llee916

So I went into Infiniti to have a routine oil change performed. Two days later, I wake up and drive off and later park my vehicle. As I was walking away, I heard a strange noise coming from my vehicle. I look underneath my car and found oil leaking at a fast rate. I had my vehicle towed back to the dealership and they said somehow the drain plug fell out. They appeared to have taken ownership of this problem.

I am now waiting for them to perform engine compression tests to see if the engine is working normally. I don't know how much oil leaked out, but from what I saw on the ground where I parked and in my garage at home, it was A LOT! However, while I was driving it, no engine light ever came on.

I am obviously very upset and afraid of current and unknown future engine damage. Any word of advice??? Any other tests that should be performed? Should I demand a new engine or a new vehicle? It only has 11K miles on it.


Thanks in advance.

15951

I would ask for the warranty to be extended to account for any damage their stupidity might have caused. There's zero excuse for not tightening a drain plug. This is very Jiffy Lube.

KLB

You can try to "demand those things, but without proof of damage they are not going to give them to you.

If you saw the oil pouring out, then you had oil in your engine when you were driving it. I would think your engine will be fine. It's a good thing you noticed it then, rather than after driving it again with no oil in the engine.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Wow that sucks
I'd be curious to how the dealer handles this situation, getting a new car would be out of the question but if the engine doesn't check out they'd be on the hook for that one (since you said they assumed liability). You may want to get it in writing but I'm no expert on these matters.

You say it was two days (I'm assuming it was parked the entire time) so no leaks until then. If the drive wasn't too far and you weren't driving it hard you're probably fine, but like you mentioned it seemed like a lot of oil had already drained so it's anyones' guess.

Not really sure what alerts the car gives you when it suddenly loses oil, I'd assume you get the bright yellow triangle, posssibly something on the nav screen too??

Good luck, hope it all checks out fine for you

clutch5

The way you've described it, the drain plug just fell out when you stopped in the parking space. Otherwise there would have been a trail of oil leading to the parking space. It generally doesn't take very long to drain 90% of the oil once the drain plug is out, and you didn't see a low oil pressure warning. That should also mean the drain plug should be around that parking space. Try to find it. I assume the drain plug has a compression washer which they should have replaced, and I assume the washer, either by inspecting it or by measuring it, was never compressed if they forgot to tighten it. If that's the case that at least increases the certainty it was the dealer's fault, rather than your car was sabbotaged somewhere along the way when it was parked in the open.

jjasonSU

iTrader: (1)

Exactly. Nothing to be afraid for

cvroom

yea you caught the problem in time but i wouldnt bring your car there anymore.

clutch5

Not so sure about that. The drain plug is threaded. Assuming dealer fault, they probably got it finger tight and it vibrated lose, thread by thread, over the course of the 2 days.

You can drain all your oil just by loosening the drain plug about 3/4 of the way. It just takes longer since the oil leaks past the threads rather than pouring out. So to me, it actually seems *likely* that you slow-leaked out a fair bit of oil along the way before all the threads on the plug disengaged.

Just because a low oil pressure warning didn't come on doesn't mean the oil wasn't low enough for some excessive wear (but not enough for catastrophic failure) to occur, which only shows up as a problem say 30k miles later. Asking them to extend the warranty on the engine seems reasonable. Also ask them to check all the oil sensor systems and warning activations, and if there's a problem in that, I'd be a little more worried.

CDONNS

iTrader: (3)

Pick a section to post in. Double posting is a no-no

financeman

If its a lease, don't worry about it. If you own, then you should request an extended engine warranty...at a minimum. Also should have an engine oil analysis at your next change...might give you a better idea about the "age" of the engine following the bone headed move by the dealer. Were you running synthetic or mineral oil....I think synthetic might offer a little better protection in low oil pressure situations. One other thought, dealer computers will reflect this situation in the car's official service records which might impact your resale...ask how they will make this right. I would be hesitant to purchase your car used knowing it had been run out of oil.

Good luck...I had the same thing happen to me on an 2008 Toyota Highlander I purchased new....luckily I caught the leaker fairly quickly. Seems like these so called "technicians" hired by dealers who handle stuff like oil changes are not particularly sharp. Of course mistakes can happen, even with the best....though one would think a good dealer would have checks and balances in place to prevent this.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

[quote=financeman;3117902]If its a lease, don't worry about it. [quote]

Never ceases to amaze me how some people regard leased vehicles, good thing you've never bought a used vehicle (which could have been a lease)eh?? I treat all my vehicles (and I've leased a few) like I own them. Maybe that's not what you were getting at but it irratates me when people regard leases as just throw-aways with no regard to future owners or the overall condition that the cars' mechanicals are in.

roots4x

[QUOTE=blnewt;3117976][quote=financeman;3117902]If its a lease, don't worry about it. Well what's he going to do? I'm sure he'll still get it taken care of. It's not like it was his fault or anything. The poster was just saying that this is a shrug situation if it's a lease.

15951

Actually, he says pretty clearly that there was oil on his garage floor at home.

chuckie311

iTrader: (3)

im sure if they check the engine over and find any problems they will take care of it..

roots4x

[QUOTE=blnewt;3117976][quote=financeman;3117902]If its a lease, don't worry about it. Well what's he going to do? I'm sure he'll still get it taken care of. It's not like it was his fault or anything. The poster was just saying that this is a shrug situation if it's a lease.