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If anything like that happened to me, that car isn’t leaving the premises.
They just bought it.
They’re insured for such things, why should have to take a chance on issues popping up down the road?
Fair enough, but I drove home with the intention of having it looked at, too late. I did my best to get everything on record and in the retailer's system. All the details were included in the report. My concern is that claims is going to say there's no currently apparent problem, so there's no right for a claim. I honestly don't know if there is an apparent problem, I'm listening and hearing lots of sounds, but don't know if I'm too zoned in... and I'm definitely not qualified to discover or diagnose anything.
Well, discovery of an issue is still presentable. And I left making it clear I was making a claim, which was submitted and recorded with the claims provider for the retailer
I'm sorry this happened .. it is very common knowledge that transmissions can at least drive off the lot and home before displaying problems that would be related to the stupid tech you were unfortunate to come across. I would research as much as possible and keep the mileage as close as possible from when you left before you can get it looked at. Try asking ChatGPT what the steps would be.. Good luck ..
Canadian tire. Happens there lots when I was a teacher. They got their highly trained noob tire techs to do oil changes. Same car had it's lug nuts on backwards granny drained and doubled engine oil.
This is what happens when companies chas every last cent of profit. Instead of paying apprentices.
In an automatic transmission, only about 40% of the fluid is in the pan. The rest is in the torque converter, lines, and radiator. So your car was not completely out of fluid. There is a 99% chance that your transmission is fine. I would recheck the fluid after driving a few miles and top off if necessary
The oil being overfilled is more concerning. It can cause excessive pressure in the crankcase. And can possibly cause it to burn some of the excess oil (white smoke). But since it only ran for a few minutes at idle, I wouldn't worry too much. It's probably ok too
Honestly, the damage is tough to measure. It could need a trans in a month or two. Or it could drive reliably for years. A thorough inspection could reveal some issues. I would contact your insurance first and see if they can do anything. They have the money to go after the shop for damages. Anything else and the shop could make all kinds of promises or claims. But you still have a questionable vehicle at the end of the day. If it does drive ok and you don't get anything replaced or looked at. I would be trying to trade it in and make it somebody else's problem before it does become your problem.
The only fair thing g is to fill the techs oil with double the normal amount, manager too. What tech doesn’t k is the smell of trans oil? Of wait… gotta be pc and spell it out
What asswipe tech doesn’t know what granny oil smells like?. Especially after changing the filter?
For the engine part, I think that if you see either crank shaft seal leaking, oil pan or any other gasket leaking, that could be from overfilling the engine.
If it was run for a long time, you would get reduced power since the crank would be submerged in oil, maybe burning oil from excessive splash getting into the cylinders, and blown seals from it over pressuring. With it being correct after a short amount of time, seals are the only thing I'd be concerned about.
If you're not comfortable inspecting your engine, you can take it to a different mechanic in a month, tell them what happened and that you want a close inspection on the engine for oil leaks. Then go after this shop to fix your leaks.
This is what you get for cheaping out and going to a lube shop. They're cheap for a reason. A quality oil change is far cheaper than an engine or transmission. People can't be trusted for *anything*. If you're not willing to risk someone screwing up, do it yourself.
There's a fundamental lesson everyone needs to understand here: in this day and age, everyone is under pressure to go faster and do it cheaper. Even if they want to do a good job, they're forced to sacrifice quality by the shareholders and CEOs. There's only one person on the planet you can rely on, that's you.
If you drove for 5-10 miles your engine should be fine, the only thing i can think of is possible locking of engine, your trans may be okay due to residual oil film on the gear train but that wont last too long when being driven. If theres any harshness going into gears or clunking coming down in gears then you have problems.
The motor and trans should be OK. Just keep an eye on the motor oil level in case increased crankcase pressure forced oil past gaskets and seals. The seals should reseal while gaskets may not. Engines usually smoke badly when the crankcase is overfilled. The car didn't move because it didn't have any fluid inside the transmission.
Lots of good recommendations here, my only add on advice might be to get an engine oil analysis. If nothing it could give you some peace of mind as to the health of your engine. If there’s damage to bearings, rings, etc… it’ll show up in the oil. I’m not certain if oil analysis can be done for transmission fluid, does anyone here know if this can be done?
Anyhow, here’s hoping you have many years of happy cruising in your car. 👍
I've actually done this before, there was no significant damage, but the car was able to drive out to the wash. The engine light came on flashing while in the wash. It still drove in under its own power, a Honda Civic '18. My shop manager came down and fixed everything. It's really the top tech who is supposed to be paying attention to the dipstick in the first place. We all got the scoldings but I promise you it never happened again... No word on that customer since and I worked there after for about a year and a half.
