Now I will be forced to detail my engine bay!

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golfdude

New member
I was thinking of detailing the Crossfire's engine bay earlier today, but my Dad took the Crossfire to get its oil changed at the dealership. When my dad picked it up, he drove it home without knowing what was going to happen. Then, while mid-corner, the battery light came on, and the car lost its power steering. He told me that the car could barely turn, as if the steering wheel was set in concrete. Well, he crippled the car home, and called the dealership. He told me to watch the car thinking that it would catch on fire because of the strong smell and fog of oil. Well, after pushing the car outside of the garage, we opened the hood and found oil all over the place, smoke coming from near the brake fluid reservoir, as well as a damaged accessory belt. The tow truck came and brought the car back to the dealership. The culprit…someone forgot to tighten some sort of sealing ring (I think it was for the oil filter), and the hot oil escaped it’s boundaries, burned the accessory belt, caused the belt to tear, which then caused the power steering to fail. Well, the mechanics cleaned the mess up decently, but I was kind of frustrated when I found dots on my grille (see the last pic), as well as some remaining oil and dirt marks on the easy-to-see engine cover. After all this, the dealership said they were sorry for the inconvenience. It surprised me that this was their only response…the driver could have got into an accident and all they say is sorry? They did not even refund our over $200 for this oil change/service.



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Don't worry about the cosmetics of the engine bay. There are more than enough experts here that can help you resolve this problem far better than the dealer ever could. :xyxthumbs



I would be more worried about the internal damage to the engine. It only takes a few seconds of oil starvation to destoy sealing and bearing surfaces. You might not see it now, but you may have taken several thousand miles off the life of that engine in a mile or two. :angry



I would force the dealer to give you at minimum an extended warranty on the engine. If you talked to a couple expert engine builders, you could probably get enough backup to make them replace the engine in total.
 
And people keep asking me why I bother changing my own oil. This is the reason.

I know it doesn't happen often but it does happen.



You cleaned it up really nice :xyxthumbs
 
Holland_Patrick: stop flattering me! :bigups



kartoon: I myself did not clean the engine...the dealer just cleaned it themselves with degreaser.



Unfortunately, I did not check the oil level because I was fearing hot oil splatter...the engine bay was very hot as-is, and the dipstick was also covered in the hot oil.
 
Wow. I would be right back into that dealership! I would not be paying for the oil change, and I would raise complete hell. They would be paying me for an engine detail (Get a quote from a detailer ON PAPER and take it to them asking for the estimate price), as well as having them agree to replacing anything that was damaged and looks ANYTHING less than new. I would not less this go with a "Sorry about that" and half-assed attempt at cleaning the mess.



Just my .02 cents..
 
I do EVERYTHING I can as far as maintenance to my car because I worry about dumb mistakes like that. I would also be concerned about internal engine damage due to oil starvation. I would be really upset about what happened. When I had my 93 Taurus years ago, my power steering would go out randomly. I know what it's like to be in the middle of a turn and all of a sudden have no power assist. It's scary when that catches you by surprise in the middle of a busy intersection.
 
MDSUPERSTAR said:
Wow. I would be right back into that dealership! I would not be paying for the oil change, and I would raise complete hell. They would be paying me for an engine detail (Get a quote from a detailer ON PAPER and take it to them asking for the estimate price), as well as having them agree to replacing anything that was damaged and looks ANYTHING less than new. I would not less this go with a "Sorry about that" and half-assed attempt at cleaning the mess.



Just my .02 cents..
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Same here. Customer service really sucks these days.
 
I suggest that you contact the Chrysler zone office and inform them of what happened. Based on the dealer's lack of proper response to this problem, you may want to elevate this beyond their level. Good thing that you had taken pictures.
 
I agree with the majority opinion. Most times I don't get angry with people because I think it is uncalled for, and really not necessary. BUT, in a situation where death could have been involved due to the loss of power on the vehicle, I would be taking that problem way up the food chain in an unpleasant manner. That is inexcusable that they just blew it off like that and half assedly cleaned the engine.
 
I had a similar thing happen to me two years ago. The dealer left the oil filler cap off the engine and oil got all over the engine, under and inside the hood, etc. My hood dripped oil for over a year afterwards. :furious: Fortunately I was only down less than a quart but I was pissed off, to say the least.



It turns out that was the day I was planning to change the plugs, wires and intake so I was just happy this all happened before I did the work, rather than afterwards. I was able to clean it up myself. My car hasn't been back to a dealer since. :nomore:



The dealer's attitude wasn't much better towards me. They actually got rather defensive and couldn't understand why I was upset! :rolleyes:



I think they should refund you your $200 and I'd have that engine checked out. If you scorched a bearing due to engine starvation it could be bad. Depends on how much oil you lost. I've put 30k miles on my car since my incident and it still runs fine. It has since started using some oil between changes. I think it's normal useage for the age and mileage of the engine but sometimes I wonder if it's related to the cap being left off. :hm
 
I'd tell them I want a full refund on the work they did plus get the engine checked out. Definitely go up the food chain at DC and have this fully documented. If it was me I'd be pushing for a new engine. If you don't say anything nothing will get done. After all your work last weekend I'd be majorly pissed!
 
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