Where does it say Walmart is taking responsibility? She sounds like it is have a tough time. She says "trying to work".

Hmmmm... Well good luck with Walmart... I had the exact same thing happen to me with my 2006 Honda civic at my Honda dealership. They bitched and whined but after about a week of being persistent, I got all the repairs/rental car taken care of. Although the owner of the dealership told me that "in a prior life I would have beat the shit out of you" it was all worth it.

As usual there might be the other side here. There hasn't been any O ring on any oil fill cap on any car I've ever owned. Drain plug yes, but I check the oil regularly because "ALL" mechanics can cross thread the plug on not tighten it or the cap(lose cap causes slow leak not gushing).

If you want to understand why this story is missing something just look at an O ring at a car parts store!

Hmm..I have 2 perfect examples on how this could go either way. A friend of mine had his BRAND NEW cars oil changed at the 3000 mile mark. Well, they did not put the plug in tight enough and it soon fell out. Spilling his oil all over the road, and subsequently destroying his engine. Wal Marts response? "It's under warranty cause its new, have the manufacturer fix it!" SO..he called Mitsu and they actually threatened Wal Mart with legal action. Wal Mart complied and not only paid for the motor, but also paid for it to be flatbedded to the dealer to be fixed!

Ok, story 2: Another friend had a Mitsubishi 3000 GT that had a huge amount of motor work done by a local motor shop. Well, they messed up the timing on it, and he immediatley noticed it and pulled over to the side of the road. Now, he KNEW the car had a problem..decided to drive it home, and destroyed the motor. When he told the motor shop about this, they were unwilling to help, because he KNEW that motor had an issue, yet continued to drive it and that could have destroyed it. In this case, he was out a LOT of money. I'm not sure how Wal Mart will look at this, but if you have not told them you drove it AFTER the problem presented itself, i'd leave out that particular detail. Hope the info helps...

Reminds me of the time in 1998 when I went to Walmart for an oil change. A few days later I was braking for a stop sign and my brakes failed. Took it to the mechanic, where it was discovered that some idiot at Walmart put oil where the brake fluid was supposed to go. The whole brake system basically had to be replaced.

My father and I went to wal-mart to complain, but they claimed there is no way this could happen. We went to a lawyer, but was basically told that without me getting injured due to the brakes failing (I managed to pull the emergancy brake just in time at the stop sign), it would be hard to win a lawsuit against Wal-Mart.

I resolved to never use Walmart for auto repair again.

@VicMatson: Actually on the saturn my wife owned there was a magnetic washer that helped hold the oil filter on. I assume that if that "seal" was not replaced (which would be easy if you were not expecting a magnet stuck to the inside of the oil filter) it would probably leak or come loose easier.

Same thing happened to me at a Jiffy Lube about 12 years ago. They wouldn't pay, either.

Granted I was just a dumb punk kid back then. I'd be in their ass with both feet if something like that happened today.

This type of mistake has happened at the nearby Walmart on at least two occasions. In one case the car caught fire once the guy pulled into his driveway. The other, the motor seized. In both cases Walmart fronted the bill because they don't use certified employees in their TLE department.

So you know, Walmart makes their employees fill the oil level to the book spec, ignoring the dipstick entirely or at least the one by me does. I had a friend who worked there get reprimanded for filling it to the dipsticks fill point and the shift manager made then drain the 'excess' oil. Don't let these kinds of people touch your car, honestly.

I'm really not surprised. While I didn't drive away from a Walmart oil change needing a new engine, I did need other work done as a result of their negligence or stupidity (it's a toss up there really).

I made the mistake in December of stopping at a Walmart on the way home from work one night for a long-overdue oil change. My first clue should have been when the employees were complaining about how much they hated their job but I was tired and it was 3,000 miles overdue so I stuck it out. As I was leaving, the right turn signal suddenly didn't work. Um, ok. Took it back... they fixed it, mumbling that it probably just "fell out" or something. It got fixed for free and I was on my way.

