Sump plug falls out a few days after a service
Discussion
So father in law takes his Dacia (stop laughing at the back!) in for a service & MOT, about 5 days later the oil light comes on and the engine stops rather quickly. RAC visit and find the sump plug in the under tray along with the engine oil, seems the undertray was holding all the oil and not dropping the oil onto the road. RAC chap seems to think the sump plug wasn't more than finger tight as it has a new copper washer on it with no obvious compression marks on it. He filled the engine with oil and it now sounds like a bag of spanners.
Question is would you accept an engine rebuild or push for a new engine? or if they accept full liability would they just off to buy back the thing given its low-ish value? Its 3 months short of 3 years old and done ~50k miles, so only worth £4k tops.
It was serviced at a certified Dacia/Renault service centre, rather than a main dealer, which I expect may limit the options available. They service centre have only just got it via the RAC and he is waiting their initial report.
Ta
Question is would you accept an engine rebuild or push for a new engine? or if they accept full liability would they just off to buy back the thing given its low-ish value? Its 3 months short of 3 years old and done ~50k miles, so only worth £4k tops.
It was serviced at a certified Dacia/Renault service centre, rather than a main dealer, which I expect may limit the options available. They service centre have only just got it via the RAC and he is waiting their initial report.
Ta
Durzel said:
Mild Devil's Advocate but... 5 days seems like a long time for the car to dump all of its oil, and on the basis that it took that long to notice/empty then there must surely have been a period where the car was warning of low oil?
Not really, a bolt can take a while to vibrate loose and gradually unwind itself in the thread. It may have dripped a bit for a day or two, but the under tray would have easily caught that. Eventually the bolt fell out and all the oil would have drained out in a about a minuteboyse7en said:
Durzel said:
Mild Devil's Advocate but... 5 days seems like a long time for the car to dump all of its oil, and on the basis that it took that long to notice/empty then there must surely have been a period where the car was warning of low oil?
Not really, a bolt can take a while to vibrate loose and gradually unwind itself in the thread. It may have dripped a bit for a day or two, but the under tray would have easily caught that. Eventually the bolt fell out and all the oil would have drained out in a about a minutescrw. said:
So father in law takes his Dacia (stop laughing at the back!) in for a service & MOT, about 5 days later the oil light comes on and the engine stops rather quickly. RAC visit and find the sump plug in the under tray along with the engine oil, seems the undertray was holding all the oil and not dropping the oil onto the road. RAC chap seems to think the sump plug wasn't more than finger tight as it has a new copper washer on it with no obvious compression marks on it. He filled the engine with oil and it now sounds like a bag of spanners.
Question is would you accept an engine rebuild or push for a new engine? or if they accept full liability would they just off to buy back the thing given its low-ish value? Its 3 months short of 3 years old and done ~50k miles, so only worth £4k tops.
It was serviced at a certified Dacia/Renault service centre, rather than a main dealer, which I expect may limit the options available. They service centre have only just got it via the RAC and he is waiting their initial report.
Ta
What age is the vehicle, is it in warranty? As a rule dealerships don't rebuild things like engines, they would replace them.Question is would you accept an engine rebuild or push for a new engine? or if they accept full liability would they just off to buy back the thing given its low-ish value? Its 3 months short of 3 years old and done ~50k miles, so only worth £4k tops.
It was serviced at a certified Dacia/Renault service centre, rather than a main dealer, which I expect may limit the options available. They service centre have only just got it via the RAC and he is waiting their initial report.
Ta
Ultimately a rebuild may be fine, it depends what state it is in. And it's not as if it's a prized supercar with a high stress engine, that is likely to be driven hard.
Are the RAC willing to provide a report based on the info they told you? You may find that helpful if they do.
The only snagging point may be, did the driver not notice the low oil light and why did they continue driving until it stopped? I appreciate that the plug finally falling out and the oil draining might happen quite quickly, but probably enough time to stop the engine and avoid damage.
300bhp/ton said:
And it's not as if it's a prized supercar with a high stress engine, that is likely to be driven hard.