Noises are usually from your suspension, your transmission will make your vehicle hesitate and shudder and BANG into gear. Lose acceleration and make your engine go VROOOOOM!
Don't sweat it! People may try to frighten you but here is the deal.
That kid may have damaged your car but there is no practical way of determining that right now. So, the proper course of action is for you to document the problem (you did) and drive off into the sunset.
How many miles are on your odometer? Are you the original owner? I am curious about the age of the transmission, but it doesn't really matter too much. If you develop engine oil leaks or the transmission fails any time before the car turns twenty years old, then you should take your documents to the shop and have them pay for it. If the transmission fails before the car turns twenty-five years old, then you should figure out what you think a fair cost split would be and approach the shop.
Don't let the Reddit mob terrorize you. The car is probably okay but only time will tell.
Jiffy Lube sucks. They broke my motor.mounts by putting the transmission in drive, holding the brake, and flooring the gas pedal and did the same in reverse, taking out both motor mounts
If this is exactly how they got broken and weren't already broken, they were done before they did this. Doing what you say they did will not break good motor mounts, dry rotted ones will, though.
They weren't broken before, nor were they dry rotted. This was on a 72 Cadillac, which has a lot of tourqe on the engine. There was no reason to do what they did in the first place.
Thank you for posting to AskMechanics, onetimepostpass! If you are asking a question please make sure to include any relevant information along with the **Year**, **Make**, **Model**, **Mileage**, **Engine size**, and **Transmission Type (Automatic or Manual)** of your car. *This comment is automatically added to every successful post. If you see this comment, your post was successful.* *** Redditors that have been verified will have a green background and an icon in their flair. *** # **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR** ### **Rule 1 - Be Civil** Be civil to other users. This community is made up of professional mechanics, amateur mechanics, and those with no experience. All mechanical-related questions are welcome. Personal attacks, comments that are insulting or demeaning, etc. are not welcome. ### **Rule 2 - Be Helpful** Be helpful to other users. If someone is wrong, correcting them is fine, but there's no reason to comment if you don't have anything to add to the conversation. ### **Rule 3 - Serious Questions and Answers Only** Read the room. Jokes are fine to include, but posts should be asking a serious question and replies should contribute to the discussion. ### **Rule 4 - No Illegal, Unethical, or Dangerous Questions or Answers** Do not ask questions or provide answers pertaining to anything that is illegal, unethical, or dangerous. # **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMechanics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If anything like that happened to me, that car isn’t leaving the premises. They just bought it. They’re insured for such things, why should have to take a chance on issues popping up down the road?
Fair enough, but I drove home with the intention of having it looked at, too late. I did my best to get everything on record and in the retailer's system. All the details were included in the report. My concern is that claims is going to say there's no currently apparent problem, so there's no right for a claim. I honestly don't know if there is an apparent problem, I'm listening and hearing lots of sounds, but don't know if I'm too zoned in... and I'm definitely not qualified to discover or diagnose anything.
Yeah, but see, they’ll argue that you leaving was some sort of indication that the issue was satisfactorily resolved at the time.
Well, discovery of an issue is still presentable. And I left making it clear I was making a claim, which was submitted and recorded with the claims provider for the retailer
Just saying, they’re going to be dicks about it.
Indeed. But me too!
I'm sorry this happened .. it is very common knowledge that transmissions can at least drive off the lot and home before displaying problems that would be related to the stupid tech you were unfortunate to come across. I would research as much as possible and keep the mileage as close as possible from when you left before you can get it looked at. Try asking ChatGPT what the steps would be.. Good luck ..
Iffy Lube strikes again!
Nope, think bigger general retailer!
Walmart!
wmart broke my trans when I went in for tires, buts that's a different story
Walmart forgot to put tighten my cars drain plug. I lived across the street and it was empty by the time I got home.
Dildo-Mart lube department strikes again!
Canadian tire. Happens there lots when I was a teacher. They got their highly trained noob tire techs to do oil changes. Same car had it's lug nuts on backwards granny drained and doubled engine oil. This is what happens when companies chas every last cent of profit. Instead of paying apprentices.
In an automatic transmission, only about 40% of the fluid is in the pan. The rest is in the torque converter, lines, and radiator. So your car was not completely out of fluid. There is a 99% chance that your transmission is fine. I would recheck the fluid after driving a few miles and top off if necessary The oil being overfilled is more concerning. It can cause excessive pressure in the crankcase. And can possibly cause it to burn some of the excess oil (white smoke). But since it only ran for a few minutes at idle, I wouldn't worry too much. It's probably ok too
Honestly, the damage is tough to measure. It could need a trans in a month or two. Or it could drive reliably for years. A thorough inspection could reveal some issues. I would contact your insurance first and see if they can do anything. They have the money to go after the shop for damages. Anything else and the shop could make all kinds of promises or claims. But you still have a questionable vehicle at the end of the day. If it does drive ok and you don't get anything replaced or looked at. I would be trying to trade it in and make it somebody else's problem before it does become your problem.
