Over filled oil

sandra4480

I had the oil changed and a week later it started making a banging noise. I took it back and they had over filled the oil. One mechanic said the over filling caused engine damage. Today another man said that he did research and it was not caused by them. He will put in another motor for $2600. I am being screwed by them. The car belonged to my 91 year old mother and only has 97000 miles on it. What do you think?

Mr_Shiftright

There really aren't enough details here to speculate on what happened, but if a mechanic in the oil change place actually told you the oil was overfilled, then you probably have just cause to at least make a Small Claims lawsuit. Every state has different limits on how much you can ask for.

Overfilling might or might not harm an engine. If the oil is sufficiently over-full, it can "cavitate" (make air bubbles, like an outboard motor on a boat with the propeller churning up the water), and cavitated oil cannot properly lubricate the engine.

But if the oil overfill wasn't all that much, say 1 quart over, then engine damage isn't very likely.

So this might come down to a "he said, she said" situation. Sometimes, just filing a lawsuit can motivate a garage to help you out, but on the other hand, if you don't have any good evidence, you can lose the case. In small claims, it doesn't cost very much to sue, so if you feel wronged, that's one way to go.

I always suggest talking to the shop and trying to come to some sort of solution. If they are in doubt, and you are in doubt, then both parties should chip it to fix the problem. At 97K, you have to allow for the fact that the engine had 1/2 its life gone anyway.

Maybe something like you pay for a good used engine, and he installs it for free--something like that.

Or you could sue for the value of the entire car, since it's useless right now.

sandra4480

Thank you Sir