Bit O/T but I'd have thought a small car would be driven far harder than any supercar. I know my days of having asthmatic 1-litre engines meant I spent 90% of the time with my foot to the floor and the revs hovering around the redline to keep up any progress. A nice powerful engine means that a lot of the time you run it at maybe 15% of its potentialThis happened to me in a Golf. Had it serviced 2 days prior, drove c500miles, central Paris and it dumped its oil. Sump plug was in the tray and oil everywhere.
Walked to buy new oil and refitted the plug as best I could to drive it to a garage (only a stones throw from the Effiel Tower). They fitted correctly with new seal FOC and I was of on my way.
Camshaft failed (further lobe warn) c2000miles later.
Walked to buy new oil and refitted the plug as best I could to drive it to a garage (only a stones throw from the Effiel Tower). They fitted correctly with new seal FOC and I was of on my way.
Camshaft failed (further lobe warn) c2000miles later.
mike-v2tmf said:
I would demand an independent inspection of all the engine parts after a complete strip down and clean, then make an informed decision as to a rebuild or new engine ( personally I would want a new engine)
Wouldn't it be wiser to see what they first, rather than going in guns blazing demanding things??boyse7en said:
Bit O/T but I'd have thought a small car would be driven far harder than any supercar. I know my days of having asthmatic 1-litre engines meant I spent 90% of the time with my foot to the floor and the revs hovering around the redline to keep up any progress. A nice powerful engine means that a lot of the time you run it at maybe 15% of its potential
It's a diesel Dacia, I really doubt it is being punished every journey. Also it isn't the kind of car people are likely to keep and cherish for decades. And it's used value will plummet even if you kept it in concourse condition.The only point I'm making here is. Even if an engine rebuild isn't ideal and means the engine will not last as long as a fresh new one will. Chances are this owner will never keep the vehicle long enough or drive it hard enough to even notice this difference.
boyse7en said:
Durzel said:
Mild Devil's Advocate but... 5 days seems like a long time for the car to dump all of its oil, and on the basis that it took that long to notice/empty then there must surely have been a period where the car was warning of low oil?
Not really, a bolt can take a while to vibrate loose and gradually unwind itself in the thread. It may have dripped a bit for a day or two, but the under tray would have easily caught that. Eventually the bolt fell out and all the oil would have drained out in a about a minuteDue to undertray catching the oil it could have been dripping for 5 days since the service, who knows. It went from oil light on to stopped in seconds, where it lives is hilly so it could have been at high revs when the plug dropped (its the 1.2 16v petrol engine). Car was bought new ~33 months ago, full dealer history, ~50k miles. RAC chap was sure the sump plug wasn't torqued, I think that was stated on the call out sheet, I will check. Certainly have a picture of both sides of the copper washer looking brand new, no marks you usually get (from my experience) when they have been done up tight.
Edited by scrw. on Thursday 20th June 17:14
scrw. said:
Due to undertray catching the oil it could have been dripping for 5 days since the service, who knows. It went from oil light on to stopped in seconds, where it lives is hilly so it could have been at high revs when the plug dropped (its the 1.2 16v petrol engine). Car was bought new ~33 months ago, full dealer history, ~50k miles. RAC chap was sure the sump plug wasn't torqued, I think that was stated on the call out sheet, I will check. Certainly have a picture of both sides of the copper washer looking brand new, no marks you usually get (from my experience) when they have been done up tight.
So it's still under warranty?I think the Dacia/Renault service centre or their insurers will replace the engine.
Durzel said:
boyse7en said:
Durzel said:
Mild Devil's Advocate but... 5 days seems like a long time for the car to dump all of its oil, and on the basis that it took that long to notice/empty then there must surely have been a period where the car was warning of low oil?
Not really, a bolt can take a while to vibrate loose and gradually unwind itself in the thread. It may have dripped a bit for a day or two, but the under tray would have easily caught that. Eventually the bolt fell out and all the oil would have drained out in a about a minutescrw. said:
think it is, need to double check with FiL the milage limit, deffo has 3 years & I assume it is up to 60k
https://www.dacia.co.uk/dacia-after-sales/warranty...Seems the warranty covers manufacturing defects, but the authorised service centre has seemingly shafted an engine that's still under warranty.
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