Discussion
My mother was driving down a narrow single track road with steep verges either side, when she noticed a brick in her path.
Before slamming on the brakes, she glanced in the rear view mirror and saw a car travelling close behind.
With nowhere to go, a dab of the brakes to loose a little speed before the brick hit the underside of the car.
She came to stop soon after when safe to do so in a lay-by, to visually inspect the car for damage (Golf GTi MK5, owned from new).
The car appeared fine, no signs of damage to the front bumper.
A few days later, after a couple of local trips, she noticed a pool of oil on the garage floor.
The car had never previously leaked oil.
Looking underneath, she can see the sump oil pan has oil dripping from it.
Then, checking the oil level on the dip stick, there was no oil showing!
Being of an age when cars once’s used oil, she checks the oil level each month, it is normally fine with perhaps half a litre required between annual services.
Topping up the oil, she tells me it told it took 4 litres of oil to get back into the zone on the dipstick. Hmm, deeply concerning given its full capacity would be less than 5 litres I could imagine.
Question
If we find the engine is scrap, having been run with low to no oil for a couple of local trips, given the likely cause (brick in road), is this something one can claim on insurance for?
Despite the car’s excellent condition, given it's age, I suspect it would get written off.
Thoughts?
Before we go down the route of insurance (if even an option), I have suggested the following:
Check and confirm oil is at optimum level.
Start time to listen for untoward noises.
If ok, remove oil plug and drain oil, looking for metal particles.
If ok, proceed to replace oil sump pan (and gasket sealant) with new.
Test drive, check for leaks.
Before slamming on the brakes, she glanced in the rear view mirror and saw a car travelling close behind.
With nowhere to go, a dab of the brakes to loose a little speed before the brick hit the underside of the car.
She came to stop soon after when safe to do so in a lay-by, to visually inspect the car for damage (Golf GTi MK5, owned from new).
The car appeared fine, no signs of damage to the front bumper.
A few days later, after a couple of local trips, she noticed a pool of oil on the garage floor.
The car had never previously leaked oil.
Looking underneath, she can see the sump oil pan has oil dripping from it.
Then, checking the oil level on the dip stick, there was no oil showing!
Being of an age when cars once’s used oil, she checks the oil level each month, it is normally fine with perhaps half a litre required between annual services.
Topping up the oil, she tells me it told it took 4 litres of oil to get back into the zone on the dipstick. Hmm, deeply concerning given its full capacity would be less than 5 litres I could imagine.
Question
If we find the engine is scrap, having been run with low to no oil for a couple of local trips, given the likely cause (brick in road), is this something one can claim on insurance for?
Despite the car’s excellent condition, given it's age, I suspect it would get written off.
Thoughts?
Before we go down the route of insurance (if even an option), I have suggested the following:
Check and confirm oil is at optimum level.
Start time to listen for untoward noises.
If ok, remove oil plug and drain oil, looking for metal particles.
If ok, proceed to replace oil sump pan (and gasket sealant) with new.
Test drive, check for leaks.
projectgt said:
My mother was driving down a narrow single track road with steep verges either side, when she noticed a brick in her path.
Before slamming on the brakes, she glanced in the rear view mirror and saw a car travelling close behind.
With nowhere to go, a dab of the brakes to loose a little speed before the brick hit the underside of the car.
She came to stop soon after when safe to do so in a lay-by, to visually inspect the car for damage (Golf GTi MK5, owned from new).
The car appeared fine, no signs of damage to the front bumper.
A few days later, after a couple of local trips, she noticed a pool of oil on the garage floor.
The car had never previously leaked oil.
Looking underneath, she can see the sump oil pan has oil dripping from it.
Then, checking the oil level on the dip stick, there was no oil showing!
Being of an age when cars once’s used oil, she checks the oil level each month, it is normally fine with perhaps half a litre required between annual services.
Topping up the oil, she tells me it told it took 4 litres of oil to get back into the zone on the dipstick. Hmm, deeply concerning given its full capacity would be less than 5 litres I could imagine.
Question
If we find the engine is scrap, having been run with low to no oil for a couple of local trips, given the likely cause (brick in road), is this something one can claim on insurance for?
Despite the car’s excellent condition, given it's age, I suspect it would get written off.
Thoughts?
Before we go down the route of insurance (if even an option), I have suggested the following:
Check and confirm oil is at optimum level.
Start time to listen for untoward noises.
If ok, remove oil plug and drain oil, looking for metal particles.
