katapaltes
'03 P5, '17 Miata, stock AF
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- Dallas, TX
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- 2003 Protege5
Got my oil changed at a Kwik Kar oil change franchise several days ago. About 30 miles later, as I was traveling on the highway, I heard a noise as if I'd run over something small or something had come off the car. I hadn't seen anything in the road in front of me prior to the noise and I didn't see anything in the air behind me from a quick glance in the rear view mirror. I kept driving.
Fast forward five miles and I hear what sounds like engine pinging, the car loses power, and the oil light on the dash starts flashing. At that point, I know exactly what has happened and I kill the engine and coast to the shoulder. I look under the engine and the last wee bit of oil is draining onto the pavement. I call the oil change place immediately. It had been 40 miles since they changed my oil, so it was obviously something they'd done improperly. They were apologetic and asked me to tow the car to them, which I did through my insurance carrier.
The tow truck guy arrived less than an hour later (but still had marked himself "on scene" through my insurance company's website/app 10 - 15 minutes before he actually arrived). From what I could tell, he put the car on the tow truck properly, and my lady friend came to pick me up so we could celebrate her birthday as planned. Later, I got a call from Kwik Kar telling me the tow truck operator had dropped off the car and had started the engine (?!?!?). They ran over to tell him to shut it off, which he did, but it was running long enough that the Kwik Kar guys got to hear the racket of an engine running with no oil in it. At some point after that, the tow truck guy then locked my keys in my car and called me to ask if I had a second set. I gave him an earful about starting the car and he implied that he wasn't the problem and somehow I was. Add to that, apparently he had left my car parked half-in/half-out of the garage and the oil change place couldn't close their garage doors for the evening. At that point, my friend and I raced back into town to get my second set of keys and took them to the oil change place. The oil change guys further told me that tow truck guy had tried to get into the car to retrieve that keys and showed me the minor damage to the door he had caused (two places).
At this point, the oil change place has replaced my drain plug and filled the engine with oil. They started the car to listen for noises and they reported that it sounds "normal." They have called in a diagnostician to further check for any problems today. I called the Mazda dealer and asked for some free advice, and the helpful fellow in the service department recommended a compression test, which the oil change place said they'd be doing. The oil change guy already hinted that they shouldn't be held fully responsible because of the two truck guy's starting the engine, but they seem to be taking this seriously. The tow truck is the insurance company's responsibility, so at least I have that in case the engine is hosed. I won't be surprised if the engine is toast or if it's totally fine.
Do you guys have any recommendations as to what they should check besides compression? Anything I should look at/smell/feel?
Fast forward five miles and I hear what sounds like engine pinging, the car loses power, and the oil light on the dash starts flashing. At that point, I know exactly what has happened and I kill the engine and coast to the shoulder. I look under the engine and the last wee bit of oil is draining onto the pavement. I call the oil change place immediately. It had been 40 miles since they changed my oil, so it was obviously something they'd done improperly. They were apologetic and asked me to tow the car to them, which I did through my insurance carrier.
The tow truck guy arrived less than an hour later (but still had marked himself "on scene" through my insurance company's website/app 10 - 15 minutes before he actually arrived). From what I could tell, he put the car on the tow truck properly, and my lady friend came to pick me up so we could celebrate her birthday as planned. Later, I got a call from Kwik Kar telling me the tow truck operator had dropped off the car and had started the engine (?!?!?). They ran over to tell him to shut it off, which he did, but it was running long enough that the Kwik Kar guys got to hear the racket of an engine running with no oil in it. At some point after that, the tow truck guy then locked my keys in my car and called me to ask if I had a second set. I gave him an earful about starting the car and he implied that he wasn't the problem and somehow I was. Add to that, apparently he had left my car parked half-in/half-out of the garage and the oil change place couldn't close their garage doors for the evening. At that point, my friend and I raced back into town to get my second set of keys and took them to the oil change place. The oil change guys further told me that tow truck guy had tried to get into the car to retrieve that keys and showed me the minor damage to the door he had caused (two places).
At this point, the oil change place has replaced my drain plug and filled the engine with oil. They started the car to listen for noises and they reported that it sounds "normal." They have called in a diagnostician to further check for any problems today. I called the Mazda dealer and asked for some free advice, and the helpful fellow in the service department recommended a compression test, which the oil change place said they'd be doing. The oil change guy already hinted that they shouldn't be held fully responsible because of the two truck guy's starting the engine, but they seem to be taking this seriously. The tow truck is the insurance company's responsibility, so at least I have that in case the engine is hosed. I won't be surprised if the engine is toast or if it's totally fine.
Do you guys have any recommendations as to what they should check besides compression? Anything I should look at/smell/feel?
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