Do they actually check the oil when doing a safety inspection there? They don't here.
Huge Problem!! Very Important!!!
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I heard a story about a woman buying a car and when they asked her about her trade-in, they asked if she had the oil changed. She said:
"No, I just added oil when the light came on."
Sadly, I think that's typical. They won't read the owner's manual and they don't ever get any clue from anywhere (certainly not the gym teacher/driver's ed instructor) that checking the oil is a good idea.
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Is this a highjack? Probably ...sorry
This vehicle obviously never saw the inside of a service center in 20k. If it did ...someone really dropped the ball. She had to have blown off the recommendation and forgot to follow up on it later.
Do you have state administered inspections? It's all private here. It's not part of the safety inspection ..but no shop is likely to give up the opportunity to sell another service. Whether it's Firestone, Pep Boys, or your dealer ..the service writer is always going to suggest the added service. The service manager (at least for PB and the other chains) is going to instruct the wrench to seek out and expose other services ("Mr. Allan ..your belt looks pretty lame. Would you like us to charge you $100 to change it since we can't find anything really big to bone you on?"). IM failures are virtually an automatic tune up ...etc...etc. Assuming that you're servicing it at the same place ...the records will indicate that you're way over due for an oil change. They would bring that to your attention.
This vehicle obviously never saw the inside of a service center in 20k. If it did ...someone really dropped the ball. She had to have blown off the recommendation and forgot to follow up on it later.
I don't believe it
1. There should be a warning system installed on the X. There should be a light os something for this exact reason
2.As stated above, i don't see how a v-6 could burn up that much oil in 20K miles
3. For the sake of all that is good, I truly hope that there is no woman that oblivious to what is going on in her car, no wait, i know that my cousin has done it before
4. I hope the husband, being of sound enough mind to marry a woman would know enough about his own wife to be able to not only trust her or not, and act accordingly, but would also look and drive it a few times to see how it is.
1. There should be a warning system installed on the X. There should be a light os something for this exact reason
2.As stated above, i don't see how a v-6 could burn up that much oil in 20K miles
3. For the sake of all that is good, I truly hope that there is no woman that oblivious to what is going on in her car, no wait, i know that my cousin has done it before
4. I hope the husband, being of sound enough mind to marry a woman would know enough about his own wife to be able to not only trust her or not, and act accordingly, but would also look and drive it a few times to see how it is.
I think he said he was leasing it, meaning it is still owned by the dealership(?)
My semi-educated guess that a complete rebuild for this would be in the $3000-$4000 range.
many states that DO have inspections prohibit the inspection station from also doing repairs for just these reasons (bilking the customer and holding inspection certification hostage for bogus repairs). It's the law in Texas at least.quote:
Originally posted by Gary Allan:
Is this a highjack? Probably ...sorry
Do you have state administered inspections? It's all private here. It's not part of the safety inspection ..but no shop is likely to give up the opportunity to sell another service. Whether it's Firestone, Pep Boys, or your dealer ..the service writer is always going to suggest the added service. The service manager (at least for PB and the other chains) is going to instruct the wrench to seek out and expose other services ("Mr. Allan ..your belt looks pretty lame. Would you like us to charge you $100 to change it since we can't find anything really big to bone you on?"). IM failures are virtually an automatic tune up ...etc...etc. Assuming that you're servicing it at the same place ...the records will indicate that you're way over due for an oil change. They would bring that to your attention.
This vehicle obviously never saw the inside of a service center in 20k. If it did ...someone really dropped the ball. She had to have blown off the recommendation and forgot to follow up on it later.
Texas does emissions testing but I've never had one pull a dipstick. It's not on the list, and it shouldn't be, either. It's not an emissions nor safety issue.
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The practice isn't necessarily a rip off. If this was done in NJ ..this woman would probably not had this $3-4,000 expense to deal with. No amount of rip could have added up to that tab. In the worst case situation ..the vehicle would have been over serviced instead of no service. Which would you choose? Many times that annual inspection is the only service the vehicle sees. You have your theives and the regular types ...just like anything else.
To limit the "hostage" situation, the DOT limits the expense to bring a car into emissions inspection compliance. $250 for newer cars ..$175 for older cars. Once the $ is reached ..the sticker goes on regardless of whether it's compliant or not. There's also a 5000 miles exemption for those who don't drive much.
To limit the "hostage" situation, the DOT limits the expense to bring a car into emissions inspection compliance. $250 for newer cars ..$175 for older cars. Once the $ is reached ..the sticker goes on regardless of whether it's compliant or not. There's also a 5000 miles exemption for those who don't drive much.
