5,000 miles engine seized. Dealer claimed it was from metal in the engine oil

BENJAMIN HATHAWAY

MEMBER
2017 GMC ACADIA
3.6L
V6
AWD
AUTOMATIC
5,000 MILES

I have the vehicle listed above that we have had for three months and has 5,000 miles on it. The engine seized and the dealer claims there was metal shavings in the engine oil causing the engine to seize. How likely is this to be true and if so from what? Also can the engine seizing from this make for any more issues mechanically?

3 Replies

STEVE W.

MECHANIC
13,588 POSTS

Metal in the oil would definitely cause a problem. Hard to say where it came from, a part that was not machined right, part that failed because of poor metal, someone quit that day and tossed metal into a few engines as a "going away present". I would say the dealer is being honest. Sometimes you get a bad engine or transmission or whatever. Just a machine that is made by people.
As for "will it cause other problems", Not likely, the dealer will probably remove the engine, flush or replace the oil cooler if it has one, install a new engine and ship the original back to GM for failure analysis.

Then they will say "Oh we are very sorry this happened, please return to us to buy your next new car".