There is a guy in my neighborhood who is not the sharpest. He did (most of) an oil change in his PT Cruiser.

Drained the old oil, replaced the drain plug, changed the filter. Next day the car would not run. It has been sitting in his driveway for a couple years.

He should have put new oil in it, after draining the old.

Not a kid, either. Probably in his fifties.

Based on some of his past interactions with neighbors, I'll call it karma.

I spoke with my brother last night. He performed an oil change on his wife’s Corolla. Everything went fine until he discovered most of the new synthetic oil on the ground. He searched for the source. Finally he removed the new oil filter and discovered a hole on the end. A drilled hole. He was dumbfounded.

He inquired out his 18 year old son who confessed to trying to make a homemade silencer using.....a new oil filter he found in the garage. He quickly realized drilling the hole wouldn’t work. He returned the drilled out filter back into the inventory.

Oil everywhere.

I must admit as I get older, I'm not as sharp as I used to be. Last time I changed the oil in my work van. 5 quarts went down the drain.

Luckily I had 5 more quarts at the shop, put the oil plug back in and was good. Thing that sucked . is was synthetic.

First time in over 40 years.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:
I spoke with my brother last night. He performed an oil change on his wife’s Corolla. Everything went fine until he discovered most of the new synthetic oil on the ground. He searched for the source. Finally he removed the new oil filter and discovered a hole on the end. A drilled hole. He was dumbfounded.

He inquired out his 18 year old son who confessed to trying to make a homemade silencer using.....a new oil filter he found in the garage. He quickly realized drilling the hole wouldn’t work. He returned the drilled out filter back into the inventory.

Oil everywhere.

A young thinking man, kudos, sorry He tried to put it back in stock!

I must say I am encouraged by my younger son. He came over today to do his front brakes. We did the rear a month ago. He is a senior in high school. He paid for some online class to see how to take apart his bmw 335i.

He came with tools and a torque wrench. He had the torque specs for the caliper and lugs. He did most of the work himself. I’m impressed. He may be going to auto tech school next year. My older son is the brains. Economics and business major. His younger brother will be fixing his cars and he will be handling the finances.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
Quick update. I didn’t get any more details but he did contact insurance. Insurance feels if oil was changed 2000 miles ago then this is a warranty issue. They are going to send someone to the dealer on Monday. They were not happy that the dealer didn’t investigate the cause once they saw oil all over the pan.

I do not know what was said to either the dealer or insurance. Hopefully they fight it out and someone covers it. If I’m prepared to pay if nothing comes of it.

This at least sounds hopeful.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
I've asked him to send me the warranty paperwork. They are telling him he can't change his own oil.

Under the extended warranty I have on my Silverado, ALL work has to be done by an ASE Certified mechanic or one of the certified oil change places.

About 12-15 months ago I did a home tire rotation on the son’s vehicle.

Driving a few days later I felt an unusual vibration, some noise. Once home I did a lug nut check, the one wheel was barely finger tight.

I’m usually very careful about checking things, obviously fell short this time. Just saying, most anyone can have a momentary lapse.

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:
I see why your username is Frayed Ends. I know it sucks. I have some boneheaded sons, too. But it's not life altering, at least in the long run.

I'd call around and find a shop that does Jasper replacement engines. I had a Jasper replacement transmission in an old Dodge I owned and it worked perfect for years and many miles until I sold it. Jasper is good stuff and is relatively inexpensive. Comes with a good warranty, too.

My buddy installs more Jasper engines and transmissions than any other shop in this area. He's been doing them for a long time. They have a great warranty like you posted 3 yr or 100,000 mile warranty and it's transferable

We all forget things. Wife Husband kids friends phone ringing etc.

That’s why Pilots have checklists.

Maybe we should get a notebook and start creating our own checklists. When satisfied we can put them in the computer and print out when we need to use one.

None of us is infallible. Fit Schappens!

RV’ers need checklists too.

Thats the general idea.

Check the ego pride, be smart.
.

quote:

Originally posted by powermad:

$38,000 for a new 7/8 engine + labor. Won't have to fight warranty too much for this one.
Volvo warranty isn't to bad, Cummins on the other hand are a bunch of pricks that fight you all the way getting stuff covered and paid for.

