find the problem. What is my remedy? Drive car until…, trade in and get $700, or ?
Story: A 2003 Vibe Pontiac with nearly !95,000 miles had oil change at major retailer. About 2000 miles later notice something did not sound right. Took car to local car dealer. Checked car out; found nothing. Charged me under $50. Sound continued, took car to Toyota dealer since it has a Toyota engine. About $70 later said the only thing that was wrong was that the place where the oil was put in was bent; tried to straighten the bent. Sound continues and gets worse when I visited my daughter & her finance. I
start car. He immediately says, turn it off. Looks under the car and checks the oil level and says I am all out. We go in my daughter’s car and picked up necessary oil, oil filter and something that thickens the oil or ? Anyway I drive the 70 plus miles home. Odometer now says another 500 miles since the problem started and the engine sounds like it did before the oil leakage. What are my remedies? Drive the car until it quits; (I have AAA)? Trade it in for the $700 to $1000 off on a new car? Try to make the box store and the two dealers contribute to the fund for a new car in small claims or ? Is this last a non-option or can sworn notarized statements be used in small claims in lieu of appearances? Any questions I should be asking? Of course, I will not have a big box store ever change my oil again!!
Well, as you have acknowledged, your first mistake was choosing a chain operation for an oil change. Using a quick lube place would have the probability of being equally disasterous, so be sure that you avoid those places also.
Your second mistake was driving the car for 2,000 miles after the oil change without personally checking the oil. Even the best repair shops have been known to make an occasional mistake, with the result that the crankcase could be overfilled or underfilled, or that the oil filter was not installed correctly. If you had checked the oil right after the car was serviced, or a week later, or possibly even a few weeks later, this situation could have been avoided.
So, no matter where you have this car or any future cars serviced in the future, be sure to check the oil right after the service, and then again a few days later. And, please remember that anyone interested in the well-being of his or her car should check their oil at least every few weeks.
As to the liability of the two dealers, they will state that they checked the oil when the car was in their shop–and in fact, perhaps they did. Whether they checked the oil or not is really impossible to prove. Truthfully, if there was leakage from the oil filter ever since the oil change, I would assume that at least one of these two shops would have spotted it. I have a feeling that there is something missing from the details of this story.
Since the time factor involved here makes it very difficult to prove liability on anyone’s part, I suggest that you do the following:
*Check your oil every few days until you have a good indication of how fast the engine is consuming oil, and be sure to keep the level as close to the “full” mark as possible. If as you say, the noise has gone away, you may have dodged a bullet here.
*Use a well-reputed independent mechanic for your oil changes in the future.
*ALWAYS check the oil right after an oil change, and again a few days later, after each oil change.
*On any car, always check your oil at least every few weeks, even if you don’t think that it is burning oil.
There’s not enough detailed info to make much of a guess as to what the problem is but it sounds like this noise is bearing related due to lack of oil. This means a new engine is needed.
The lack of oil could have been caused by someone not filling the engine with the proper amount of oil when the oil was changed or it could simply be that the engine is using that much oil.
Have you ever checked the oil level in that 2000 miles since the oil was changed? If not, this problem is going to be due to your negligence and I see no way you’re going to go after anyone since 2k miles have elapsed. Trade it off.