If ok, proceed to replace oil sump pan (and gasket sealant) with new.
Test drive, check for leaks.
I think it will be fine from your description tbh, Punctured a sump before, checked over and thought all was well at the scene, but 50 miles later I pulled over to check, not even indicating on dip stick, it was 50 miles of 60+ MPH with aggressive accelerations out corners.Before slamming on the brakes, she glanced in the rear view mirror and saw a car travelling close behind.
With nowhere to go, a dab of the brakes to loose a little speed before the brick hit the underside of the car.
She came to stop soon after when safe to do so in a lay-by, to visually inspect the car for damage (Golf GTi MK5, owned from new).
The car appeared fine, no signs of damage to the front bumper.
A few days later, after a couple of local trips, she noticed a pool of oil on the garage floor.
The car had never previously leaked oil.
Looking underneath, she can see the sump oil pan has oil dripping from it.
Then, checking the oil level on the dip stick, there was no oil showing!
Being of an age when cars once’s used oil, she checks the oil level each month, it is normally fine with perhaps half a litre required between annual services.
Topping up the oil, she tells me it told it took 4 litres of oil to get back into the zone on the dipstick. Hmm, deeply concerning given its full capacity would be less than 5 litres I could imagine.
Question
If we find the engine is scrap, having been run with low to no oil for a couple of local trips, given the likely cause (brick in road), is this something one can claim on insurance for?
Despite the car’s excellent condition, given it's age, I suspect it would get written off.
Thoughts?
Before we go down the route of insurance (if even an option), I have suggested the following:
Check and confirm oil is at optimum level.
Start time to listen for untoward noises.
If ok, remove oil plug and drain oil, looking for metal particles.
If ok, proceed to replace oil sump pan (and gasket sealant) with new.
Test drive, check for leaks.
Replacing recommended I guess, I Just cleaned the dent & 3mm hole in sump myself; Roughed up metal with Dremel and used body filler, then spot welded some thin metal on with Silicone Gasket sealer in between to polish job off, never removed sump.
Edited by NFT on Tuesday 30th January 00:31
TwigtheWonderkid said:
BertBert said:
For the insurance question, the answer is potentially yes provided the damage is clear that it came from the accident hitting a brick.
^^^ This. It's accidental damage. Covered by comp cover, subject to any excess and loss or part loss of NCB.
Zarco said:
Must have been a big brick or a low car.
around here, lots of single width lanes with a mound of grass, gravel etc down the middle and ruts each side. A brick added to the mound might do damage.But most cars, you've got a cross-member and loads of plastic in front of the engine.
OutInTheShed said:
around here, lots of single width lanes with a mound of grass, gravel etc down the middle and ruts each side. A brick added to the mound might do damage.
But most cars, you've got a cross-member and loads of plastic in front of the engine.
Thanks for all of the inputs. OutInTheShed has hit the nail on the head, whilst the MK5 Golf GTi is not a low car, a single track lane with raised middle with a brick on it has been the issue here.But most cars, you've got a cross-member and loads of plastic in front of the engine.
Hopefully a new sump, plug and seal, fresh oil and it’ll be ok.
Aretnap said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
BertBert said:
For the insurance question, the answer is potentially yes provided the damage is clear that it came from the accident hitting a brick.
^^^ This. It's accidental damage. Covered by comp cover, subject to any excess and loss or part loss of NCB.
I thought no more of it, but I changed the oil 3 months later which came out very grey indeed. Oil analysis showed a lot of bearing material and steel from pistons and rings in the oil (as well as cement) and inspection of the bearings showed virtually no bearing material left on them. A friend suggested I should talk to the insurance and after some humming and hahing, they authorised the £7,500 engine rebuild.
I was delighted with the insurance company, rather less so with Minister who didn't think to inspect the engine oil when they had it after the incident.
Mad Maximus said:
Make sure the oil is on the mark before you start it again. Start it if it sounds ok nip it to a local garage which should be able to sort a quick repair (assuming it is the sump). Job jobbed no need for anything else.
After all, what's a little pollution and a few crashed two wheelers among friends?You could either get it towed, or get a mobile mechanic to change the sump.
Sump pans are not that expensive new, plenty available from breakers on ebay.
I ran over a big rock in a hired car while on holiday in Cyprus.
I thought I’d got away with it till I went out the next morning to find a puddle of oil under the car.
Fortunately it was our last day, so I checked there was still some oil in it and drove it back to the hire centre at the airport and dumped it.
Glad I took out the full insurance cover as I never heard a thing about it.
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