oil problem? what happened?

[soccerella]

Hey everyone,

I have a 2000 explorer, V8, AWD. I bought this used at the end of August, and took it to the Ford dealer down the street from my house friday for "the works" to be done to it....check battery, change oil and filter, rotate tires, check hoses and brakes, etc. They ended up chaging the oil and filter and replacing power steering fluid. My battery needed replacing, but I did that myself instead friday afternoon.

Saturday morning, on my way back from the grocery store, the oil pressure gauge dropped to zero. I had just turned onto my steet, so I continued the 100 or so yards to the house. The pressure gauge was going back and forth between zero and middle, and the check gauge light came on. When I pulled into the driveway, the car started to make a slight noise right before I turned it off.

I checked under the hood and it smelled a bit off. There was oil everywhere, all on the drivers side under the hood. It looked like it had actually sprayed. There was still oil in the car when I pulled in the driveway, but now it seems to have leaked all over the driveway. I called the ford dealership and they towed it back there and gave me a rental until someone can look at it on monday.

Question is, what do you think happened? Is it likely they messed up somehow doing the oil change as this happend less than 50 miles after they did it? Or is it a huge coincidence and an expensive fix for me?

Thanks for your help

 

[CDW6212R]

Welcome, and hopefully you did not drive far with no oil pressure. It takes seconds to burn up an engine with no oil pressure. It would have been better if you could have found the leak yourself, before relying on their honesty. It is a shame but you have to keep people honest, because most are not if given the chance. I wish you well that the problem is small and that they will fix it. Regards,

 

[soccerella]

Thanks,

I would normally have pulled over as soon as i noticed the fluctuation in the oil pressure, but like i said I was on my street. I called a friend who is pretty good with cars and used to do all the oil changes on my old car, but he coudlnt spot what caused it to happen at first glance either. Im just hoping that nothing happened to the engine and that its not seriously damaged

 

[manaen]

I'm guessing they put the new filter on and the old filters o-ring stayed sticking to the mounting surface on the engine. when that happens the double oring will work for a while but under higher pressures it will blow and all the oil will spray out. I hope it didn't hurt your engine, how loud was the noise it made? and what did it sound like. Hopefully it was just your lifters, and not the bearings.

 

[soccerella]

It wasnt very loud, i woudnt have even heard if it the radio was on....it was not a constant noise, but more a clicking sound. Im sorry, I dont remember it too clearly, it was only for a few seconds before I shut it off. Sorry, that probably doesnt help at all My main thing right now that im concerned about is just that i really really hope the engine wasnt damaged by this

 

[manaen]

well you would know it if you spun a bearing, it is more than just a ticking it is more like someone rapping on the engine with a 16 pound hammer

you should be OK

But I would check everything really well when you get the truck back to make sure it is ok and that Ford stands behind it since it was there fault

 

[manaen]

So any update on how your truck faired through it's oil crisis?

 

[bluestream1]

I friend of mine works at the BMW dealer in town, and they recently had a break-in during the night. The theives took three cars that they found keys to in the shop. One car had the oil drained out, and was going to be re-filled the next day. That car was found the next day three miles away with a seized engine. They can go farther than most people think..

 

[soccerella]

Well Manaen, it turns out you were right...it was the o-ring.....they waited until they had a full staff in on tuesday before they actually looked at it, but figured out that was the problem, admited to it and apologized profuesly....they of course installed a new filter and oil, washed the undercarriage and car, then had a few different people test drive it to make sure the engine was ok and the oil pressure stayed normal. I've driven it about 100 miles now and everything seems fine....so it all worked out in the end, they had to pay for everything, including my rental truck til wednesday, and nothing seems to be wrong with the engine, so i'm happy

thanks for your help!

 

[manaen]

That's great that it was an honest shop and they were totally open about the problem. Sounds like they just won a customer

It is good to know that there are still shops out there like that..

It's also great news about the engine, keep up the maintenance and it will be good to you.

 

[CDW6212R]

Very good, that's good news. Yes finding good shops is hard to do, hopefully they will be a fine choice for you to keep.

 

[Willard]

i did that on my oil filter once, only it blew as soon as i turned it on after the change. i started it, heard oil hitting the ground, and turned it off. it was late, so i cleaned up what i could and came back in the morning. fixed it and all was fine. scared the crap out of me though, because it was on an engine with 205,000 miles on it. i thought something else blew. worst part was laying in the pool of oil to replace it again :thumbdwn:

 

[manaen]

worst part was laying in the pool of oil to replace it again :thumbdwn:

Kitty litter, Saw dust, or cardboard all good options in those situations

sometimes even a combination of all three in the worst cases

 

[green4WDmonster]

The only thing that's worse than hearing the oil hitting the ground, is watching it rain down onto you. I work at one of those quick lubes, and when i was learning the ropes of working on the bottom sides of a car, I Double-Gasketed without realizing it. I told the topside tech it was safe to added oil and start but then stood directly under the engine when the he started the car, the gaskets failed immediately....it's a safe assumptoin that it never happened again.

i did that on my oil filter once, only it blew as soon as i turned it on after the change. i started it, heard oil hitting the ground, and turned it off. it was late, so i cleaned up what i could and came back in the morning. fixed it and all was fine. scared the crap out of me though, because it was on an engine with 205,000 miles on it. i thought something else blew. worst part was laying in the pool of oil to replace it again :thumbdwn:

 

[Willard]

Kitty litter, Saw dust, or cardboard all good options in those situations

sometimes even a combination of all three in the worst cases

actually, it had some oil dri on it, and i was laying on cardboard, but the cardboard wasn't big enough and i still got some in my hair

 

[marragtop]

Been there and done it. When I do my oil changes, I always check the old filter to make sure the o-ring came off with it.