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Feb. 7, 2009 9:20 a.m. Mazdax605 Reader

Hey guys,

My sister just called me to ask my opinion,and I wasn't sure what to tell her. She owns a 2004 Toyota Highlander SUV,and she was out at a friends house last night going on a date. SHe was waiting in the house while she pushed the automatic car starter button. The car was running about 5 minutes,and she looked out the window to see smoke billowing from the car. She ran out and shut it down. They found a pond of oil under the car,and also the oil filter resting on a cross member,or pan under the engine. She had the car towed to a family friends house,and it is sitting there right now.

Now comes the fun part. My mother works at Wal-Mart(I know I have tried to get her to leave),and last week sometime she took my sisters car to work because it needed an oil change. Wal-Mart changed the oil,and it appears they didn't tighten the filter up. My sister just sent me cell phone pics of the oil filter sitting in the engine bay,and the river of oil in the snow under her car. It looks terrible.

She is concerned that the engine may be damaged,and so am I due to how much oil is on the ground. What do you guys think? Is the engine a lost cause? What should she do about this? I told her to go to the Wal-Mart with pics in hand,and demand to speak with a manager. Will my mother have to be the one to complain due to the fact that she brought the car in for service? Will Wal-Mart fight this,and ultimately fire my mother over this legitimate claim?

My sister thinks they should put a brand new engine in the car if it is damaged,but I told her that isn't how it works. If they agree to replace the engine if it is damaged then they will most likely get her a salvage yard engine which is fine in my eyes,but not in hers. I know I am right about that,but she doesn't want to hear it.

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Feb. 7, 2009 10:23 a.m. pigeon Reader

Walmart is self-insured and has a whole division, Claims Management Inc., that deals with their insurance claims. When the tire jockey scratched the E36 M3 outta the wheels on the wife's Honduh Pilot last year I got an estimate for the wheel repair ($75 each from the mobile wheel repair guy who does the wheels at the BMW dealer) and they sent a check right away. First thing to do is get back to WalMart with receipt in hand and make a damage report with the store manager. Then have the car checked out by a competent shop to see what the damage is, and take it from there.
Feb. 7, 2009 4:27 p.m. Mazdax605 Reader

Just heard from my sister. She spent about 4 hours with Wal-Mart regarding this issue. They are taking all resposibility,and even admited to putting on the wrong oil filter. She shwoed them the pics of the filter sitting on the belly pan,and they were able to determine it was the wrong filter,and also according to their records on their computer it was the wrong filter as well. She had the car towed to the local Toyota dealer who is going to look at it on Monday. Apparently she had the car towed to Wal-Mart before this,and they put the corect filter on,and filled it with oil,and started it up. I guess it was making a rapping sound,and didn't sound too healthy,but who knows what they will find at the dealer. I hope they work this out,and she gets her car fixed with little to no hassle beyond what has happened so far.
Feb. 7, 2009 4:51 p.m. gamby SuperDork

(This isn't me being a flippant jerk)

It doesn't sound like a stretch for Wal Mart to be springing for a new engine. If it sat idling w/ no oil in it, game over. If it was down only a couple of quarts, it's probably fine--just very messy.

At least they're taking responsibility.
Feb. 7, 2009 6:05 p.m. noisycricket Reader

When stuff like this happened at a repair chain where i worked, SOP was to just start writing checks.

On the other hand, SOP also was to locate a junkyard engine with similar miles on it. So, you may not be getting a "new" engine, but they in all likelihood will try to get you to at least as good as you were before the screw-up, in theory anyway.

BTW - I am in the process of a 7A-FE swap in a '95 Prizm right now. Guy parked it in a snowbank, which popped a hole out of the rusty oil pan, and he left it running while he went inside. The #2 rod was siezed to the crank, took an hour of air hammering to get it loose. Of course, only ONE of the rod bolts was accessible... and since it was an automatic, the crank HAD to be able to turn.
Feb. 7, 2009 6:11 p.m. Mazdax605 Reader

gamby wrote:

(This isn't me being a flippant jerk)

It doesn't sound like a stretch for Wal Mart to be springing for a new engine. If it sat idling w/ no oil in it, game over. If it was down only a couple of quarts, it's probably fine--just very messy.

At least they're taking responsibility.

From what I saw in the pics of the oil slick under the car,and the report I got from my sister there was no oil left in the car. I can't imagine this is good for the engine.

I would assume they will be looking for a junkyard engine,because I know of another guy who had this happen to him,and that is what the quick lube place did for him.

All-in-all I suppose she will be taken care of,but man this is why I only trust one person now to change oil in my vehicles,and that is me. Now that I have a garage it is easy to do no matter the season.
Feb. 10, 2009 2:33 p.m. Tyler H Dork

If it had the wrong oil filter, then it was bound to happen. But chalk this up as another reason why remote start, and quick-stop oil change, is evil.
Feb. 10, 2009 2:56 p.m. Travis_K Reader

There are so many stories like this, i cant understand why people still take their cars to walmart to have the oil changed (unless maybe you just want a new engine for free?) lol
Feb. 10, 2009 2:57 p.m. Dr. Hess SuperDork

That's one of two ways to kill a Toyota motor: No oil or no water.

