Had teh car worked on by the Stealership

[Dark Jedi]

sorry dont know where to post this. had the wifes malibu worked on for a intake manifold gasket (luckly under warranty). I just changed the oil a few days before I took it in. got the car back and the engine is very noisy now. I looked on the work order form .it said they changed the oil. now this ****** me off as I just changed the oil. so the oil coundnt get that contaminated. so my question is the oil filter the cause of the noise or the oil as I dont know the weight as they did not put the lil OIC sticker on the car. or maybe they just changed my filter. I am mad as I had a napa gold filter on it. going to tell them they owe me some money from my oil change I did a few days before I took it in. BTW the parts look alot cleaner through the oil cap now. see alot of silver now. not a red tint any more. so atleast I know no sludge built up in the engine. any input guys and gals.

 

[JHZR2]

Oil HAS TO BE CHANGED when there is a manifold gasket issue. Its not their problem that you changed the oil a few days agao, and IMO, they owe you nothing. Chances are they used delco oil... nothing wrong with it. I dont know why in maintaining 9 cars, ive never noted an oil related 'noise' change... odd... When they did my intake on my 4.3, same thing happened, drained my GC and filter... no change in sound or operation... and Im very sensitive to minor variations. Youd be even unhappier if they had not changed the oil given your situation. Just be happy it got caught in time, that your bearings arent toast. Unless of course, its too late, and unfortunately there is a problem... however youd likely had noticed it when there was coolant in the oil and all the bad stuff was happening. JMH

 

[sxg6]

why does the oil need to be changed when an intake manifold gasket is replaced? possibility of dirt and other stuff contaminating the oil? all i can think of

 

[JHZR2]

Because the issue with intake manifold gasket failures is that you get colant in the oil. This wreaks havoc with bearings and other metallic parts. Good thinking about dirt and whatnot... I hadnt considered that... but there are sealants and gasket bits that, especially when grinded (which is the procedure) will get into the oil... your idea is certainly a good point to the necessity of changing as well! But think of it this way... how do we first notice an issue??? Primarily, elevated na and K in the oil... indication of coolant in the oil. I dont think anyone wants any water or coolant in the oil... as you cant be totally sure how much ingress occurred. SOP is to change the oil to be safe... It should be changed soon thereafter as well, and UOA should be done to be sure that Si (from sealant) and Na/K drop after a rinse or two. JMH

 

[Ray H]

Glycol contamination of the old motor oil. Glycol is very corrosive to lead-babbit bearing material. JHZR2 is absolutely right - your dealer was your friend in this case.

 

[Dark Jedi]

ok I agree with that. could the filter be the cause. I know I have read that some filters will make engines noisy. I might change the filter in it. and see if that cure it. you know I was like maybe I should hold off on changing the oil lol. so what 500 to 1000 miles change the oil sound right?

 

[JHZR2]

500 is pushingit... just use cheap oil... havoline would be my choice. UOA in my 4.3, which only had an extremely tiny leak, showed that it took many oil changes to get all the na and K traces out... that stuff sticks around! So Id do maybe 250 miles, then 500 miles, then 1000 miles, then switch back to whatever oil you were using before and are comfortable with... sorry its a lot of work, but itll be the safe way to operate. IMO, AC delco filters (for sure what the dealer used) are some of the best filters out there! I have had startup noise with other brands of all sorts, but never an issue with ac delco filters! Is the noise only at startup, or is it all the time? Seems quite odd to me.. but youll be doing an oil change soon, so you can determine then anyway JMH

 

[Cutehumor]

hey at least they changed the oil! my dad's nissan sentra 2003 headgasket leak said on the work order "changed oil" when I did it 1000 miles later, my supertech oil filter was still on the car. Nissan =

 

[Tosh]

Sure, Nissan blows, but technically they might have changed the oil without changing the filter. Don't many makers still recommend changing the filter every other oil change? Not a nice thought, but still 'by the book.'

