My girlfriend recently took her car to a mechanic to get the usual maintenence - tune up, oil change, etc. It was running perfectly at the time, but she hasnt done the maintenence in awhile so she wanted to keep it up to date, as she wanted to make sure her car will still last her as long as she needs it for.
Upon doing this, the mechanic also informed her that he recommends getting the engine belt changed, as the recommended mileage to change it is at 100,000 miles.
So she let him do the service. Come to find out, later on she went to pick it up, and the engine was making a loud noise. I have not heard it so I can not yet describe it, but from the explanation it sounds like it has alot more "bass" and sounds like a "loud engine". Not too sure if it's knocking or what.
Apparently, the mechanic told her something along the lines that "the old oil was thick, and the new oil is too thin", but continued to tell her that it is okay to drive, and on monday he will fix it free of charge for her.
As soon as I found this out, I was pretty worried, as I am not an expert on cars, but from my knowledge having the wrong oil can severely damage your car, nearly as bad as not having oil.
I was also kind of confused, because if it was something as simple as the wrong type of oil, I don't know why he would not have done an oil change then instead of waiting days to do it. Also, if he did a full oil change as he was supposed to, why would the oil be an issue unless if he messed up and put in the wrong oil? (Which would be surprising, since he only works on hondas & acuras)
I was also not completely convinced that it was not the result of the belt, or anything else he did - it seems more likely that he would let that go for a few days, rather than leave an oil problem ongoing.
So I let her know this, and she called him back 2 or 3 more times just to confirm. He told her he was positive it would be fine until monday - she even told him she had to drive about 150 miles and he said not to worry.
A few hours later she calls and says shes worried, because now the car is kind of accelerating 'zooming ahead' randomly, and it's almost as if she has the foot on the gas when it's not. Soon after this, the car shut off and would not immediately start - battery light coming on?
She got it back started up, but apparently it shut down again, this time the battery light and the oil light coming on.
I told her at this point to shut the car off and dont drive it anymore - if it's an oil problem as suspected I don't want it to cause any permenant damage. She is going to have it towed now, but now she has no way to get around until monday, and has to drive at least 150 miles this weekend.
I'm thinking at this point since he said he would fix it free of charge, he better do that. But I'm worried that there is going to be MORE damage that he will refuse to cover as it was not part of the original job.
1) Does this sound like all these problems could be from what the mechanic is saying - the oil being too thin?
2) If the oil was too thin, wouldnt the best be not to drive the car at all? Or should it really be good until monday?
3) Should I be worried?
4) Does anyone have any idea what could be the problem, or any advice on this situation?
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Friday, November 13th, 2009 AT 9:18 PM
