Oil Change Gone Bad

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GlennSullivan

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Oil Change Gone Bad

RE : MY Pristine 2016 Expedition Eco Boost with 54000 miles

Got call from Goodyear shop that they did not put washer on filter during an oil change and needed to clean up the oil under the car before I picked it up
When I picked it up I noticed and took pictures of kitty litter over a lot of oil on the bay exit and in front of the shop
The owner assures me that there was no damage to the engine .I dont know extent of running before they noticed I am not sure

What should I do ? I worry about the life of the engine even though it runs

Can it be checked for damage?

Appreciate any thoughts or advice
Sorry this happened to you. There is too much of this "fast and loose" crap going on at repair shops today. Friend of mine had oil changed at a local shop and they left the drain plug loose. Seized the engine when the plug fell out a few days later.

Looking at the pictures, it appears they drove the vehicle out of the lift bay in which the oil change was done. That in itself says to me that the engine was running for some period of time longer than a few seconds. How much time and how much oil was pumped out is the key. It appears the truck was started up, backed out and then driven some distance across the shops parking lot. I'm thinking run time of at least a few minutes.

It does not take long to pump out 6 qts of oil with a 360 degree gaping hole between the filter and mount. It also does not take engine load to damage crank or rod bearings, only the lack of oil pressure for a very short period of time. Every time a cylinder fires that "explosion" is slamming the rod down on the bearings, by design there is a high pressure film of oil between the surfaces. Damage could have been done to the rod and / or main bearings and it would not necessarily manifest itself for thousands of miles.

I doubt any damage was done to the top side of the engine (cam chains, cams, valve springs, etc) with the engine running for a few minutes and if the engine was idling then the turbos were not spinning much.

You could have the oil tested and cut the oil filter in half to see if there are any particles in the filter media, but if the shop anticipated this and put another filter on and drained whatever oil remained after this happened, doing this will not tell you anything.

The only way to REALLY know about the rod and main bearings is to pull the oil pan and pull some of the rod and main caps and I'm not sure that can even be done with the engine installed as I've never tried to pull the pan on an Expy.

If you don't already have a long term / high mileage extended warranty, I'd purchase one and made the shop pay for it. I'd also get a document created outlining exactly what happened and have the shop commit to paying for any necessary repairs that don't get covered by the warranty if something does happen. Have the document looked over by your attorney, signed and notarized.

Good luck and again sorry for your misfortune.
 

flyguy

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While it is unlikely that this short-term leaking oil caused any damage, I would have the oil analyzed at the NEXT oil change interval by any of the several companies that do this. The reason for waiting is that it will take a while for the damage to show up in the oil. If the results are abnormal then I would make a claim against the store. Notify the store now what you are planning on doing (they may want to do their own analysis now to determine if the damage was pre-existing).
 

Frank Wilson

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While it is unlikely that this short-term leaking oil caused any damage, I would have the oil analyzed at the NEXT oil change interval by any of the several companies that do this. The reason for waiting is that it will take a while for the damage to show up in the oil. If the results are abnormal then I would make a claim against the store. Notify the store now what you are planning on doing (they may want to do their own analysis now to determine if the damage was pre-existing).
Year old thread now.
 
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