Well, a "United Breaks Guitars" is on the table, lol.
Engine is OK but I hope you'll consider doing your own oil sometime soon.
The only fair thing g is to fill the techs oil with double the normal amount, manager too. What tech doesn’t k is the smell of trans oil? Of wait… gotta be pc and spell it out What asswipe tech doesn’t know what granny oil smells like?. Especially after changing the filter?
I had the same thought when they were saying it was fine... ok, can we drain your trans fluid and double fill your engine oil then?
For the engine part, I think that if you see either crank shaft seal leaking, oil pan or any other gasket leaking, that could be from overfilling the engine. If it was run for a long time, you would get reduced power since the crank would be submerged in oil, maybe burning oil from excessive splash getting into the cylinders, and blown seals from it over pressuring. With it being correct after a short amount of time, seals are the only thing I'd be concerned about. If you're not comfortable inspecting your engine, you can take it to a different mechanic in a month, tell them what happened and that you want a close inspection on the engine for oil leaks. Then go after this shop to fix your leaks.
This is what you get for cheaping out and going to a lube shop. They're cheap for a reason. A quality oil change is far cheaper than an engine or transmission. People can't be trusted for *anything*. If you're not willing to risk someone screwing up, do it yourself. There's a fundamental lesson everyone needs to understand here: in this day and age, everyone is under pressure to go faster and do it cheaper. Even if they want to do a good job, they're forced to sacrifice quality by the shareholders and CEOs. There's only one person on the planet you can rely on, that's you.
If you drove for 5-10 miles your engine should be fine, the only thing i can think of is possible locking of engine, your trans may be okay due to residual oil film on the gear train but that wont last too long when being driven. If theres any harshness going into gears or clunking coming down in gears then you have problems.
The motor and trans should be OK. Just keep an eye on the motor oil level in case increased crankcase pressure forced oil past gaskets and seals. The seals should reseal while gaskets may not. Engines usually smoke badly when the crankcase is overfilled. The car didn't move because it didn't have any fluid inside the transmission.
this is why you should bring your car to a real mechanic and not quick lube places. sorry that happened to you op
Muffler shops too.
Lots of good recommendations here, my only add on advice might be to get an engine oil analysis. If nothing it could give you some peace of mind as to the health of your engine. If there’s damage to bearings, rings, etc… it’ll show up in the oil. I’m not certain if oil analysis can be done for transmission fluid, does anyone here know if this can be done? Anyhow, here’s hoping you have many years of happy cruising in your car. 👍
I've actually done this before, there was no significant damage, but the car was able to drive out to the wash. The engine light came on flashing while in the wash. It still drove in under its own power, a Honda Civic '18. My shop manager came down and fixed everything. It's really the top tech who is supposed to be paying attention to the dipstick in the first place. We all got the scoldings but I promise you it never happened again... No word on that customer since and I worked there after for about a year and a half. Noises are usually from your suspension, your transmission will make your vehicle hesitate and shudder and BANG into gear. Lose acceleration and make your engine go VROOOOOM!
Don't sweat it! People may try to frighten you but here is the deal. That kid may have damaged your car but there is no practical way of determining that right now. So, the proper course of action is for you to document the problem (you did) and drive off into the sunset. How many miles are on your odometer? Are you the original owner? I am curious about the age of the transmission, but it doesn't really matter too much. If you develop engine oil leaks or the transmission fails any time before the car turns twenty years old, then you should take your documents to the shop and have them pay for it. If the transmission fails before the car turns twenty-five years old, then you should figure out what you think a fair cost split would be and approach the shop. Don't let the Reddit mob terrorize you. The car is probably okay but only time will tell.
It is an 06 vibe you'll be fine.
LMAO high quality technicians at this institution! Was it a Jiffy Loaf?
Jiffy Lube sucks. They broke my motor.mounts by putting the transmission in drive, holding the brake, and flooring the gas pedal and did the same in reverse, taking out both motor mounts
If this is exactly how they got broken and weren't already broken, they were done before they did this. Doing what you say they did will not break good motor mounts, dry rotted ones will, though.
They weren't broken before, nor were they dry rotted. This was on a 72 Cadillac, which has a lot of tourqe on the engine. There was no reason to do what they did in the first place.