Sudden and MAJOR oil leak

[madpiper]

Monday evening on the way home I smell something burning (thought it was the truck in front of me). I glanced at the dash to see the low oil pressure light was on. After quickly getting parked I checked the dipstick, nothing. And a puddle was under the engine.Now the dealer says the oil filter adapter cracked, the part was ordered and would be in tomorrow. And of course it didn't come in today (Dec 24th).My question is: has anyone else had this happen? What engine checks should be made to verify no engine damage occurred? I've had my 09 Vibe for just shy of 3 months, one oil change about 6 weeks ago. Thanks for the advice!And MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you!

[ned23]

Why did you need an "adapter" for your oil filter? There's not much you can do to verify damage at this stage except maybe at your next oil change to send some of the oil in for an analyisis after a couple thousand miles. The tests usually cost about $20 or $30 depending on postage. They'll test for contaminants which can indicate wear from damaged parts such as:Gasoline distillates (leaking injector)Chromium (piston rings) Copper, tin (bearings) Sodium, glycols (coolant)Ferrous compounds (crankshaft, camshaft, cylinder liner, and timing gears)Silica (air intake system)

[djb383]

Yep, oil filter "adapter" sounds funny........did the dealer change the oil 6 weeks ago and trying to cover up something???????

[ou.grizzly]

Maybe it is the case that the oil filter fits into?

[djb383]

One could always ask to see the socalled cracked "adapter".

[Caretaker]

"Earth to Everyone": NEVER TRUST A DEALERSHIP. They hire the biggest losers to service your vehicle. Mine almost killed me in July. I will never buy an extended warranty (which only allows the dealership to find things that are NOT wrong with your car and charge the parent organization you have the warranty with). Please, please, please, never go back to a dealership. Find a local repair shop and use them. Like me, your life could hang in the balance. Taking your car to a dealership for maintenance or repairs is equally as stupid as buying a lottery ticket. Sounds like a great idea, but isn't.

[prathman]

Quote, originally posted by maxx4me »Please, please, please, never go back to a dealership.So where should the OP take a 3-month old car with oil pouring out of the engine? I'm not a fan of dealership service either, but I'll certainly use them while the car is still under the factory warranty.Unfortunately I don't know of any way to tell for sure that there hasn't been any excess engine wear - only a few ways to tell that there has been. I'd want a compression check and the oil analysis mentioned earlier. It's good that you still have a long powertrain warranty period so you'll be covered for future problems. Make sure to keep all documentation about the oil leak so that if there are future problems you can point to this as a possible cause.Which engine (1.8 or 2.4) do you have in your Vibe? Does it have the new oil filter style with a separate cover and replaceable element inside of that?

[ColonelPanic]

Quote, originally posted by prathman »So where should the OP take a 3-month old car with oil pouring out of the engine? I'm not a fan of dealership service either, but I'll certainly use them while the car is still under the factory warranty.True! Dealers can suck but good luck getting your trusty independent mechanic to do warranty work. If it was a dealer who royally botched this job, by all means it's their responsibility to clean it up.

[northvibe]

I thought the 2.4l had a canister type filter? (like my ms3) its just the filter no metal case, so they make an adapter to the block to use the spin on metal filters. Maybe they installed that? OR last time they did a oil change messed up the drain plug or filter install.

[djb383]

I believe the new 1.8 has the canister oil filter and the 2.4 has the metal spin-on filter, no????

[northvibe]

Quote, originally posted by djb383 »I believe the new 1.8 has the canister oil filter and the 2.4 has the metal spin-on filter, no????its one of them...i know that.

[djb383]

LOL.........lucky guess that's it got an oil filter......huh.

[northvibe]

Quote, originally posted by djb383 »LOL.........lucky guess that's it got an oil filter......huh. haha well i mean that canister type. My ms3 has the canister and mazda sells a spin on can conversion kit. which i can see being called an "adapter", i just dont trust it since I race my car.

[djb383]

I actually like the new/old style canister type filters, as I do my own oil & filter changes, and it is easy to inspect the filter element for any metal shavings........with the spin on, you must hassle with cutting it apart in order to inspect it. 'yota's explanation is that the canister type is "green" and will decompose whereas the metal spin-on won't. Just 2 different types and both are easy to change with no need for an adapter.