I'm investigating a 2005 Tribute where it is believed the oil cap was left off and the driver, after about 50 miles locked up the engine. Using this scenario, I have a few questions:

1) At what point will the oil light come on? 3 quarts low? 4 quarts low?
2) What specifically does the owner manual state about the oil light? Most will say something like pull over, stop the engine and check the oil. Is this was is in the manual?
3) Is it reasonable to believe that 6 quarts of oil can come out of the oil fill cap after just 50 or 60 miles? There is evidence of oil all along the bottom of the vehicle, but none really in the engine compartment.

Any thoughts?

 

Only thought I have, is that Mazda never checks or changes the PCV valve, except for the Tribute is suppossed to be changed @ 160,000 km (way too late).
Not changing the PCV valve can make losing oil worse. This is my pet peeve with most garages. Add it to your list.

 

Clogged “PCV” Valve:
The main purpose of the PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) valve is to recirculate
blow-by gases back from the crankcase area through the engine to consume unburned
hydrocarbons. Blowby is a mixture of air, gasoline and combustion gases forced past the
rings on the combustion stroke. The PCV system usually has a tube leading from the
crankcase to the carburetor or intake manifold. Vacuum within the engine intake manifold
pulls blowby gases out of the crankcase into the combustion chamber along with the
regular intake of air and fuel.
A valve can become clogged with sludge and varnish deposits and trap blowby gases in
the crankcase. This degrades the oil, promoting additional formation of deposit material.
If left uncorrected, the result is plugged oil rings, oil consumption, rapid ring wear due to
sludge buildup, ruptured gaskets and seals due to crankcase pressurization, oil thrown out
around the filler cap and consequent rough engine operation.

from: http://www.amsoil.com/techservicesbu...onsumption.pdf

 

1) The oil light comes on when there is a loss in oil pressure. It isn't oil level dependent. So as long as there was oil pumping passed the oil pressure switch and into the block and head, the oil light would stay off. If the block was starved of oil and locked up the oil pressure light would have surely come on well be fore it stopped.

2) What does it matter what the manual states? How many people do you know actually read and follow what it states in the first place.

3) 6 qts in 50 miles would be a very large stretch. Also there would be oil all over the underside of the hood and all over the valve cover, engine and firewall if it were to exit via the oil fill cap.

This sounds more like there was little to no oil in the engine block for a while and if finally gave up. I have seen engines run with no oil for 100-200 miles.

There must be more to this story!

 

Thanks for your comments: There really is not much more to the story. A woman brought her 2005 Tribute to a ‘quickie oil change shop’ for an oil change. The shop changed the oil. Also, the shop has closed circuit TV with a recorder so, in general, we were able to go back to see what happened. On the way home, the customer called the shop to tell them she smelled oil. The shop stated that some oil likely got on the exhaust, but offered to come out to look at the car, customer refused. The next day the customer called the shop stating that after she drove it to work, the vehicle stopped. Car was towed to local Mazda dealer who diagnosed it as a locked up engine due to oil starvation. The Mazda dealer said that the engine had no oil cap. When I looked at the vehicle, there was no oil cap, but there was also NO oil splattered onthe top of the engine. No oil on the underside of the hood, no oil on firewall, no oil leak visible anywhere on top of the engine. After the vehicle was put on the lift, from about the oil filter back, the underside of the vehicle was coated with fresh oil all the way back to the spare tire. The quickie oil change shop came out to the dealership prior to my inspection and removed the oil filter to make sure there was not a double gasket and to make sure it was the correct oil filter. Since the oil leak appears to be from the oil filter back, I theorize that the oil change shop either found a double gasket, tightened a lose filter or replaced the wrong filter with the correct one. This is probably how my report will read. I don’t see anything else that could cause 6 quarts of oil to come out in just 50 miles. Now you know the whole story.

I believe the oil change shop to be about 70% negligent in this case since they did something to cause the oil leak.

I believe the customer to be about 30% negligent due to not stopping the vehicle when the engine started making noise and the oil light came on.

Does this make sense?

 

After smelling the oil, I would have lifted up the hood and noticed no oil cap, but the person in question is not me, and this is proof why everyone should know basics about a car. So yes she is partially negligent, especially since they offered to come out to look at it.

 

Not jumping in here too deep, but if it had a double gasket, why didn't the oil change guy notice no gasket on the old filter, and or a double gasket on the filter sealing surface, I'd think that should be oil change 101 to inspect the old filter. Just my 2 cents worth.

 

Not making excuses for quickie oil change guys, but most are untrained and working in poor environments (pits or without adequate lighting). Yes, it should be oil change 101, but for most of these inexperienced techs (if you can even call them techs) jump into these low paying jobs without any training at all.

 

Had a similar problem with a quick oil change place. I had a year old BMW. I had taken it to this particular oil change place twice before with no problem. Some oil filters have a lip that stick out from the filter which helps keep the gasket from blowing out. Some oil filter mounts have the lip instead of the the filter. If the mount does not have the lip, and the incorrect filter is installed which also does not have a lip the gasket can blow out under oil pressure. I heard the tech on top give the tech removing the filter the correct number, and held the tech in the pit ask if that was a VW filter? The top tech told him no, it's a BMW filter. I noticed the tech in the pit look like he could have been a high school drop out as he barely looked old enough to already be working ( just a guess). My vehicle made it home (two miles) after the oil change with no issues. The next morning I headed to the interstate, and while waiting for the light to turn green at the entrance ramp I saw a faint puff of smoke. I assumed it was coming from the old vehicle ahead of me waiting for the light to change. When the light changed I headed down the entrance ramp following the other vehicle, as we merged onto the interstate I moved over a lane to pass the vehicle I had been following. By now I was at highway speed (70 MPH). All the sudden my engine just shut down. no noise, no nothing, no power. I hit my emergency flashers and coasted to the side of the road. When I opened the hood oil was everywhere and dripping from the hood. I called my best friend who was a mechanic, and had it towed to his garage. He was able to quickly diagnose the problem by checking the part number for the oil filter. It was the part number for a VW. We called the Quick Oil Change business, and hey sent over two of there employees who wanted to remove the oil filter and replace it with a new one. My friend said no, and showed them that the filter part number was wrong, and was made for a VW, not a BMW. I then had it towed to BMW, after taking photo's of the filter while still on the care. The BMW dealer also verified that it was the wrong filter and also took photos, before removing it, and verifying that the gasket had blown out and blew the engine. I ended up getting an attorney and suing the quick oil change business. I won the lawsuit, but it took about six months to win a judgement, and place a lien on the business. They did not pay right away, and only paid when the lien prevented them on closing on some land that they were trying to buy. I had to buy another vehicle to drive until I finally got my engine replaced. We took the case to small claims court because it was quicker even though it had a limit that would not cover the full cost to replace it and pay my attorney, so I ended up about 2K out of pocket, and lost the use of my vehicle for several months.