Engine blew up in the shop.

[Chris142]

I dont want to get too detailed just yet. Had a car come in for AC work. I fixed that with a new condenser and everyone was happy. We all know where the condenser is placed.


Car came back a couple days later running bad. Found some plastic vacuum lines under the upper intake had cracked and we're leaking vacuum. Other than the hissing from the vacuum leak the engine sounded ok.

Another guy did that repair. He is very thorough and meticulous.

Started the engine after that repair. Engine started and idled about 7 seconds. Made a terrible noise and shut off with a bang.


It threw a rod out the side of the oil pan which also cracked the block.

The mechanic that did that repair did NOT Rev it or anything like that. I was 6 ft away and was a witnes.

How would you explain that to your customer? Imo we did nothing wrong.

 

[demarpaint]

Explain it? Bad luck, nothing to do with you, but likely the customer will be pointing fingers. Human nature.

 

[1lieutenant]

What kind of car, mileage, past maintenance? Etc

 

[jeepman3071]

Was it low on oil?

 

[JavierH19]

I don't imagine you will have any luck convincing the customer the engine coincidentally blew up when it was in your hands. That's gonna suck so much.

 

[Chris142]

What kind of car, mileage, past maintenance? Etc

Jag. Has over 200k on it which is amazing in its self. I did the oil and filter a few weeks ago with the proper synthetic oil and filter # thats for the car. I believe it calls for 5w-30 going off memory.

Oil was still on the full mark

 

[Chris142]

Was it low on oil?

No. Full to the mark.

 

[crashz]

Ugh - you are guilty by association I'm afraid. The customer will likely blame you guys because it happened there. If this happened any time after the repair, that is likely the case, but in the shop is the worst case scenario. Not being a professional mechanic I'm not sure what your options are, but for the the average Joe standpoint, it doesn't look good.

I am a engineer. And in practice we are typically covered by an errors and omissions insurance policy, held by our employer. I hold my own policy to cover work I've done myself and documents I have signed and stamped in the past. Does your shop have any type of insurance policy that handles customer claims? Is this even normal practice? While I realize the shop is not at fault here, it would seem that the customer would have a claim. Could it go to small claims court? I'm not sure. Very difficult situation.

 

[Allaned]

Nothing mechanical or otherwise lasts forever. It was it’s time to go.

 

[Ursatdx]

Coincidence? Seems so.
In your shop, last one to "touch it"?
Going to be a hard sell to the owner.
Changing the oil/filter comes with an unwritten lifetime
engine problem warranty. You knew that though.

25 year quick lube owner here.

 

[Zee09]

It all depends on how its explained and handled. Go about it the wrong way and the blame will all be yours..

 

[Pablo]

Jag

And I honestly thought the laughing emoji would not be appropriate.

Just be 100% honest, both of you be there and the better speaker tells:

step by step EVERY time the hood was open, exactly what you/he touched did.

Offer some discount on future work

 

[andrew_j]

200k Jag , offer refund of recent work and let customer go. They are not coming back

 

[97prizm]

I dont want to get too detailed just yet. Had a car come in for AC work. I fixed that with a new condenser and everyone was happy. We all know where the condenser is placed.


Car came back a couple days later running bad. Found some plastic vacuum lines under the upper intake had cracked and we're leaking vacuum. Other than the hissing from the vacuum leak the engine sounded ok.

Another guy did that repair. He is very thorough and meticulous.

Started the engine after that repair. Engine started and idled about 7 seconds. Made a terrible noise and shut off with a bang.


It threw a rod out the side of the oil pan which also cracked the block.

The mechanic that did that repair did NOT Rev it or anything like that. I was 6 ft away and was a witnes.

How would you explain that to your customer? Imo we did nothing wrong.

View attachment 347219

This is straight up a freak thing. The customer could have abused the vehicle, weak part etc. They're not going to be happy. If the customer service aspect to make it right works you'll have a customer for life.

 

[Passport1]

Try to explain the theory of entropy to the owner. It affects everybody and everything. Once he groks that principle you may be able convince him that the internal entropy in his unfortunate engine reached an unsustainable entropic (chaotic) state and it self destructed.

If he remains skeptical, your fall back explanation is to tell him that shee' happens.

 

[MCompact]

A shop’s worst nightmare. If that had happened at the indie shop that I use I would not blame them. I have a long history with the owner and most all of the techs. I’d hope the owner would realize that most any engine is susceptible to failure at that mileage.

 

[JayhawkRoy]

I dont want to get too detailed just yet. Had a car come in for AC work. I fixed that with a new condenser and everyone was happy. We all know where the condenser is placed.


Car came back a couple days later running bad. Found some plastic vacuum lines under the upper intake had cracked and we're leaking vacuum. Other than the hissing from the vacuum leak the engine sounded ok.

Another guy did that repair. He is very thorough and meticulous.

Started the engine after that repair. Engine started and idled about 7 seconds. Made a terrible noise and shut off with a bang.


It threw a rod out the side of the oil pan which also cracked the block.

The mechanic that did that repair did NOT Rev it or anything like that. I was 6 ft away and was a witnes.

How would you explain that to your customer? Imo we did nothing wrong.

View attachment 347219

Turn this situation over ASAP to the foreman/manager/owner. Be ready to explain what you saw but you nor the other mechanic should be the first line of defense on this issue.

 

[Pablo]

Needs link to beater ATF change blame/myth threads.

 

[heavy260]

It came in running bad and you were diagnosing and repairing the problem. Engine threw a rod. Found the problem. Whether or not the customer believes the 2 of you is a different story. Now you get to find out what caused the quick exit of the rod to explain to the customer.

 

[danstraylee]

It all depends on how its explained and handled.

100%!!

If I was the customer of a legitimate repair facility then It would be just an unfortunate failure. No reason at all to blame the shop.