That comment about cummins made me giggle. I was one of their parts managers/warranty people for cummins for about 18 years in Portland. What shop do you work for? Good odds we know each other. I left there 3 years ago because of how badly they were treating customers as well as me as an employee. I used to love that place, it was the best job ever right up until cummins bought all of their distributors in 2013 and started enforcing very unfriendly policies for customers. I had good relationships with every dealer in the northwest before all of that happened then things went to shit in 2016 so I left a year later.

Toyota (and Honda) and others, use a one time use only crush washer on the drain plug. This drain plug crush washer cost about $0.50-0.75 and MUST be changed with every oil change. A LOT of shade tree guys never change these one time use crush washers, and this is the kind of thing that can happen. The plug vibrates loose, and you dump 4 quarts of oil onto the highway 500-2000 miles later.

When you buy a new car that takes these crush washers, and you do your own oil changes, have them throw in a lifetime supply of them with the sale. I always get the Honda (or Toyota) parts department to give me a big bag full of them.

I'm thinking the OP's son didn't change the crush washer, and the drain plug vibrated lose. He saved 50 cents on the oil change, but a new engine cost him $6000 in the end.... hopefully a lesson learned.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
We all forget things. Wife Husband kids friends phone ringing etc.

That’s why Pilots have checklists.

Maybe we should get a notebook and start creating our own checklists. When satisfied we can put them in the computer and print out when we need to use one.

None of us is infallible. Fit Schappens!

RV’ers need checklists too.

Thats the general idea.

Check the ego pride, be smart.
.

There's a book I read and like titled The Checklist Manifesto.

It's written by a surgeon who introduced surgical checklists in hospitals in developing countries after studying how checklists were used by pilots.

I use checklists in my work now, as it reduces mental overhead. I can worry about the task at hand without devoting mental energy in trying not to forget future tasks on a project.

Quick update. Insurance is apparently covering it. At least they are covering $4000. I still gave my son $1500 to help cover the rest. He is going to confirm the quotes he got and have it done for the best price.

Things I know or suspect:
I asked him to confirm the amount he’s getting is t based on the Toyota quote. In other words I was concerned he would get less if he went somewhere else. His mom said insurance was sending them the cash. I assume they base it off the insurance estimate minus the deductible.

I suspect his mom is not being completely honest and is getting more than $4k. I could ask for confirmation but that’s not worth the battle. If my money helps him buy a cheaper car I’m okay with that.

So at least there is a path forward and everyone saved money except me. I didn’t really need a new gun or money for his college. Lol.

quote:

I suspect his mom is not being completely honest and is getting more than $4k

I'm confident she's not getting anything at all. If he still has it financed that check is coming with the name of the lender on it as well, and/or the repair shop. That money will either go towards the repair or the balance of the loan.

Well, sounds like that turned out better than I could have hoped for. Is $1500 the deductible? Thus, $6000 repair bill, so the insurance sends $6000 less the $1500 deductible (netting your son the $4500)?

Perhaps you should get your contribution back from your son when he sells the Tacoma and downgrades cars. Let him carry a small car note, it will improve his credit and interest rates are low these days.

Last bit of advice, send a friendly email to Toyota corporate and see if they can contribute to some portion of the repair. I have had luck with an out of warranty repair bill for my Subaru last year, and I sent Subaru a nice letter about how I love the brand, and would totally be stoked if they could find a way to make the repair more affordable. Subaru called the dealer, and they worked it out that corporate would contribute $800 of the $1300 bill to replace the torque converter.

A1: yeah regardless if they send it to the dealer or them doesn’t change anything really. I don’t see why they would send it to financing company as then it wouldn’t get repaired.

Aeteocles: I’ll give that a shot. He just called me and asked if he should just have Toyota do the work. He could save about $1000 by going elsewhere but he’d need it towed. Plus at least if he trades he can say it was repaired by Toyota. I didn’t ask his deductible. Sometimes too many questions with my ex wife involved just isn’t worth it.

It is good to see that it is working out for you.

quote:

A1: yeah regardless if they send it to the dealer or them doesn’t change anything really. I don’t see why they would send it to financing company as then it wouldn’t get repaired.

It prevents the mother from pocketing any of the money. It would get to the finance company for their endorsement, which would likely only occur after the repairs are near completion or complete. Makes sure that the repairs are made and the money isn't spent elsewhere.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
My older son is the brains. Economics and business major. His younger brother will be fixing his cars and he will be handling the finances.

That sounds like a dealership in the making!