Forgot to pour oil into engine!!!!!

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PBH

Member
You guys won't believe this!!!

A friend of mine went to Ontario Mazda in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada for a simple oil change. She noticed the oil light on when she left the dealership, but didn't think too much of it. She assumed that maybe the engine "computer" had to be reset after an oil change, or something. So she drives for over one hour total, before finally getting home, just as it starts making funny noises. Her father tells her that the dealership called for her. The reason? THEY THINK THEY FORGOT TO PUT THE OIL IN THE ENGINE!!!!! Sure enough, she had been running the car DRY!!!

Here is what kills me. This was on a Saturday evening, so she wasn't able to call them back until Monday morning. Would you believe that the mechanic, KNOWING that the car was driven dry for over an hour, just wanted to send someone over to her house to put the oil in?!?!? :confused: I guess in his mind, he was doing such a nice gesture!!! :bs: Needless to say, she freaked & had them tow the car back to check it out. The car has been there since.

I'll keep you guys posted as far as what Ontario Mazda plans to do for her as a result of their stupidity!
 
That really is unbelievable. It will be interesting to see how the engine held up under these conditions. Mazda can use it as a selling point. "Our cars can run with no oil at all, saving you money on expensive oil changes" I feel for your friend and hope Mazda takes care of her situation...like with a new car.....

AJ
 
Man it's crazy but things like this do really happen. Here's another reason to steer clear of dealers with monkeys for mechanics. That's why I do things myself as much as I can.
I hope your friend will be well compensated for their mistake.
 
Yeah I got my oil changed by a bunch of guys you could stereotype as "nascar lovin american V8 only" mechanics. They all gathered to look under my hood as they changed the oil, and one of them had to explain to another guy what a cold air intake is, blah blah, and they seemed to like the car. Apparently they figured since I have a 4cyl and try to make it fast I'm "rice".

Surprisingly enough, they changed my oil real quick - especially considering they spent most the time talking about the motor and looking at it. But I left the place, and after about 2 weeks of driving I started to notice I was burning a little too much oil (lots of bad smells when revving high) I took it back to the oil place, and said I had doubted they even changed my oil. They remembered me and said hey yeah, you have a nice car, (surprised me) and they said, "Oh wait um yeah, I remember talking about the car to the staff, and we realized we never touched your oil, sorry..." so of course they prompty changed my oil. Unfortunately they forgot I bought synthetic oil (50$) and they put in non synthetic....so they changed it again, for the supposed third time (only 2nd really)

My poor car, luckily for me they cleaned all my engine bay chrome while they were under the hood, since they felt bad.
 
Almost as dumb as me...

I was changing the oil in my Celica out in the street in front of my house and had drained the old oil & changed the filter. I poured in four quarts of Mobil1 and checked the dipstick. NO OIL! Yep, forgot to put the drain plug back in the pan. What a mess on the street. Jim
 
Trust me, they have killled your motor. If it was making ANY ticking noises, your motor is gone. I am living proof. They need to completely rebuild your motor. I ran almost completely out of oil after my oil line got knocked loose from my oil pan, and it was only run dry for about 20 minutes and my motor is shot. If they come back saying that the motor was fine, go to another independant shop mechanic that is ASE certified and pay to get it inspected. It should only cost about $50 to do this. The dealership will most likely try to protect their employee. But make sure that the inspecting mechanic is ASE certified or they will say that he didn't know what he was talking about. I am posisive if you say the motor was making funny noises that there is serous damage.
 
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lol, That's a great story Jim. Makes me feel better about some of the dumb stuff that I've done. Like drop the filter in the oil pan and splash oil all over my face. Yeah I don't taste too good.
 
man, it's crap like this that makes me not want to have anyone touch my car anymore. When I do bring my car into a shop, I watch them do the stuff to make sure they do things right. I'm doing all my oil changes now and it's not that big of a deal. Go try doing it yourself, it's not that hard and it's fun. :)

Here are a few tips:
-shops should never use a impact wrench to tighten lug nuts; that'll screw up the brake rotors and wheel studs. torque wrench should be used
-there should be a few ounces of oil in the new oil filter to allow for priming after oil change.... there should also be some oil around the filter gasket for easy install/remove
-too high or too low oil level will be just as bad
-check for leaks and verify oil pressure after oil change (oil light must go away on the dash) by starting engine for few seconds to prime
 
well my bad luck came my way the last time i had Mazda change mine .. the kid was talking my head off and ignored my telling him 5 mins before i had an underbody neon kit and he all at once crushed both driver and passenger neons ... needless to say .i have 5 more oil changes comming for free.. the shop forman asked me for a recipte shoiing the cost for them and he would give me that value in oil changes hehe so i make sure i bring a coupon each and every time hehe
 
*********** UPDATE ***********

Ontario Mazda is ordering a new engine for her from Japan. They say that it'll be here by the end of the week. She had better ask for an extended warranty as well!!!!!

I'll keep you guys posted!
 
It is stupid things like this (forgetting to put oil in or not changing it at all) that should tell you all to change your own oil!! I cannot believe some of the dumba@@#s that they let work on cars. Oh well, it seems that all will turn out well, but sheesh, what a bunch of :bs:

peace
Griff
 
This is why I always try to hang around the service bays when my car is being worked on and keep an eye on things (what else is there to do at the dealer anyways after your 3rd cup of crappy coffee)? If you don't make too much of a nuisance of yourself and get in the way they usually won't chase you away. Also, watching and casually letting the mechanic know this is your car makes it more likely that you will get all the work done that the work order specifies (and that you will be paying for).
 
I don't believe it. Forgot to put oil in the engine? Well...at least they admitted their error and they are replacing the engine.
 
we've all made mistakes

These are great stories about simple oil mistakes. When I had my Integra in high school, it slowly started making a clicking noise that got worse over the course of a few months.

Right when it was time for another oil change the ticking was really loud and I thought that because it had 130k miles it was just getting old. But on the way to the oil change shop when I was at 7,000rpm the oil light popped on!

Pulled over, crawled underneith and the drain plug was finger tight, and had slowly leaked all the oil out over the course of three months.

The car burned oil for the next two years until I sold it. I think I burned up the valves by not having enough oil to the head, but because I was young I didn't think the shop would do anything for me, so I didn't even try. Oh well.
 
I think the main moral of this story is: If your oil light ever goes on. STOP immediatly. Pull over right there. Altho' a new engine isn't a bad prize.:p
 
I think it was a simple mistake that anyone could have made. When you start doing things so often every day, they become routine. Then you stop paying attention for a minute because you are on "cruise control", and something like that slips your mind. I think it was an honest mistake that anyone could have made. The only part that scares me is what if there was a turbo on the car. Would they have tried to get out of taking responsibility for the screw up? Would they have also replaced the turbo with burned oil seals? I also agree that when anyone is working on your car, you should be there watching.
 
************** FINAL UPDATE **************
She got her car back & Ontario Mazda DID install a brand new engine. She had the car checked by her lifelong trusted & certified mechanic (Her dad) who verified that it was indeed brand new & NOT refurbished.

Not too shabby, I must say :)
 
That's ironic, because Ontario Mazda is the reason I stopped trusting dealerships to service my car. They did my 8,000km oil change and over-filled the engine with oil. Moronic.

There's an old saying; If you want something done right, do it yourself.
 
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