I am driving a family member’s Dodge Durango 2017. It was time for an oil change so I went to the place they normally go. It was a quick in and out they did not take their time. Any questions I asked they were rude and annoyed with me. I asked about the filters, the other fluids, for Pennzoil so on, just the normal. They did not give me a diagnostic of my car either like the places I am accustomed to going.
I got home and checked everything as I was smelling a odd smell. Everything appeared normal except the oil seemed a bit full to me. Next day we noticed drips in the driveway. We went under the car and it was dripping from the chassis in 5 places. I took it back to the shop and explained to them it has never dripped oil before please help. They admitted the filter was “a bit crooked” but then they tried to tell me I had a “rear main seal leak” and show me a picture. I asked them if they could please help me wipe up all the spilled oil from the filter being in crooked. We checked the car when we got home they clearly didn’t wipe anything up. I ended up wiping it all up myself. There doesn’t appear to be any more drips and it appears all the drips were from the filter being crooked. I had never seen a drip on the driveway before I took the car to them. I have taken photos of the dip stick, the driveway and under the car. I do not have a ton of money to spare. Should I take the car into another mechanic to double check? The oil change place does not seem to care and I have already submitted a complaint. What would you do in my situation?
Just to be on the safe side, I suggest that you take it to a real mechanic’s shop, and have them put it up on the lift, for a look-see.
Define “oil seemed a bit full to me”. Was it over the full mark and if so, how far over? Also, do you intend to post those pictures?
Did the oil appear to be clean or dirty? If clean, they may have just spilled it all over the place while filling. Is the oil on the dipstick clean or dirty?
At best, I would not go back to that place and tell your family of your experience with them.
Yep, you’ll see all kinds of comments here on the dangers of using the quick lube joints. Everything from leaks to draining the transmission instead, and ruined engines. Broke people either learn to do their own or learn that sometimes the least cost is the more expensive.
If it were me I’d have a real shop start over with a new oil change. Once the trans shop replaced my engine oil instead of the trans fluid. I changed oil again after just a couple hundred miles.
The dipstick was clean, they did change the oil. The oil was a bit over the full line. I think they were just rushing. I was on level ground and the car had cooled when I checked. My thoughts are several days later enough spilled out of the engine from the crooked filter that it might be about the right level now. I was worried about too much oil putting pressure on the seals. The mess was not at the top at all. It was coming out of the bottom where the drain plug is. I have tried to add some photos here but a video might give a better picture. The website is telling me only one picture allowed.
I’m not sure how the filter could be crooked. the only way would be if they stripped the threads. but then you would probably have a really bad leak. I am going to guess that the drain bolt was not fully tightened and was leaking slightly. they most likely tightened it up when you went back.
The O-Ring on the oil filter housing can leak if any debris get on the O-Ring during installation.
The mess could have also been from missing the valve cover when pouring the new oil in, the funnel could have slipped, might not of used a funnel when they should have etc etc, stuff happens, just have to clean it up, oil filters generally spin on and seal when done correctly, might not have tightened it enough, or they could have double gasketed it (old gasket- O-Ring stuck and didn’t remain on the old filter)… But a “crooked” oil filter would have never made it out of the shop and or blew up leaving the parking lot…
Hemi engine has a spin-on filter but the 3.6 liter engine uses a canister filter. The O-Ring is removed and installed by the tech, if debris or lint gets under the O-Ring during installation this can cause an oil leak.
Any oil spilled or leaking from the engine always migrates to the lowest point before dripping onto the ground. In many vehicles, if you try to add the oil too fast, it backs up and spills out the oil fill tube. I’m going to guess that is how the oil got spilled onto the engine.
Because the lowest point on the engine is usually near the back at the bottom of the oil pan, the rear main seal usually gets the blame. Fifty years ago, rear main seals were unreliable and often leaked, but not so much today. Back then the rear main seals were made from a piece of rope. Today they are rubber.