Quote:
Originally Posted by thaskalos
Back to the dealer we go, only to be told that we have three possible scenarios facing us:
1. Pay $2,200 so the top cover can be taken off the engine to see if the fragments have stayed at the very top so they could be easily cleaned up and the problem fixed. But if not, then...
2. Pay an additional $4,000 to replace the cylinder hoping that this would fix the problem. But if not, then...
3. We would have to pay an additional $9,000 to replace the entire engine.
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I've been a mechanic with my own business for 45 years. I can tell you that whatever the source for the debris in the engine is, the first 2 options you listed from the dealer would be absolutely foolish.
The top half of the engine (cylinder head) receives oil from the oil pump last because it is farthest away from the oil pump which is in the oil pan at the very bottom of the engine. So if debris entered the engine and is distributed by the oil pump, there would be more debris in the lower half of the engine than the upper half (cylinder head). Cleaning or replacing the cylinder head would do nothing for the debris in the lower half of the engine and the new cylinder head would immediately get recontaminated again once the engine is restarted from the contaminated lower half. The engine would be prone to damage requiring the 3rd option the dealer mentioned. In other words the first 2 options are a complete waste of money.
Also there is no such thing as an oil filter decomposing its metallic insides and contaminating an engine with metal fragments. There is however many an oil filter that comes loose and leak oil because of improper tightening after an oil change. That would cause oil starvation inside the engine and cause metallic friction surfaces to distribute minute metallic fragments throughout the engine. But again the lower half of the engine would be more at risk than the upper. And the lower half is much more expensive than the upper half.
My guess is that this may be a factory defect that the dealer is covering up for with these strange explanations. I would ask to see this oil filter that "disintegrated". If they say they threw it away I would become very suspicious. By law you have the right to ask for the parts back that they replaced. And by law they have to give it back to you unless you waved that right in the work order you signed. (This is Ca law).
If they do give the old oil filter back to you then you can have it evaluated by a professional to see if this impossibility exist. This way you'll have evidence if they are are telling the truth.
If you really want them to sweat, have them put in writing what they are telling you. That the oil filter threw metallic pieces of itself into the engine. I doubt they will because it doesn't exist and you would have more than ample evidence of a lie should you take legal action.
There was a famous case a lot of us mechanics know about where the husband told his car clueless wife to take the car in for an oil change. The mechanic told her she needed "muffler bearings" and it would be $600 and she was in great danger if she didn't do it. She authorized the work based on that. But there is no such thing as "muffler bearings" . But the idiot mechanic wrote it down on the work order.
That evening the husband asks the wife "did you take the car in"? She says yes and it was a good thing as my muffler bearings were about to fail. The husband was a mechanic and knew she was taken but asked to see the work order and it was on there. So next day he goes into the shop and shows them the work order and says "now we both know there are no muffler bearings.
So either you pay me $$$$$$ or I am going to those who license you,and you're going to get a hefty fine and I'm going to sue you for the max and fraud because I have the evidence in writing". Of course they paid him. But if he didn't have it in writing, he had nothing.