Fast forward to about a couple weeks later. Being in Ohio, there was a rather nasty snowfall one morning. While I was on my way to work, my windshield wipers stopped working. And my turn signals. I pulled over into a parking lot and noticed I had a blown fuse. Went to an auto parts store, bought new fuses and the problem seemed to be fixed. Used my wipers again and blew the new fuse. So, instead of going to work I headed for a repair shop recommended by the guy at the auto parts store. Turns out, the assembly (bottle, pump, whatever... I don't pretend to know more than the basics of a car) for the wiper fluid was frozen solid which was causing the fuse to blow (naturally). The guys at Walmart who hated their job put the summer mix of wiper fluid in the bottle. In Ohio. In the winter. Even I know enough to use either a winter or all-season type of wiper fluid.

It ended up costing me $60 to have the wiper bottle and pump defrosted and refilled with the correct mix of fluid. Yeah... I don't go to Walmart for much of anything at all anymore, and certainly nothing car-related. I am very thankful it wasn't more serious!

Never get your oil changed at a discount store! In fact, don't get it changed at Jiffy Lube or Valvoline quick oil-change places ever. Either find a good independent mechanic or go to reputable dealer. A few years ago, one of those quick oil-change places stripped the thread on the oil plug causing the oil to leak. Since the the engine was aluminum, I had to replace the oil pan at some expense.

@VicMatson:

O rings are on certain cars: I have a 2003 Honda S2000 and it has an rubber seal or "o-ring" on the oil cap. Still, I cannot see how a car can run out of oil if the oil cap comes off.

What I think happened is that the oil filter or drain plug was installed incorrectly and the oil just leaked out. Even so, the car was driven over several days - wasn't there a big puddle somewhere?

No low oil light? No oil warning buzzer? Or did the owner just ignore it ("that light is always on")? Or was it also conveniently broken?

I am not making apologies for China*Mart, but the dumbing down of the American motorist is amazing to behold.

There's more to this story. I know it.

I haven't used a national discount oil change establishment in many years, ever since a Jiffy Lube under car tech placed a filter with TWO gaskets on my 1989 Isuzu I-Mark. Yes, most of the oil leaked out and the oil pressure warning light came on. I IMMEDIATELY shut down the engine and called for roadside assistance since the car was still under warranty.

The Isuzu dealer located the problem, refilled the engine oil and cleaned everything up; it cost me about $100. which I paid with a credit card. I showed the bill to the JL that did the work, they paid me back in full, in cash, no questions asked.

I think she should learn how to change the oil herself. Its not that hard. The only issue is you have to then go to the dump to dispose of the oil properly. My dad changes his own oil whenever he needs to do and he showed me how when I was younger. It'll save you the 15 bucks it takes someone else to do it, not to mention the gas to drive over there.
I applaud her for going for the most obvious issue first though, and not just thinking it could have been something else. Hooary for common sense!

@trogam: Most auto stores take back used oil too.

@chrisgeleven: I think your lawyer is full of crap, personally. Wal Mart and all the auto service places routinely make stupid mistakes and have to shell out for repair costs. If your car was working fine until you took it in for oil, thats plenty of proof of Wal Mart's liability.

The exact same thing happened to a friend after a Wal-Mart oil change. Same cost to fix too. Wal-Mart did step up though. They offered her a free oil change gift certificate.

I had a similar situation happen to a friend of mine. She brought in her Ford for routine 15K service, and the place had left a rag under the hood on the engine. Unfortunately they didn't find out until her husband pulled into a gas station after picking up the car to fill up and the car caught fire. Luckily he got their son out in time.

And nobody is taking the blame. I believe Ford insurance has been going after the mechanic, but this happened 3 years ago now and she's still waiting for a result.

Hmm... I thought it was understood that you can't go to one place for everything... I guess the OP didn't realize that.

People...it's not that hard to change the oil yourself! If you know how to screw and pour, then you can change your oil. On top of that, it will cost you about half as much.

I had a similiar problem at Jiffylube - someone left the cap off while washing the engine. Jiffylube owned up to their mistake right away atnd arranged a rental for a week while they had the entire engine replaced. This ended up actually being a good thing, as the car had over 100,000 miles on it.

@rworne: I think it was the O-ring on the oil filter, not the filler cap.

I can understand taking a car to an oil change place. I take my Crown Vic to an oil change place. The trouble with cars is that they're low to the ground, so you can't get underneath them to reach the drain plug without jacking the car up. A good set of ramps is nigh impossible to find these days. Crawling underneath a car supported by a jack or jackstands is not the wisest of decisions either.

