Hi all,

I recently had my local dealer change my oil as part of my service plan. I did this a couple days before going on a 2500 mile road trip. When I got the car back, I failed to inspect there work, and just went on my trip. During the trip everything seemed fine. On the return trip, I stopped for gas and decided to check the oil, and open the hood to find my oil cap laid up on my plenum, where it had been for the entire trip. There was quite a bit of oil splashed up onto the hood, which had been running down to the front of the hood and dripping into the radiator fins. Upon checking the oil, it didn't read low, and during the trip, my oil pressure stayed steady and normal.

My friends and family all say that I should contact the dealership(which I plan to do tomorrow) and complain, and some say that this may have caused internal damage to the engine or shortened its lifespan. The cap scratched up my plenum and my strut tensioner bar.

Other than trying to get them to replace the aesthetically marred parts, which I doubt will happen, how worried should I be about internal damage to the engine? Also would it be overkill to ask for a new motor, as some have advised me to do?

Thanks

 

make the replaced anything you are not happy with...

i wouldnt think there would be any internal damage on teh engine...if something would have happended it definalty would have happened then..new motor is probably an overkill LOL you could try tho LMAO

 

I would definitely notify the service department.

But I'm sure there was no damage to your engine.

 

Insist that they thoroughly clean everything and repair or replace anything damaged. This was their mistake and they are legally liable for the work they perform. I doubt you have any mechanical damage to the engine. If you drove through extremely dusty/dirty conditions you could have pulled some debris into the engine. You should have them perform another oil change for free to be on the safe side. These thing happen, once I picked up a car from a service station for an elderly family friend and on the drive home the hood popped up and slammed into the windshield. The mechanic had not latched the hood. The damage was pretty extensive. The hood got bent as well as the vent area between the hood and windshield and the windshield got cracked, not to mention the heart attack I almost had when the hood came flying up while I was going 50mph!! The shop payed for all the repairs no questions asked, they were very appologetic and embarrassed.

 

yea if you drove throught some dust or rain on your trip ask them to please do an engine flush.....

 

It would be hard to imagine that there would be internal damage unless you lost a whole lot of oil(quarts). I would make them clean up everything so the engine looked like new, buff out any scratches that couldn't be too much from a cap laying there, and have them put what happened in the records of you car. If anything happens in the future, this will be on the record and at the very least their having to deal with this will make it unlikely that someone in their employ will ever be so careless again to another Z owner. I'd have been REAL P'd off too!

 

Yeah, I think I will have to have them flush the engine. It rained nearly the entire trip while I was on the highway both going down and coming back.

 

You're pretty lucky, I'm a firefighter in Ocean City and we went to a car fire call one time where the engine bay was fully engulfed. Well after we popped the hood and put the fire out we noticed that the oil cap wasn't there. Apparently the girl that owned it had taken it to jiffy lube that day and they forget to put the cap back on. Well obviously the oil splashed out and caught on fire totalling the car.

 

Oh, that's some good ammo to use on the dealer. Thinking about it, I supposed I am lucky to have made it that far without incident.

 

i would definatly mention that....

 

How are you going to prove you didn't just haphazardly leave the cap off?

 

Agree. The probability of motor damage is slim. But take the car to the dealer. Ask that they steam clean the engine bay.

 

As long as the oil lev is was withing specs, your engine is fine. I's have them fix the asthetics though.

 

man that sucks. always check where they touched

 

i'd be on red alert my buddies tsx got screwed over by the stealership like you but his situation was worse all the oil leaked out and now he has to change the oil in his brand new 2006 tsx every 1000km the car is badly damaged.