Thread: Dropped all of its oil on the road

Originally Posted by DazzaTD5

IMHO...
*If the oil pump was replaced then I would say whoever fitted the front seal around the crank stuffed it up.
*Its not hard to stuff it up, I DID IT A FEW YEARS BACK, the oil literally pours out in large quantities.
*Part of the process is once the seal has been fitted it must be left 4 hours before starting (I guess to allow the seal to form onto the crankshaft).
*I also very quickly got the "install tools" and have had a faultless run since.
*I know others dont have the tools and have never had an issue.
*The Victor Renz branded seal comes with the plastic install tool to fit seal over the crankshaft, the genuine seal doesn't.
*The big chunk of alloy is the move the seal along the crankshaft without twisting or distorting it. And to finally seat the seal into its correct position.

Do you rate the VR seal or stick with genuine ?

Originally Posted by loanrangie

Do you rate the VR seal or stick with genuine ?

Victor Reinz, for decades they have been a trusted brand from seals to head gaskets, unfortunately I cant always get VR brand and some stuff might be listed as VR but turns up as who knows what brand. hence having genuine in stock.

The VR ones also comes with the plastic applicator and some simple instructions.

The Timing belt mechanic said they will pick it up and "assuming it is something we have done we will fix it"

So not liking the word 'assuming' I decided that before they could get a chance to tow it from the second mechanic shop where I dropped it last night I asked the second mechanic to take a quick look, he called me back 5 minutes later and said "whoever did this timing belt has made a mess of it, all of the seals are popped"

The car is now with my mechanic who said the crankshaft seal has popped - the other two are ok.

My concern is still - what other damage has this done, and the natural 'will they pay the bill'. agh.

I think you might be ok apart from the popped seal. If it was still pumping out a line of oil to where you stopped then there should still have been some oil pressure within the engine. You may have just been very lucky with the location that it decided to dump its guts

great, thanks.

Is there anything I should ask them to do/check to make sure there was no damage? I'm about to go on a six month trip towing a van so I need it strong.

also - likely they are now putting a genuine crank seal in, and new timing belt - I want to be fair, who should be expected to pay for this? if me - what cost would those two items be?

It should be them.. all on them. And any subsequent damage done.

They will have insurance to cover this.

Originally Posted by Lukeis

great, thanks.

Is there anything I should ask them to do/check to make sure there was no damage? I'm about to go on a six month trip towing a van so I need it strong.

also - likely they are now putting a genuine crank seal in, and new timing belt - I want to be fair, who should be expected to pay for this? if me - what cost would those two items be?

100% their fault

I would be pushing for a full engine replacement as it is unknown what damage this poor workmanship has caused. Even running for a short time under load on low or no oil pressure for these close toleranced engines is detrimental.

Originally Posted by Eric SDV6SE

100% their fault

I would be pushing for a full engine replacement as it is unknown what damage this poor workmanship has caused. Even running for a short time under load on low or no oil pressure for these close toleranced engines is detrimental.

An engine will in this case have either oil pressure or no oil pressure. As sump level drops the oil pressure doesn’t.

I’d just be making it very clear and subsequent failure will be on them.