Car: 2018 HRV EX AWD (49,000 miles on ODO)
my daughter was driving her car when suddenly the dashboard lit up with all types of lights. Went to check it out for her thinking it was the alternator, or battery and they were ok. Checked the oil and noticed the oil dipstick was completely dry with no sign of oil. Looked underneath the car and saw a small puddle of oil with oil covering the underside of the car, oil pan, filter, etc. Called the dealership and had the car towed there (I had the oil changed at the dealership 3 weeks prior to the incident). was told that the oil was leaking form the filter seal (gasket) because it was inadvertently pinched while being installed. They further claimed it only lost close to 1.5 quarts of oil and there were still 3 quarts of oil left in the engine. This did not make any sense to me as this adds up to 4.5 quarts, and the owner's manual says the oil capacity is 3.9 quarts with the filter. They claimed they filtered the oil through a special filter looking for metal shavings and observed none, and there was likely no damage to the engine because of this mishap that they are responsible for. They further stated that they would do the next 3 oil changes for free and for each oil change they would be looking for metal shavings, and checking oil consumption as an indicators of possible engine damage. I told them that did not give me enough assurance that long term damage would not occur because of this mishap that they caused as there might be damage, but enough to show up at the present time or in the near future, but may show up 2, 3, etc. years down the road from now, and that I wanted at minimum the warrantee on the engine to be extended to 100,000 miles. They said they would keep evaluating the engine for the next 15,000-20,000 miles (looking for metal shavings, oil consumption, anything concerning, or strange noises as they put it-(when I asked how they defined "concerning" and oil consumption, I received some nonsense gibberish back)). Furthermore, after we picked up the car, I checked the oil, and it was above the max level. I texted the dealership and stated there was too much oil in the engine and sent a pic to them of where the level was. I have yet to hear anything back. (I went ahead and drained the extra oil-have not measured it yet but looks to be more than a half of quart).


What do you folks think? Is it reasonable to assume that no damage occurred to the engine? Is it reasonable to ask for at least the engine warrantee to be extended to 100,000 miles? Should I trust their word on the existence or nonexistence of metal shavings in the oil as they are not a neutral party to this and they stand to lose if they consistently found metal shavings indicating possible damage to the pistons and/or piston rings. Please advise based on your similar experiences you may have had.

Thank you

Mike

 

welcome to the forum. it is not unreasonable to ask for a 100k mile warranty only on the engine, not the whole vehicle. there are test kits you can use to check your oil quality. (similar to a/c oil or hydrolic fluid contamination kit) might be a good idea that you get a oil test kit looking for internal damage. When your daughter had all the warning lights go on she did not comment anything about noise there fore i do not believe there was no damage done. normally when an engine runs out of oil it will first start to chatter or produce a mild to loud clicking sound from the lifters drying out of lube. then you'll hear loud clunking noise, the rods and main bearings lack of oil then the engine starts to freeze up. with the many oil changes i have done i have pinched a seal, double stack an oil seal, forget to install a oil seal not tighten an oil filter properly, tighted to tight an oil filter. have been very fortunate not to loose an engine or damage one. all caught before leaving the station or shop.