Sounds like they are taking care of it. When I read that the filter was sitting unattached to the motor, game over. Oil has to go through the filter before it goes to the rest of the motor, so if the filter isn't there, oil goes to the ground and nothing goes to the motor.

My friend bought a 99 Camry from a junk yard. I found it. It was mint, new tires, not a scratch on it, keys on the floor. I asked what was wrong and the yard owner said "left the plug out at an oil change or something stoopid like that." There was a section missing from the block from where the rod half nailed it. He had a heck of a time turning the motor over to get the torque converter bolts out. I think a breaker bar and a long cheater bar were involved.
Feb. 10, 2009 3:24 p.m. Mazdax605 Reader

Sister called me yesterday,and the local Toyota dealer looked at it,and they gave it a clean bill of health. I am not buying it myself. If I knew how to attach pics I would show you just how much oil was on the ground. It was so bad that Wal-Mart agreed to send a clean up crew from Clean-Harbors to clean up the oil. If I were my sister I would be talking to a lawyer,and make sure the engine is indeed fine.

The amazing part is that with the wrong oil filter the car made it through a 5-6 mile trip home after the change,and then on a 20+ mile trip to where the filter finally fell off. It is a good thing it didn't happen as she was going down the interstate.

The worst part is now she has a suspect engine in her car that she ows way more than it is worth,and she can't really do much about it. She never should have traded in her 2003 Mazda Protege ES for the 05 Mazda6,and then this Toy SUV.

Chris
Feb. 10, 2009 3:56 p.m. benzbaron Reader

Man that sucks so bad. My dad had the ford dealer once tighter the drain plug on so damned tight it stripped when I tried to take it off. The next trick up their sleave was to tighten the damned oil filter so tight that the body got crinkled and with the extented change interval of the syn oil started blowing oil all over the place. Here is one little tip I learned from both mangling and seeing mangled filters, us a fabric strap wrench as close to the engine as possable. Sometime the seals are tall and you have to torque the thing down, but the strap wrench won't damage the filter case.

Good luck and hopefully everything turns out alright.
Feb. 10, 2009 4:06 p.m. walterj HalfDork

Mazdax605 wrote: If I were my sister I would be talking to a lawyer,and make sure the engine is indeed fine.

If I were your sister I'd have left it running until it stopped on its own - then there is no question about what needs to be replaced.
Feb. 10, 2009 5:42 p.m. ignorant SuperDork

Mazdax605 wrote:

Sister called me yesterday,and the local Toyota dealer looked at it,and they gave it a clean bill of health. I am not buying it myself. If I knew how to attach pics I would show you just how much oil was on the ground. It was so bad that Wal-Mart agreed to send a clean up crew from Clean-Harbors to clean up the oil. If I were my sister I would be talking to a lawyer,and make sure the engine is indeed fine.

The amazing part is that with the wrong oil filter the car made it through a 5-6 mile trip home after the change,and then on a 20+ mile trip to where the filter finally fell off. It is a good thing it didn't happen as she was going down the interstate.

The worst part is now she has a suspect engine in her car that she ows way more than it is worth,and she can't really do much about it. She never should have traded in her 2003 Mazda Protege ES for the 05 Mazda6,and then this Toy SUV.

Chris

Go to another toyota dealer or mechanic.
Feb. 10, 2009 6:23 p.m. Strizzo Dork

did the toyota dealer drop the pan and pull the rod caps? if not then i have to wonder how they can say the loss of oil didn't hurt anything. and even if the rod bearings are fine, there's plenty more that can be borked. perhaps someone needs to explain to the tech that just cause it doesn't make noise doesn't mean nothings wrong with it.
Feb. 11, 2009 9:55 a.m. confuZion3 Dork

I dropped my dads f-150 off once to have new tires put on. I worked there at the time so they did it while I worked and I took it home. The next day, my dad drove it to work and almost made it home when the drivers side rear wheel fell off.

I, of course, got in no trouble with walmart (they're not evil) and after an estimate, my dad got a check to pay for the repairs. They take this stuff seriously though. The person who tightened the lugnuts by hand an forgot to toque them down had to look for another job (much to our dismay, but that was a pretty big mistake).
Feb. 11, 2009 12:18 p.m. car39 Reader

The local oil change places were removing the transmission oil filters on Subaru Foresters, then replacing them with engine oil filters. The transmission one was out in the open, the engine filter hidden behind a splash pan. It was a pretty good business replacing damaged transmissions from the wrong filter, until they caught on. It was happening so much Subaru stenciled "engine" and "transmission" on the filters
Feb. 11, 2009 12:32 p.m. Jensenman SuperDork

Yeah, I remember those Subie tranny filters. It's on there TIGHT, too. Makes you wonder how they got 'em off.

I had more than one towed in after a quicklube with a noisy engine and tranny. They'd drain the 'engine' not noticing the oil coming out was dark and stinky, then obviously they didn't check the dipstick after filling the engine. The engine would have about 9 quarts of oil in it and the differential would be dry.

Ron White does a routine about taking his van in for tires and the guy left the lug nuts loose. He said 'This guy went to tire... COLLEGE, I guess but obviously missed the 'lug nut' class'.

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