Now, if you own a truck or any type of 4x4 vehicle there's not much excuse for you not to change your oil on your own. I changed oil on my Explorer and I change my own oil on my F250....all four gallons of it for that Diesel engine.

As far as disposing of the old oil and filter. My city has an oil recycling bin at several fire houses and I beleive one of the auto parts chains will also take oil fluids and filters off your hands. I can't remember if it was O'Reilley's or Auto Zone or Advance.

@parrotuya: Exactly. I know people's situations are different- when I lived in an apartment I couldn't exactly change the oil in the parking lot as I had no garage...But once I moved into a house, I do as much stuff myself as I can. It takes just as long (~15 min) to do it yourself and anyone with half a brain can do it. Plus doing it yourself will run you about $10 as opposed to $20 and you know the job was done right.

And people laugh at me when I pay extra for oil changes at the dealer. My dealer uses the VW-required synthetic oil, not the cheapest crap off the shelf. The people they hire passed 4th grade, and my car goes in dirty and comes back shiny and clean. Sure, I can't go grocery shopping while my car is being worked on, but at least my car will make it home in one piece.

Messed up! I hope that they pay, but quarts of oil for life? C'Mon! You're not Kramer ;)

This is why I'd recommend going to a dealer if you were somewhere that you aren't familiar with. Any dealer will change your oil. It might cost a little more, but their work is warranted better and they are more likely to take care of you if they do something bad to your car.

This is why I change my own oil... it's easy and cost effective. Plus, I can guarantee that it's done RIGHT.

@Bagels: Same here. As I sit I'm trying to figure out if I want to risk taking it to a JL or figure out a way to do it in the street, which strikes me as probably being a wee bit illegal.

it has to be an o-ring on the oil cap if it is saturn with euro-opel engine. Most of the european cars and some new toyota-lexus ones have that cartridge style oil filters. That cap needs to be tightened on 25Nm ( cca. 18.3 ft lbs ) and usualy it would be left loos or overtorqued. Sometimes they would monkey wrench it so bad taht the cap it self would crack!!! I've seen ones without o-rings, with two orings, with portions of old filters left and new one installed on a top of it, and even ones without filter being installed at all!!!!!

Hmm, comment system ate my comment... Typical.

@MrEvil: Using the proper lift points and jack stands to "crawl under the car" is perfectly safe, provided you have hard, level ground. I'd rather take a little risk and be able to afford the "expensive" synthetic oil and the higher quality filter... It usually runs me less than what the dealership charges (only place I would trust to do it right), and I get to know exactly what the oil looked like when it came out and I get to know that I did the job right.

@trogam: What? Oil isn't an ideal fertilizer for my lawn? [bp3.blogger.com]

Moral of the story is after paying someone to change your oil ALWAYS check the dipstick. It doesn't matter if its a dealer, discount store or your personal mechanic you've known forever. Everyone makes mistakes and 30 seconds could save you $5000.

Jiffy Lube on 804 East 400 South in Salt Lake City did the same to me. They forgot to put the plug back in. My lease at the time prevented me from changing my own oil. Luckily it only cost me a tow and not an engine. They never paid.

This happened to my mom maybe three weeks ago - Canadian tire forgot to put the oil cap back on. Luckily my local garage, which is just full of AMAZING people, had her bring it out and took a look at it free of charge, just to see how bad it was screwed up (it wasn't. Thank whatever gods there be.)

If you can't (or won't) change your own oil, you shouldn't be driving a car. Or at least owning one. No excuses. I've owned dozens of cars, and lived in apartment complexes, lived in cold climates, etc etc etc. I've seen and heard of so many cars damaged or nearly damaged by botched changes I wouldn't even think of taking any car I owned to an oil change place. When you're doing your OWN work on your OWN car, you tend to take more care to make sure its done right. My dad has 10 thumbs and a degree in accounting and even he changes his own oil.

This sounds familiar. My girlfriend took her car to a local ford dealership to flush the transmission fluid. They overfilled it, and she drove it for 5500 miles before we noticed. The car had started vibrating at stop lights when left in drive. Of course the dealership will accept no responsibility for it.

