An oil change shop forgot to add the oil back to my 2002 astro van. Their insurance is handling but I need advice on what to have them replace besides the engine. Wife drove it about 2 miles max before it died. less than a cup of oil in the engine when towed to local mechanic. Treat me like I am 4 years old… I know nothing about cars. Any help would be very appreciated.
A new engine should cover all the problems,
I am curious as to why you think more than a new engine is needed. Are they trying to solve this with a “used” but guaranteed engine? Instead of me asking alot of questions could you provide details on the engine,any guarantee,rental car, perhaps a “lifetime oil change” certificate would be nice.Are they letting the bosses kid put the thing in? just what are you concerned with here?
Most of these “no oil” type posts we get involve some type of dispute with the shop from step 1, you appear to be way past this point.
Shop is being great so far but insurance company is just getting involved. Rental car has not been approved but I am just getting a rental van tomorrow. Either the shop or their insurance will pay for that. I just want to make sure when talking to the adjuster that I know as much as possible. If it affects other parts…( it literally stopped in the middle of the street, two miles away) or items in the engine I want to address it up front. We just spent 1200 on a/c and 6oo on brakes in the last two months. Would it affect bearings? timing chain? anything that would not be replaced with a new or rebuilt engine? I am gathering from research that a “used, low mileage engine” is to be avoided, if it could be found for a 2002. I know the shop that did it can’t do the repair so I could also use advice if their is an advantage to having a Chevy dealer to the repair vs a great local mechanic. They have the video tape of my astro van in the shop and it shows that they drained the oil, did the oil flush and stopped, and never filled it. So far the owner of the shop has not given me any problem and has been extremely honest. Thanks in advance for your help. I hope these details give you the info you were looking for. I just want to be as prepared as possible BEFORE dealing with the insurance company.
Replacing the engine will not have any effect on wheel bearings and the new engine will come with a timing chain. It will also not effect the A/C. If insurance or the shop is paying, have the engine put in at a dealer.
You might consider a cash settlement for the value of the van.
And the insurance company should offer you a generous cash settlement, not the bank loan value. They would benefit from knowing the score is settled and everyone was happy ASAP with no possible future problems…
Make sure the replacement engine comes with a working oil pressure sender or switch. That way, next time the red oil light and/or oil pressure gauge on zero will warn you to stop before leaving the parking lot, and you won’t have to go though all this trouble of replacing the engine.
If this would have happened before you spent 1200 on the AC and 600 on brakes (show them these reciepts) I would really be onboard with the cash settlement. If this goes to the Dealer and the Dealer provides what is known as a “long block” and does a good job on the install, this oil incident will be your lucky day.
I only saw one engine go in an Astro (and I am an Astro fan). The mechanic put it in through the side door but we mechanics discussed the idea someone came up with of cutting the radiator core support out and putting the engine in that way (then welding the core support back in). We were told this method has actually been used sucessfully.
One thing to keep in mind is that the insurance adjuster’s primary job is to get his company off the hook for as little as possible. He may resort to not even offering you a brand new engine but a “good used one”, which could be interpreted as unknown with 150k miles on it. Proceed carefully with this and cover any bases about what happens in the event they install a used engine that has problems.
I’ve dealt with a few of these adjusters on screwups like this and gotten crossways every time. In one case a fast lube drained the transmission final drive by mistake on a Subaru and 30 miles later it disentegrated. The entire case was cracked like a pecan shell and half of the internals were scrap metal.
The adjuster asked if “4 or 500 bucks would fix it up”. After I quit laughing and told him 4 or 5 grand is more like it because that’s what a new unit would cost he got mad and stated they were not going to pay for anything more than “what was needed to fix it”.
Fat chance of that.
They balked and refused to pay, the car owner paid the 4 figure bill, and then sicced his attorney brother on them.
Maybe this adjuster will work things out with for the better but my experience with these guys has not been good.
A new engine should cover all the problems,
That should be: A new engine should cover all the problems,
"That should be: A new engine should cover all the problems,"
That should be: A new engine should cover all the problems .
CSA
I don’t understand why you think your truck needs anything more than the engine replaced.
You really don’t know anything about vehicles, from the sounds of it.
Your engine was damaged.
That’s all you need replaced.
And honestly, they only need to replace your engine with another one that was in the same condition that yours was in before the incident. If yours had 128k miles on it, was smoking, and burning 2 quarts of oil in a 5000 mile period, then that’s what you are entitled to. At the same time, if your engine only had 25k miles on it, and was purring like a kitten, then that’s what you should expect in return.
If they give you a low mileage engine from a scrapped vehicle, be happy.
That would be the preferred choice over a rebuilt by who the heck knows company.
They only need to replace the engine.
You can even stipulate who does the replacement work.
Oh yeah, and one last thing:
Stop taking your van to Jiffy Lube type places!
Get a mechanic you trust to do all the work in the future.
This way you won’t have this happen again.
BC.