Ford is pulling something screwy here.
Like it has been mentioned:
1. No oil pressure low light? There is a gauge but there is also a light, actually two lights. Most cars have a "Check Gauges" light as well as the oil pressure light. My Jeep has a gauge and a light. That's a failure on Ford's part, which in turn could have prevented this.
2. If the wife is as forgetful as it seems, maybe she did get the oil changed but didn't remember. I would check and see if the oil filter is still the same AND take the drain plug out to see if they are telling the truth. It's sad but in this day in age, women are still being taken as stupid when it comes to car maintainence. It happens to teenagers and women. That's not right. I love the expression mechanics give me when I start throwing out all this Mopar and Jeep lingo. The best is when my mother goes in to tell the service guy what's wrong with her Toyota and she ends up being right.
They sure don't build engines like they used to. In 3 years, my friend drove is 82 Volvo 240DL for thousands and thousands of miles, WITHOUT CHANGING THE OIL!!! It never smoked, never seized, never made any noises. They donated it, after he changed the oil.
Like it has been mentioned:
1. No oil pressure low light? There is a gauge but there is also a light, actually two lights. Most cars have a "Check Gauges" light as well as the oil pressure light. My Jeep has a gauge and a light. That's a failure on Ford's part, which in turn could have prevented this.
2. If the wife is as forgetful as it seems, maybe she did get the oil changed but didn't remember. I would check and see if the oil filter is still the same AND take the drain plug out to see if they are telling the truth. It's sad but in this day in age, women are still being taken as stupid when it comes to car maintainence. It happens to teenagers and women. That's not right. I love the expression mechanics give me when I start throwing out all this Mopar and Jeep lingo. The best is when my mother goes in to tell the service guy what's wrong with her Toyota and she ends up being right.
They sure don't build engines like they used to. In 3 years, my friend drove is 82 Volvo 240DL for thousands and thousands of miles, WITHOUT CHANGING THE OIL!!! It never smoked, never seized, never made any noises. They donated it, after he changed the oil.
Good lord, the oil hasn't been changed in 20K and you think an idiot light (which probably DID turn on and was summarily ignored by the idiot driver) is going to save that vehicle?
Even if it did, you think just changing the oil and the filter and that engine is gonna be OK if it still turns over? I doubt it. At best, it'll be an oil burner.
How does Ford bear any responsibility at all for what is a clearly a case of owner negligence?
[ January 26, 2005, 05:48 PM: Message edited by: brianl703 ]
It's a pressure light, not an oil level light, and it probably was flickering on and off in turns and such long before the oil went away.
But many drivers would make the fatal assumption that if the light didn't stay on, nothing is wrong. That's IF they even saw it flicker.
They also aren't breaking in. All that crap from break-in in the oil has been circulating throughout this engine for 20K, which I am sure didn't help it decrease it's oil consumption.
Now that the severe counseling may be out of the way, would like to suggest that you or your spouse monitor the oil change situation by going to a quarterly oil change interval. We did this for my mother in law, who was not known to check anything on a car, and it worked well. I knew to remind her to go get her oil changed in Mar, June, etc, and she did. That ended a large number of mechanical problems for her, because someone checked out her car quarterly. Suggest you consider going to a similar system.
First off take a deep breath. It seems like you are posting with great anger.
OK, if the light had come on and the driver actually noticed, then it could have saved the engine. Say if the light came on a 10K, the car could have been saved. Even at 20K and the light came on but the engine was running, it could have prevented the seizing. But that's stuff that we don't know. We both don't know if that light came on and we both don't know if that light coming on and getting it checked could have saved the vehicle and you don't know if she just ignored it. How do you know it flickers? When I said a failure on Ford's part, I meant a failure of the light coming on. There's a large gap of assumption going on.
I'm just being optimistic. Put yourself in yourself in her shoes, or even the husbands shoes...I feel sorry for them. It stinks that this happened.
So was there really NO oil in the engine, or was it just low? Was the engine really SEIZED, or just wouldn't start? I think the first thing to do is diagnose what the real problem is before your friend tries to get a new or rebuilt engine. Find out what's really wrong, then fix it.
Squint funny and it looks like a fuel filler hose and nozzle with a drip on the end. Low gas light!
Of course if she ever went to a full serve station that really practiced full serve they'd have checked the dipstick.
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While the pictogram is ridiculous, it looks more like Aladdin's lamp than anything else, common sense suggests to reads and familiarize oneself with the car's manual before driving it.