My ex "tried" to change the oil in his car once and left the cap off completely. Oil sprayed all over under the hood - it was awful and extremely stinky. Burning oil all over a hot engine - yum! Fortunately he didn't drive it far before his oil light came on.

Did she not have an oil light on her dash? Don't all cars have one? I'd think she should meet them halfway on the repair cost - yes, they screwed up, but who drives a car around for so long without noticiing A)a burning oil smell or B)a warning light on the dash??

My father bought a new tire from walmart for his car. Apparently the 'tech' pushed the floor jack under the the car and jacked it up through the floor board on the passenger side. When he got the car back he of course immediately noticed the huge bulge and complained. They denied responsibility. He had to take them to court to get them to pay for repairs.

rhino ramps and a socket set. If you can't change your own oil at home, go to a real mechanic and bring your own oil/filter and sit there and watch them. Inspect their work when they are finished.

@mechimike:

Yup, if you can't write your own code, you have no business owning a computer either. Also, if you can't do your own accounting, you have no right to any money.

Taking it to the dealer is no better, they dealer isn't going to have their $25/hour senior mechanic change your oil, they are going to hire someone at $6/hour for those jobs so your at just as much risk.

The same thing happened to my neighbor about ten years ago at Jiffy Lube. I've found that you get better quality work in small shops that specialize in the kind of car that you have. The dealer is a hit-or-miss experience. So I go to a shop that specializes in European cars because the owner is always there and he's an auto enthusiast. When they don't do something quite right, they take care of it because they know that word of mouth matters to their business. These large chains are filled with employees that are poorly trained, don't care, and are one IQ point away from being unemployable.

Some cars (and I'm not sure about Saturns) have a copper 'washer' that fits between the the oil pan and the drain plug. They're usually narrow and could easily be described as an o-ring. If you over tighten the drain plug, especially if it's over tightened with and air ratchet, it can damage the copper washer. When the engine runs, the oil is under pressure and even a small leak can shoot oil out pretty quickly.

Clearly, Wal-Mart should fix this. Most independent mechanics will change your oil and filter for less than $30. I'm not sure how much Wal-Mart was charging, but the difference in price is worth the insurance of having somebody who knows what they're doing work on your car.

Don't badmouth them at all until you've got written proof that they are dragging heels and giving poor service.

Then screw their hides to the wall.

something tells me you shouldn't trust walmart to do anything to your car, not even tires.

Unless your car is a supercar and sits less than 3 inches off the ground, you should easily be able to reach underneath and remove the drain plug. I used to do it in my mazda 626 all the time sans jack.

The worst part about that car was that you had to have it completely cool so you could reach down behind the motor around the exhaust manifold and flex pipe just to get at the damn filter. it nearly required a contortionist to get it done.

Anyhow, now with my truck I just toss a 5 gallon bucket underneath.

Ground clearance = win.

@mechimike: Are you for real? Using that logic, I shouldn't own a house if I don't know how to do the maintenance on my oil burner.... and my refigerator... and how dare I call someone to fix that roof?!

Maybe people shouldn't be allowed to live in their own bodies unless they learn to drill their own teeth, remove their own tumors, and do their own colonoscopy too?

I took my car in to Walmart for an oil change and tire rotation. My usual mechanic was on vacation and I had run up more miles at work then usual, and wanted to get the car ready for a road trip. The oil was fine (I always check, but still surprising), although they did manage to spill oil down the front of the engine block when filling it. But the 'technician' over-torqued the wheel lug nuts with the impact gun, and wound up warping the brake rotors. Killed the brake pads, which chewed up said rotors. Haven't gone back there for auto service in 10 years, and I don't plan to again.

Of course using a torque wrench or anything like the proper tools would be a new concept to them.

I would like to applaud the OP for not writing the letter in all caps, that must have taken restraint.

Speaking of restraint, I'd like to also applaud the OP for not beating the ever living daylights out of the tech that worked on your car.

Now my advice, I'd give the insurance company two weeks to take care of this (if not less) and then it'd be to court with walmart.

If one of those techs ever even look at my car, a beatdown will ensue. My dog pooped in my bimmer once, I had his balls cut off, just a warning.