oil leaked out everywhere when driving --- options?

[Mike Corn]

This is a situation where I could really use some help.



My wifes 2011 escape limited threw an engine light when driving and she pulled over. Some nice gentleman looked at her car at a gas station and saw it was needing oil... He put in 3 quarts. When I got home, I checked the oil as well as the engine for pings, leaks, burning oil, etc. I could not find anything. I advised my wife to take it to the dealership for warranty inspection. She missed her appointment and yesterday it happened again. This time another nice gentleman advised her that the oil filter is leaking and loose, to which he tightend back in. Another 4 quarts this time. I called ford and they said the oil change last time was most likely done wrong. He advised us to talk to goodyear and they agreed to have the car towed and inspected.



Goodyear acknowledged they did the last change, almost a year ago (car has 4200 of 7500 miles on oil change interval). He stated on the phone it was leaking from the oil filter but it was strange how it just started happening. On paper he covered his ass and stated all was well with the first oil change. He charged us and my local ford dealer has agreed to do an analysis, however they said short of ripping the engine apart, there isnt much they can do under warranty. He said we got lucky and could have broken a rod or something.



Is there any oil change analysis I can do in the future to see what / if any, damage my internal engine could have sustained? Am I right to worry about a car with a loan, and only 1 year left on the warranty?



This is why I prefer my own oil changes, but my new job is really busy so I just took it in this one time.

 

[EddieS'04]

This site will send you the kit for free. You pay when you send the sample...

GL...

 

[Gavin Allan]

You are right to worry about your car, but what can you do? You probably did have some damage, but you probably cannot prove it.



I think your idea of the oul analysis is a good one. I would put a few thousand miles on it and send in a sample. Hoepfully if it doesn't show excessive metals/wear, your Escape is OK.



This is one of those shitty curves life throws at us. I think you just paid the tuition for the class to remind us all to not trust that the work was done correctly on our vehicles- we need to verify and monitor them as close as we can. Even bad things happen to good people.



Things will get more complicated if the oil analysis indicates a potential problem. At that point I would probably clean up the vehicle real good and trade it. You can try to fight and seek recovery of damages, but it will be very difficult to prove.



Buy your wife some flowers and a nice dinner for pulling over. Some folks would have just kept driving...

 

[Vic Sorlie]

Wouldn't surprise me if the wrong oil filter was put on your car. Do you have the L4 engine (there are two - gas or gas/hybrid) or the V6? The filter on L4 engines has a 3/4 x 16 thread; V6 oil filter has 22 x 1.5mm. A V6 filter would spin on the L4 engine but would not tighten properly; I could see it loosening in normal operation and causing severe oil loss. (The L4 filter will not fit the V6). If your wife shut down the engine when oil press light came on you may not have damage. If you've got the invoice from oil change in question, I'd check to see what filter was used. If you need help cross-referencing, sing out.

 

[Wes Davis]

Most common filter leak is when the old filter gasket sticks to the engine and you put the new filter on with gasket. Now there are two gaskets and it is guaranteed to leak.



/

 

[Vic Sorlie]

Me, so true! How could I forget? I've got the t-shirt for that one. Did a customer's first oil change on a Jeep Hemi. Of course the original filter was put on dry, and I forgot to check for the gasket when I removed the filter. Which necessity of such was hammered home when we started the engine...

 

[Mike Corn]

She has the V6 escape. Your saying they could have put the I-4 filter on, it would thread, but still cause leakage? Would that explain perhaps why it took over 10 months before it started leaking?

 

[Vic Sorlie]

Nope, that wasn't your problem then. The L4 filter will not go on the V6 nipple. As Me said, the double-gasket issue could've been the culprit; another could be a crack in the filter casing. Let us know what you find. By now you've probably done an oil and filter change; doing an oil analysis about halfway through interval may answer your question on possible damage. As Eddie says, Blackstone Labs is a source; AMSOIL also offers this service.

 

[EddieS'04]

could be a crack in the filter casing

That happened to a freinds '07 'stang. By the time he got to my house. Lost almost all the oil.



Odd that it was a motorcraft filter. split right on the ribed area.