Worst Oil Change Ever? Oh Boy!

[Iron Woode]

http://consumerist.com/2012/08/walm...and-i-cant-even-get-them-to-call-me-back.html

An oil change seems like a pretty simple procedure, at least as far as automotive maintenance is concerned. And yet, one Consumerist reader now faces nearly $3,000 in repairs to her SUV because someone at Walmart mucked up the all-important "refilling" part of the oil change.

words escape me to describe the incompetence of Walmart.

I feel so bad for her.

I would be so pissed at them that the police would need to be called due to ass kicking that I would give.

 

[JCH13]

D:

Also, why get your oil changed at Walmart? That just seems like a bad idea in the first place...

 

[PricklyPete]

D:

Also, why get your oil changed at Walmart? That just seems like a bad idea in the first place...

I wouldn't get my oil changed at Walmart...or nearly any of those quick places for that matter. While the job is trivial, the people usually doing it are very close to minimum wage employees who are far from mechanics.

I just prefer to do this myself for this very reason...it is just too simple not to do and you avoid getting screwed by the idiots that even reputable shops end up getting to do this.

 

[SandEagle]

so they forgot to add the oil and she notices problems right away? that caused $3000 in damages?? i would think you'd have to drive a bit before noticing anything is wrong

 

[Iron Woode]

so they forgot to add the oil and she notices problems right away? that caused $3000 in damages?? i would think you'd have to drive a bit before noticing anything is wrong

most engines won't live long with no oil in them. You got maybe 3 minutes before damage starts.

 

[JCH13]

so they forgot to add the oil and she notices problems right away? that caused $3000 in damages?? i would think you'd have to drive a bit before noticing anything is wrong

D:

Complete loss of oil means exploded engine immediately. Even low oil pressure can kill an engine almost instantly under power.

 

[SithSolo1]

Is there any legal way Walmart can get out of footing the bill for all repair costs?

 

[jlee]

most engines won't live long with no oil in them. You got maybe 3 minutes before damage starts.

I wouldn't even give it that long...more like seconds under any amount of power.

 

[SagaLore]

When it was confirmed that there was no leak, Liz asked the first tech if he was the person who had done the oil change. He admitted he was and then gave her the explanation for why her engine had no oil in it -- "I put the oil into the transmission."

 

[Safeway]

Is there any legal way Walmart can get out of footing the bill for all repair costs?

Probably not, and their actions will likely result in additional damages come the inevitable trial.

 

[JCH13]

most engines won't live long with no oil in them. You got maybe 3 minutes before damage starts.

You're off by a few orders of magnitude there... especially when dealing with an engine that is completely drained of oil.

 

[Iron Woode]

I wouldn't even give it that long...more like seconds under any amount of power.

I am assuming idling.

most engines, especially old engines like my 318 get no oil at the valves for at least 30 seconds from a cold start. So it runs with near zero oil pressure at first.

 

[Iron Woode]

You're off by a few orders of magnitude there... especially when dealing with an engine that is completely drained of oil.

I drove a slant 6 with no oil for 3 days. Only when I went to my mechanic to check a tapping noise did we discover no oil in the crank case. We filled it up and it ran normally.

I was amazed and so was he.

let me clarify: checked the dipstick and no oil was on it. Put the car on the hoist and drained the crankcase. roughly 2 cups of oil came out. Changed the filter and added new oil. Car ran fine. It had bad valve seals and was burning oil, usually on restart.

 

[JCH13]

I drove a slant 6 with no oil for 3 days. Only when I went to my mechanic to check a tapping noise did we discover no oil in the crank case. We filled it up and it ran normally.

I was amazed and so was he.

How do you know there was no oil in it for three days? Clearly you didn't check for oil, find it empty, then continue to drive for three more days.

Edit: in my experience (and I have a bit) the tapping starts as soon as oil pressure drops.

 

[Iron Woode]

How do you know there was no oil in it for three days? Clearly you didn't check for oil, find it empty, then continue to drive for three more days.

Edit: in my experience (and I have a bit) the tapping starts as soon as oil pressure drops.

I edited my post. The engine had bad valve seals and would burn oil. I wasn't paying enough attention to it.

This was a 1977 Volare wagon which was my beater. Slant 6's are very tough engines.

I also have witnesses to this. My friend still laughs about it.

