We still haven't heard how many miles are on this Lexus, or when the last oil change was. By your own words, the last service was a year ago and included "exhaust and gasket." No word on an oil change.
My sister in law's Escape had this happen. Blew up at 72,000 miles. Started digging into the engine and discovered the oil had never been changed by the previous owners, it had all turned into sludge and blocked all the oil passages. Even though her dad had done an oil change when they got the car, the existing sludge didn't let the oil get to vital areas. Bye bye engine.
If the last service was that long ago I'm kinda curious why an oil change wasn't done, or at least suggested which should have revealed the sludge.
EDIT:
I didn't mean my post directed at the OP, shitty wording on my part. I'm wondering why the mechanic didn't ask about it. That's some pretty big negligence on the mechanic's part that, if anything, adds fuel to the OP's potential case against this person for damages.
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ceresWhen the last moon is cast over the last star of morningAnd the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderatormod
edited April 2017
This thread is a request for ideas on recourse, not a witness interrogation.
If you don't have ideas for the OP regarding potential recourse for a service issue, please reconsider hitting post in this thread.
ceres on
And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
I didn't mean my post directed at the OP accusatorily, shitty wording on my part and I'm sorry about that. I'm wondering why the mechanic didn't ask about it. That's like engines 100, not even 101 so for the mechanic to not bring it up is some pretty big negligence on the mechanic's part that may be relevant if recourse against the mechanic proves to be a viable route. Whether it be engines, computers, devices, whatever, someone fixing a thing should be checking basic stuff like that when someone brings something in. Kinda like why you always get your vitals taken at the doc's office. Not checking when the last bit of routine maintenance was done is pretty incompetent on the mechanic's part.
Looking at the list of stuff this mechanic did, it does seem like they skipped straight past basic diagnostics and, like another poster suggested, just started fiddling with shit until something stuck long enough for them to say "it's fixed, here's your bill."
Spark plug removal and replace
Spark plug -laser lridium
"Nope, that's not it"
Spark plug boot Coil on plug
"Still not helping. Fuck it..."
Ignition coil
Speaking as a mechanic, leaking valve covers can absolutely ruin spark plugs and boots, and it's entirely possible for a bad plug to take out a coil. These repairs from the standpoint of a misfire are absolutely plausible. When you drove the vehicle away, was the misfire gone?
If a technician replaced a valve cover, I would expect them to check the engine oil level and condition.
I'm assuming that this is what your oil looked like after the engine started making horrible noises? There is metal shards in there, and that type of internal mechanical failure is not caused directly by anything the mechanic would have done.
This looks like one of two things to me:
1. Neither you or the mechanic checked your oil, and it got run dry. This is bad, and bad things happened as a result.
2. The vehicle has been running on a misfire for so long, that unburnt fuel filled your oil pan. This diluted your engine oil, causing a severe lack of lubrication, causing your engine to grenade. Again, this is bad, and a bad thing happened.
I can't be sure, but I would dare to bet that #2 is what actually happened. There was probably very little a tech could have done to prevent internal damage, depending on how long the misfire was driven for. You could talk to a lawyer, but mechanics don't have magic wands, and they can't predict catastrophic failure in the shop if the vehicle isn't presenting that symptom (you brought it in for a misfire, not a knocking sound as I understand).
I'm sorry this happened to you, but it doesn't look like the mechanic's fault.
I only drove it less than a half a mile on the misfire. And parked it he only drove the car 2 miles the whole time it was in the shop I'm almost wondering if something happened when he was driving it
These failures can be a long time coming. I damaged my engine 9 months before the barely audible rattle of the initial harm suddenly degraded into something frightful and worth investigating.
Your car may have been fatally wounded long before you saw this guy and it just took it this long to die.
Which is what I am scared of since the truck I was driving the mechanic removed the fuel filter/bypassed it and so all the build up and junk goes right into the engine I only knew it did it after a year and a half
I know what he did just not how he did it since it's a vac hose that bypasses the fuel line to trick the computer
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My sister in law's Escape had this happen. Blew up at 72,000 miles. Started digging into the engine and discovered the oil had never been changed by the previous owners, it had all turned into sludge and blocked all the oil passages. Even though her dad had done an oil change when they got the car, the existing sludge didn't let the oil get to vital areas. Bye bye engine.
You can't give someone a pirate ship in one game, and then take it back in the next game. It's rude.
EDIT:
I didn't mean my post directed at the OP, shitty wording on my part. I'm wondering why the mechanic didn't ask about it. That's some pretty big negligence on the mechanic's part that, if anything, adds fuel to the OP's potential case against this person for damages.
If you don't have ideas for the OP regarding potential recourse for a service issue, please reconsider hitting post in this thread.
Looking at the list of stuff this mechanic did, it does seem like they skipped straight past basic diagnostics and, like another poster suggested, just started fiddling with shit until something stuck long enough for them to say "it's fixed, here's your bill."
Which is what I am scared of since the truck I was driving the mechanic removed the fuel filter/bypassed it and so all the build up and junk goes right into the engine I only knew it did it after a year and a half
I know what he did just not how he did it since it's a vac hose that bypasses the fuel line to trick the computer