracks back, they just ended like someone had been on the roof and jumped down. Scratching my head and further investigation, I was ready to call the police just for a look see when her laughing made me realize she had made the foot prints walking backward herself. I would have called the FBI if she would have used Big Foot boots. I try but I havenā€™t been able to match that one.

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We just look at this differently. For me the goal is to be made whole again so in light of that the dealer isnā€™t doing me a favor by providing a loaner, heā€™s obligated because his screw-up took my car off the road.

Second, if youā€™re an original owner you know what you have. For example, if you followed the maintenance schedule, used top quality synthetic oil, didnā€™t do stop and go driving in hot weather, didnā€™t do short trips in cold weather, didnā€™t pull a trailer - then you know you have an engine in excellent condition. Unless you get a new replacement engine you donā€™t know what you have, therefore Iā€™d at least try to bargain for a better warranty.

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The dealer said the short block replacement is completed for pickup. I have leveraged them to compensate for third party auto technician to evaluate the repair. Is a compression test and confirming the repair about 1-1.5 hour sufficient for this non bias evaluation? Are there other testing procedures recommended?

I know you mean well and the commenters all mean well but whatever problems that short block might have isnā€™t going to show up immediately. However, if the short block came from Subaruā€™s factory as new itā€™s going to be fine.

The OPā€™s 2011 Prius has a Subaru engine?
Who knew?
:wink:

My apologies for confusing 2 different threads and of course your right, I meant Toyotaā€™s factory. Nonetheless, the first question I would ask the service manager is where the engine came from.

If the short/long block (itā€™s been called both) is a NEW unit from Toyota there should not be a problem.

IF the unit is a low miles engine or a reman unit then Iā€™d want a compression test run just to make sure the top end is reasonably good.
IF itā€™s a Toyota unit Iā€™d want the shipping papers and all.

Since youā€™re not mechanically inclined you;re relying on what the dealer is telling you and which may or may not be the truth or whole story. Job one for them is to get you out of there as cheaply as possible since this digs into their bottom line and can likely have an effect on the service managerā€™s paycheck and who likely gets a commission or two in there based on no screw-ups.

Well if it makes you feel better but it should be fairly easy to determine what parts are new and what parts were re-used. At any rate, so if the second opinion guy finds something, then itā€™s back to the dealer? So itā€™ll be a he said she said between a general mechanic (no offense) and a factory trained Toyota mechanic? Outside of checking compression (which requires pulling the plugs and hopefully getting them back correctly), checking for leaks, and obvious driveability issues Iā€™m not sure what is to be gained that driving a few thousand miles first with an eye on fluids wouldnā€™t uncover.

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