Why not? Someone screwed up and doesn't want to take responsibility for what happened.
Typical oil pressure lights work as described below:
You have an oil pickup. If the oil level is too low, the oil pickup takes in air when the vehicle is making maneuvers that cause the oil in the pan to collect on one side or the other.
You have an oil pressure sensor. This is usually a normally-open switch that closes when oil pressure drops below a certain level. It is wired in series with a dashboard indicator, such that when the pressure sensor is reading low pressure and the circuit is closed, the light comes on.
When the oil pickup takes in air, the oil pressure drops, and the light comes on. As the vehicle completes the manuever that caused the oil pickup to be exposed, the pickup stops taking in air and the light goes off.
I really doubt that the light failed given the simplicity of the circuit I have described above, but even if it has, simply turning the key to the ON position without starting the engine will "prove out" whether the light operates. This is also a standard design feature found in most cars.
It also stinks that they apparently desire to commit fraud as opposed to owning up to their mistake and doing the right thing. The original post stated all that needs to be known about this situation which is:
1)The oil was NOT changed for 20K since the vehicle was new.
2)The owner/lessor of the vehicle is concerned that the dealership may discover that fact because the original oil filter is installed on the vehicle, and wants to know if changing the oil filter will keep them from finding out.
Draw your own conclusions. I've drawn mine.
Ford has lots of money, figure out a way for them to pay for it. Just think of all the times they've had bad designs that killed people but wouldn't own up to them.
Anyway, my friend bought this Chrysler once and while driving it a coolant hose popped. Everybody here knows that can lead to major problems down the line so he had the car towed to the dealer. The dealer was a highschool buddy who said, "Get that thing out of here, go down the highway as fast as you can and call us when it blows up" The dealer then said that Chrysler will cover the damage if you say it was unsafe to stop for the broken hose. Well, my friend got a new engine for free.
Consider that one revenge for selling us K-Cars. hehe
Your situation is a bit worse. If the engine is seized you are going to have a hard time mixing the new oil with the old. I would flatly tell ford that the car was serviced and there was no way on earth your wife was going to stop on the side of an interstate because of a LIGHT on the dash.
I've seen a couple new pick-up trucks go over 20,000 km before their first oil change without major damage. They did burn a bit of oil later on but they towed heavy loads as well. These trucks still had enough power to blow transmissions and differentials later on.
Steve
Anyway, my friend bought this Chrysler once and while driving it a coolant hose popped. Everybody here knows that can lead to major problems down the line so he had the car towed to the dealer. The dealer was a highschool buddy who said, "Get that thing out of here, go down the highway as fast as you can and call us when it blows up" The dealer then said that Chrysler will cover the damage if you say it was unsafe to stop for the broken hose. Well, my friend got a new engine for free.
Your situation is a bit worse. If the engine is seized you are going to have a hard time mixing the new oil with the old. I would flatly tell ford that the car was serviced and there was no way on earth your wife was going to stop on the side of an interstate because of a LIGHT on the dash.
I've seen a couple new pick-up trucks go over 20,000 km before their first oil change without major damage. They did burn a bit of oil later on but they towed heavy loads as well. These trucks still had enough power to blow transmissions and differentials later on.
Steve
What is with people nowadays that EVERYTHING is always someone elses fault?
The Explorer failed because the driver screwed up. Big time. Ford doesn't owe one penny to this person.
I once sold a used Toyota to a friend. He changed the oil and screwed up, he left the old oil filter gasket on the block and screwed the new filter down on it. Gasket blew, teenage daughter driving, lost all oil seized motor.
Under the logic of some unethical people here this should have been MY fault and he should have made ME pay.
Golden rule people, think about it.
[ January 26, 2005, 08:23 PM: Message edited by: Vstrom ]
The Explorer failed because the driver screwed up. Big time. Ford doesn't owe one penny to this person.
I once sold a used Toyota to a friend. He changed the oil and screwed up, he left the old oil filter gasket on the block and screwed the new filter down on it. Gasket blew, teenage daughter driving, lost all oil seized motor.
Under the logic of some unethical people here this should have been MY fault and he should have made ME pay.
Golden rule people, think about it.
[ January 26, 2005, 08:23 PM: Message edited by: Vstrom ]
Since the Explorer was a lease what was the dealer doing for over two years when the vehicle never came in for service
Isn't that a part of the lease program? I hear BMW lease deals that provide free maintenance. Maybe that was overlooked. Either way they are going to have to pay for a new engine unless they can prove maintenance was performed. I would call the dealer and tell the truth and hopefully they will work with you.
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