I didn't have time to do an oil change myself this time around, so I went to a local garage (well known, shall remain nameless for now).
After they had my van for about 45min, next day I discovered quite a bit of oil on the ground.
I figured maybe they were going too fast, some spilled from the oil filter, some more maybe from the top while pouring new oil, I wasn't too worried at that point.
*Just so we're clear, my van never to that moment left any oil drips on the garage floor.*
Anyways, I cleaned the stain, laid some cardboard for the future and took the van for a drive.
After I returned, same thing. A sizable stain on the cardboard, from the right (driver) side.
I still didn't panic, figured they were going too fast, probably the filter is loose.
I took some paper towel, cleaned everything, made sure the filter was tight(it was, also dry)
and run the van while I crawled underneath.
As it turned out, the oil is coming from the oil fitting next to and above the oil filter, attaching into the turbo charger.
It's dripping at a steady rate, causing me to loose quite a bit of oil.
Now my question is: Did the mechanic mess something up, or is this a pure coincidence?
I'm sure the leak wasn't there before. Not to mention that the shop's mechanic would certainly inform me if there was such a major leak in the van. It was impossible to miss.
From my experience oil leaks are usually a slowly escalating problem, unless one actually blow a pressure line.
I've never had one go from zero to such a hemorrhage in a few hours.
So what gives???
What do you think they did(if anything) ?
Major oil leak - looking for opinions
-
- Posts: 20
- Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:38 pm
Re: Major oil leak - looking for opinions
Remember the age of your van first of all, hoses and lines have been doing their job well for some time. Chances are during the oil change the line/ fitting was disturbed or knocked causing a weak point to now fail. Give your shop the benefit of the doubt and give them a chance to address the issue before getting too worked up about it. If you explain what you just posted to them they may repair it to keep you as a happy customer, at the least you could ask for a discounted repair cost.
Re: Major oil leak - looking for opinions
The problem sorted, the culprit was a steel feed line on top of the turbo.
I'm convinced that timing was mostly coincidental.
Perhaps the fresh oil with slightly more pressure pushed the line the rest of the way towards major crack.
The mechanic said he's never seen that line fail before.
Overall, it could've been much much worst.
I'm convinced that timing was mostly coincidental.
Perhaps the fresh oil with slightly more pressure pushed the line the rest of the way towards major crack.
The mechanic said he's never seen that line fail before.
Overall, it could've been much much worst.