Answers to your car questions
QUESTION I hope you can ease my mind about a problem that I recently had with my car when I had the oil changed. My car is a 2007 Ford and I have had the car since new. I always change the oil regularly and also make sure it is safe for the road. My husband has been gone for over ten years and I still maintain the car like he did. The problem is that, after the last oil change, I drove for about two kilometres to my apartment and when I got out of my car, I noticed an oil trail. Another tenant was there and he looked under the car and told me that the oil was coming from my car. The tenant who looked under my car also checked the oil and found that it was down about one and one half litres. I immediately drove back to the garage and they changed the oil filter again. They told me that the seal on the oil filter was defective and replaced it and then again filled the car with oil. I was okay with that until my superintendent told me that a leaking oil filter would diminish the oil pressure and that I should demand a new engine. I am worried that he might be correct but I have no idea as to how I should approach this with the garage. Dorothy from Dunville
ANSWER
I spoke to your garage and they have told me that you and your late husband have been customers of theirs for over thirty years. They were upset that you left their garage with any worries about your car and the leaking oil filter. When you drove back to the garage, your car was down less than two litres of oil and driving only two kilometres is certainly not going to do any harm to your car’s engine. I do not know your superintendent but I can assure you that he is most likely not an automotive technician and the advice that he gave you was not correct and should not be taken as fact. The owner of the garage certainly values you as a good customer and wants you to come see him when you have time. I think he is going to surprise you with a gift certificate for your car’s next oil change.
QUESTION
About four weeks ago, I had my garage replace the front wheel bearing on my 2008 Chevy van. The price of this bearing is astronomical so I purchased what I thought was a good used one and had the garage install it for me. I asked them to check out the bearing before they replaced it and they told me that they could not detect any problem with the used bearing. They replaced it for me and as I said, about four weeks later, the bearing started to make the same noise. I went back to the place where I purchased the used bearing and they gave me another one. The garage on the other hand, that replaced the bearing, will not take any responsibility for the failed bearing and are going to charge me the same labour to replace it again. My argument is that I asked them to look at the used bearing before they installed it and they told me that it was okay. Well, it turned out that it was not oaky and now they will not acknowledge that they did anything wrong. I know that you have sway with the garages and was hoping that you could get me some help by making the garage replace the second bearing for free. Thank you. Don from Lowville
ANSWER
What you are asking for is not going to happen because the garage did not do anything wrong other than let you dictate how the job was to be done. There is not anyway that someone can properly check a sealed front wheel bearing when it is out of the vehicle without damaging it. I also wonder how you were able to get a used front wheel bearing with an intact ABS sensor so I called the garage and they told me that you opted to not having the ABS sensor hooked up. I kind of faulted the garage for allowing this to be done and suggested to them that there might be a legal problem if you have an accident with braking issue problems as a result. They told me that the customer is always right but in this case, I disagree with them. They are the experts and should not have agreed to improperly replace the used wheel bearing. The garage where you purchased the used bearing, which is also a used parts store, is going to help you out and replace the second used bearing. They are only going to charge you one hour to do the job. That is a good deal. You can do your own thing but I hope you decide to properly replace the wheel bearing as it was designed.
QUESTION
Dennis, I very much enjoy your articles. I bought a 2013 Cadillac SRX new and GM changed my oil free until the warranty expired. My local garage changes the oil and filter every 10,000 kilometers or every 6 Months which ever comes first. They use full synthetic 5W30, which is the suggested GM spec. They are telling me that I need to flush the engine once a year at an additional cost of $60. Do you see it as necessary to do this? Thanks, Garry from Selkirk
ANSWER
My first question to the garage would be this: “Why in my case do you recommend that the engine should be flushed”. When you recognise that they cannot give you any type of reasonable answer then stick to your regular oil changes and you cannot go wrong.