well im posting this for a buddy of mine. hes gotta 98 ranger its a 3.0 man. and he gave me a call the other day with some bad news. he recently took his truck to a shop in town to get his oil changed and the put the wrong kind of oil in. 5w-20 well he told me that his main rod bearing is is blown and now he has one hell of a knock. i told him that we could do the rebuild . but he wants to see what other people think before we do. and i already told him to get a 302 and he doesnt want one. how complicated do you thik it will be. i told him all we have to do is pull the motor and drop the oil pan. what do you think?? thanks guys.

 

5w20 is not what caused his problem, in 2001 ford started recommending 5w20 in the 3.0

 

well the mechanic he took it to said that the viscosity of the oil was to low for it so it drained out from from around the drain plug.? idk how that happens unless the plug wasnt tightened all the way.

 

sounds to me like the mechanic you took it to was smoking somethin. The oil plug is the same on all cars haha it wont drain out because its to thin. The place he took it to may have started it with no oil in it and then realized it and added oil and let it roll and the damage was done but didnt start making noise till later. Its happened before. either way the place that changed the oil sounds responsible for putting in a new motor.

 

well when my friend got the truck back it wasnt knocking then. so he drove it around for a week or two and we did notice a fluid leaking but it looked to be the pinion seal leaking becuase it was all over the front pinion and driveshaft so he took it in and the replaced his hubs and cv's and then got it back drove it for about 3 days and then it had a really bad knock.

 

If it was the wrong oil that caused the damage, the shop that put it in needs to replace/repair whatever is messed up.

 

If the damage occurred AFTER the oil was changed, it needs to be on the mechanics shoulders anyway. If the oil did leak out from the plug, then it obviously wasn't tightened enough.

 

all you need is proof they changed it, go up to the shop and talk to them about it. if they refuse to do anything take them to court.

 

well right now he is talking with the shop to see if they will fix it or if he is going to have to get a lawyer. i dont think they will thought. but i guess thats what happens to you when you go get a 9.95 oil change

 

Bull ****. You could pay $2 for an oil change, and they still are responceable if they mess it up.

One thing that shaped up the auto shops was when they passed the law that said they cannot mix parts when doing break jobs. Like if a spring on a drum assembly is broken, they find something that matches and throw it on.

The law says that if they do not use a spring from a kit designed for the vehicle, they become the manufacturer of the breaks. Anything goes wrong, and that shop is liable if anything goes wrong with the breaks...

Maybe a few law suits will make some shops shape up with their oil changes...Sue the ****ers...

 

good luck..

 

Go back to the shop

 

well the shop says that the truck left running fine and that they are not responsible. they say that because of the high miles 128k that it could have just been slowly going. bunch of bull **** mine has 145 and i do all my maintenance myself and she is still going strong and i know that there are plenty more 3.0s with higher miles than that still running strong. well my friend is talking to his lawyer and they are taking them to court to either get it fixed of have them replace the engine.

 

And this is why you do your own oil changes.

 

x2.

 

Better yet, anything that you can do yourself, do it. I dont trust shops. Even family friends. If it is something I can do, I do it. Nothing like learning something new. And saving a lot of money too.

 

thats what i have been trying to tell him but he isnt very mechanicly inclined. i told him if wants me to do anywork on his truck i will. ive done alot on my truck plus ive rebuilt about 6 engines so i know what im doing but he says he would rather pay a shop to do it. i do everything on my truck because im afraid that what happened to him will happen to me. but when he bought his truck the guy before him beat the crap out if it. hes already dropped about 3500 into his truck and he only got it for 2000.

 

x2

I agree. No one puts the care in that I do on my vehicle.

 

Well after the comment made from the mechanic about oil viscosity and oil draining out past a fully tightened oil nut, the shop should be closed down and the owners forced to pay the cost of a new / rebuilt motor in your friends Ranger.

Mind you, if your buddy left the shop thinking that the mechanic was right in what he said, then your buddy needs a swift kick in the *** and deserves what he got.

Obviously if the oil drained out of the plug, it was either NOT tightened or it was cross threaded and f**ked the hole up. If he had a rear engine seal leak that bad though, he'd know of it......at least the large puddles of oil would give it away. But it sounds like your buddy knows very little about the vehicle he'd driving and not to mechanically inclined. Maybe he should drive a Prius. LOL

 

If they put the wrong oil in, it is their fault. If it leaked out, (I just can't imagine that) it is their fault. Either way, they are responsible.

Does he have the slip documenting the wrong oil? I would look into taking them to court. Though he may have to pay the attorney up front. Cost/ benefit analysis. I would try to get them to pay. Did he even have any oil in it? It sounds like he did not if it was supposed to have leaked out. How 5w20 is going to get beyond the threads is beyond me.

I find changing the oil a pain but I don't want anyone else doing it. Usually I will except in Winter in New England, it is just too darn cold and lying in the snow s^cks.

I grew up in a garage changing oil, pumping gas and such from when I was 5 until about age 25. If the garage screws up, they are responsible. Of course they might try to lie if they can and then there is proving the link...

 

I just saw this thread. My '98 has 164k miles on it and I run 5w20. Runs great, no knocks. no oil leaks from the drain plug...

 

I believe it says in clear white letters on the top of my oil cap 5w20. and what that mechanic said is insane where did he get his license... cookin school?

 

well my buddy never really had anyone to show him. he is starting to learn slowly because im am showing him piece by piece. i think that he had some other leak because when he took it back to the mechanic after the oil change he notice a fluid but it was all over his pinion and front drive shaft.so he thought pinion seal. but the shop said they are going to give him 1000 to get his engine replaced if he doesnt want them too. so i convinced him to let my brother inlaw replace it. he works for ford. so he is picking him up a taurus engine and is going to rebuild it from the ground up with brand new internals for 500.

 

Nice. At least your friend is willing to learn so he does not need to be at the mercy of auto repair shops. He's lucky to have a friend like you to show him. Nice deal too!!