 

[JCH13]

I edited my post. The engine had bad valve seals and would burn oil. I wasn't paying enough attention to it.

This was a 1977 Volare wagon which was my beater. Slant 6's are very tough engines.

I also have witnesses to this. My friend still laughs about it.

I'd believe that, I've had similar experiences. But having torn down engines that ran low on oil, I promise you that there is damage inside the engine. Maybe not enough to keep it from running, but it's definitely damaged.

 

[halik]

This happens quite frequently, oil change places have insurance for this sort of stuff.

 

[Iron Woode]

I'd believe that, I've had similar experiences. But having torn down engines that ran low on oil, I promise you that there is damage inside the engine. Maybe not enough to keep it from running, but it's definitely damaged.

more than likely.

I just drove it for 2 more years. I junked it in 1990 because rust had eaten through most of the body. Frame and floor were fine. Drivetrain still worked fine. I should have kept the rear axle. 8 1/4 heavy duty rear axles are hard to find here now. I need one for my 1979 Lebaron.

I would never recommend someone drive their car with no oil in it.

She should be able to swing a new engine for her Ford.

 

[joutlaw]

This happens quite frequently, oil change places have insurance for this sort of stuff.

Yes, but Walmart and Sam's Club are self insured. They will do everything they can to not pay. You can sue them, but they have in house lawyers that aren't by the hour.

 

[tbtn]

That sucks. A similar thing happened to a friend of mine except she went to Midas and the engine stalled in the middle of a blizzard, the day before Christmas.

 

[Safeway]

Yes, but Walmart and Sam's Club are self insured. They will do everything they can to not pay. You can sue them, but they have in house lawyers that aren't by the hour.

That's when you call your local news channel. They love running investigative reports on shady business practices. Wal-Mart knows when to settle.

 

[halik]

Yes, but Walmart and Sam's Club are self insured. They will do everything they can to not pay. You can sue them, but they have in house lawyers that aren't by the hour.

All insurance companies have the incentive to not pay...

 

[jagec]

so they forgot to add the oil and she notices problems right away? that caused $3000 in damages?? i would think you'd have to drive a bit before noticing anything is wrong

Generally speaking, by the time you "notice" a no-oil-related problem, the damage is done.

 

[mvbighead]

I was one of those who did commonly use Walmart for oil changes. It was convenient, and generally cheaper than most places.

As for PricklyPete's - While the job is trivial, the people usually doing it are very close to minimum wage employees who are far from mechanics.

My thought is, most of the places that do these sorts of things have the same minimum wage monkey doing the same thing, and since it is trivial, it shouldn't matter. In my few years of letting Walmart do it, the worst experience I had was they had left a new bottle of oil under the hood. Pretty easy to spot as the hood wasn't latched. Shortly thereafter, I started doing it myself. (Shortly thereafter, I got a bigger garage and the necessary equipment.)

In any case, I don't know that it really matters where you bring it to. It's a simple job, and eventually someone is going to screw something up because they're distracted with something else or in a rush. So in the end, the only person you can control is yourself. Bringing it to a dealer is going to see an oil change being done by their greenest "mechanic" who may be as likely as the Walmart mechanic to mess it up.

Personally, I might still use Walmart if it wasn't for switching to synthetics and their bogus up-charge on that. I believe it was $25 for a conventional vs. 55 for synthetic. A 5 qt jug of conventional is $15, a 5 qt jug of synthetic Mobil1 is $26.50. Since the other parts are the same, I would be paying a $30 premium for oil that cost an additional $11.50.

In the end, I enjoy wrenching, and even a simply oil job gives me the peace of mind in know that all of the things requested were actually done, and that my car wasn't just driven through the stall and handed to me on the other end without getting the oil changed.

All in all, my surprise to this story is Walmart's reluctance to pay for their mechanic's negligence. In the end, making the customer wait this long for any resolution will cost them a helluva lot more than $3000 when other customers decide that Walmart may be unwilling to resolve any dispute they may encounter in the future. They give the Weightloss - Makeover Edition participants $50k, so what the hell is $3k for a simple gesture to show your customers that you will own up to your mistakes?

 

[joutlaw]

All insurance companies have the incentive to not pay...

Yes, but if both companies are owned by the company there is even more incentive. Is Walmart's insurance company going to raise rates on them? Not really an option.