 

[JHZR2]

doesnt matter... if there was a compromise and potential ingress of watr or coolant to the oil, best practice methods should be employed to reasonably get it all out... that 1/4 qt in a filter actually is a retty big difference. JMH

 

[Dark Jedi]

oh I see it was moved my bad lol. I will do a OIC at 250 miles. keep in mind the car mostly see very short trips to work thats 3 miles round trip. why I worry about the dealership is. they filled the coolaint but never checked it afterwards. I had to add alot more. maybe the noise is the fuel injectors. just wierd that this noise started after they worked on it.

 

[brianl703]

When the timing cover gasket was changed on my 1988 Mustang GT, there was no coolant contamination into the oil, but the act of removing the timing cover allows coolant into the oil. After they finished replacing the gasket, not only did they change the oil, they changed it TWICE..first they flushed it with 5 quarts of new oil (with the old filter on), then they dumped that and changed the oil (again) and the filter. Overkill? Hmm...that's $10 worth of oil, if that.

 

[JHZR2]

AHA!!! It wasnt closed. if you had to add a lot more coolant, the dealer may not have purged it properly (I probably would have brought it back for that), or maybe there still is a leak??? Sometimes seals and gaskets dont seal exactly right. How much more is a lot more??? Has it budged since you added some? Have you been able to look at the oil on the dipsitck yet? You'd know if a lot of water got into the oil since the repair. They did let the intake sealant cure overnight to do the job right, right? If its injectors, you should have known it before also... You can tell pretty easily if youre hearing injectors. Did you change to cheapo gas lately since prices are so high??? Given the driving profile, Id probably think about doing it this upcoming weekend... seriously, youll never rack up 250 miles, and all the thermal cycling and oil not up to temperature will be more detrimental if there is still some residue or a new leak in the system. Use wal mart filters and havoline oil... this way youll get quality in as cheap a price as possible. Id do it sooner rather than 250 miles, given the use profile. How many miles have been put on since the repair? JMH

 

[Dark Jedi]

I wont say a whole jug. I would say about a quarter. and no the coolaint hasnt dropped any. I do have a small leak on a fitting comming off the radiator hose. no they didnt let it sit overnight. I would say about 4 hour before I picked it up. the oil looks clean on the dip stick. nice and clear. gas is exxon as always. never buy the cheap crap. will do it this weekend then. I will get the oil and filter and get ready to get dirty lol. I will inquire about why it wasnt let to cure.

 

[JHZR2]

sounds like a good plan! Likely they didnt purge the system fuly, thus the need to add more. Doesnt seem like a big eal if the oil is clean and the use of coolant has stabilized to none... It seems that most dealers dont let it cure, and once in a while a dealer states that it says it has to sit overnight... when I did the IMG in my 4.3, I caled about 10 dealers to get price and service content... only 2 or so of them stated explicitly that it needed to be left overnight for the stff to cure properly... the rest said its about a one day job if I dropped it off early. IMO, you'd be smart ot use LC in there in case there is a chance of subsequent corrosion... and also, when you get to 1000 mile OCI, consider using Auto-RX to really clean any surfaces. Im giving you a lot of ideas, which may turn into a lot of exta cost/work... but its just what I did and had no issues since, with great UOAs. An engine isnt a cheap part, so better safe than sorry IMO. Good luck, let me know if you have any other questions. JMH

 

[jmacmaster]

This thread is an excellent example (customer does not ask for oil change, but is given one) of why those who service vehicles should, when the customer picks up the vehicle, tell the customer everything that was done and why it was done. Dealerships and independent service shops that do things right do this as a matter of course. And before you leave, look at the service writeup and ask for an explanation of anything that you wonder about.

 

[Brett Miller]

Part of this repair IS changing the oil.

 

[kc8adu]

just did intake gaskets on a tbi 350. drained the rad and block. still dumped coolant into the valley when we lifted the intake. oil change is mandatory when doing an intake.