HELP PLS!!!! Jeep Service Center returned my JLU with NO OIL after routine oil change.

[DBjeepNY]

I took my Wrangler for a routine oil change yesterday. Dropped the Jeep at 8am, was called at 3pm to say it was ready to collect. About 3 miles after collecting the Jeep (was actually very nicely cleaned for me free of charge), the low oil pressure light came on. I picked my daughter up from school and drove home while trying to call the dealer - of course it was after 5pm by then and no one answered. Obvious thought was that there was low oil - they'd failed to top it off properly. No apparent leaks under the car.

I limped home - about 5 miles from where I picked up my daughter and parked my car. The oil dipstick was completely dry!

I called the dealer first thing this morning and they sent out a technician.

ZERO oil in the engine.

After a day reviewing the situation, they are claiming that there was a leak in the oil gasket and that the engine had dumped all it's oil during the first mile or so after I picked up the Jeep.

Something doesn't add up to me.

There was no smoke coming from the engine, no apparent leak when I stopped to collect my daughter after driving about 2 miles from the dealer. Where could the oil have gone??? Could the engine really have let go of 6 quarts of oil without any obvious signs from the driver's seat??

They say that there's "no lasting damage to the engine" but none of this really adds up to me.

Any thoughts? My JLU is 3 years old but "was" in immaculate condition, having only done 8600 miles.

Not sure what to do...

what or where is this dealer...I live in NY and want to avoid...

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[Rustynail11]

Damn when did dealers start making house calls? I would be just as concerned about them putting 6qts in when capacity is 5

 

[splat]

A similar thing happened to me once back when I had a 1995 Chevy S10. I brought it to a Walmart for an oil change, and they gave it back to me 2 quarts low and not registering on the dipstick. I didn't discover it until driving a couple hundred miles when it started to get a bit noisy and felt down on power. After filling the sump, I was able to drive it until I sold it a couple years later, but it never ran the same again. After a couple other bad experiences with dealerships, I decided it wasn't worth it to pay someone else for routine maintenance. I hope you end up with a new engine or a different Jeep after all is said and done.

 

[Mikester86]

 

[58Willys]

Why did you drive 5 miles with the oil light on? Even if dealer forgot to refill oil, you have som culpability here.

 

[OrneryBear]

WOW, so first any "gasket" leak is going to take forever to drain an engine of oil, and if it were an issue before the oil change you'd have dumped it before hand. So I'm guessing the tech threw the drain plug back in and forgot to fill it back up.

I've driven a car with a half inch hole in the bottom of an oil pan to limp it home and even it didn't drain out that quickly, some how.

Typically when you see low oil pressure warnings, it's a big problem. I'd be hesitant to accept their "no damage has been done" statement.

Also for future reference, when you see a low oil pressure warning on a vehicle, don't limp it home, pull over as soon as safely possible.

 

[RAMSTEEL]

Why did you drive 5 miles with the oil light on? Even if dealer forgot to refill oil, you have som culpability here.

So in fairness, if a oil light is indicator that damage or failure is going to occur, it should shutdown the engine and protect it. On every boat I've had since 2005, the monitor system will absolutely shut you down if there's over temp or oil pressure issues.

At a minimum, a message in the center display or head unit to instruct the driver to take action to avoid further damage.

Sorry, this is too easy to prevent by the manufacturer.

 

[COJeeper]

I change my own oil at home. These are the last three of my steps I follow EVERY time and I'm not a professional oil changer.

Check dipstick
Drive vehicle
Check dipstick and add additional oil if needed

Who does an oil change and doesn't check the dipstick?!?!! That would be like a heart surgeon dropping a heart in a chest and saying, that's about right, good enough, sew em up and let him do a 5k, it'll probably be fine!

 

[txj2go]

Typically when you see low oil pressure warnings, it's a big problem. I'd be hesitant to accept their "no damage has been done" statement.

Also for future reference, when you see a low oil pressure warning on a vehicle, don't limp it home, pull over as soon as safely possible.

In a fairly new engine, when the oil light comes on it doesn't mean the oil is low it means there is no oil, or not enough that it can pump oil to the bearings, etc. The oil lubricates the pistons/rings, the bearings, the cam and lifters, and cools the pistons. Stop any part of that and any of those parts can be damaged or destroyed very quickly. Yes do not continue to run the engine if the oil light is on.
On a vehicle with a lot of miles on it the low oil pressure can be low oil pressure but the oil is still being pumped somewhat and the engine won't immediately destroy itself. There is a difference there.
There used to be a "parlor trick" by some oil additive companies where they would have an engine on a test stand that they could start and run, then they would drain the oil out of the pan while the engine continued to run. This was to show how well their product worked. I always assumed there was a trick involved but I didn't know what it was.
I don't know what the limit is for running a modern engine without oil pressure. I'm sure it will easily run longer than 10 seconds but obviously won't run 30 minutes. I don't think it would run 5 minutes but this is a pretty expensive test to run.

So in fairness, if a oil light is indicator that damage or failure is going to occur, it should shutdown the engine and protect it.

At a minimum, a message in the center display or head unit to instruct the driver to take action to avoid further damage.

I was going to suggest that the operator should already know this but maybe that isn't realistic. Back meny years ago when I started working on cars I think more people would have known this but it wasn't known by everyone. I don't think they would have something to completely shut down the engine because you might be in a location where it would be dangerous to have the car completely stop, but having the dash display tell you to immediately pull over and turn off the engine would be a good thing. They certainly don't mind telling me constantly that an unessential system like the ESS isn't working.

Who does an oil change and doesn't check the dipstick?!?!! That would be like a heart surgeon dropping a heart in a chest and saying, that's about right, good enough, sew em up and let him do a 5k, it'll probably be fine!

Not everybody is completely conscientious with their work, that's why I do QC reviews for my current company. I learned to check my own work because I didn't want anybody to complain to me. However do enough oil changes and eventually you can have a problem unless you are very careful. I've done a lot of oil changes and I don't want to list the mistakes I've made over the years. I never blew up an engine though.
Years ago I had taken a car to the dealer to replace the steering rack under warranty. The next day they called me saying the mechanic had woken up in the middle of the night wondering if he had tightened up some of the bolts, please bring the car back in. I did and everything was fine.

 

[four low]

Did I miss what engine this is ? Does the diesel take more than 6 qts, and show " no oil" on the stick when actually some oil still in the crankcase ?

 

[Rustynail11]

Did I miss what engine this is ? Does the diesel take more than 6 qts, and show " no oil" on the stick when actually some oil still in the crankcase ?

good question, Diesel takes 9qts I believe

 

[TOL JEEPER]

Many years ago I was changing the oil on an old Ford Ranger. It used the screw-on filter with the seated o-ring on on the mating surface. Long story short, I failed to notice the old o-ring stuck to the filter housing and I installed the new oil filter with o-ring on top of it. Filled the oil and started the engine. I immediately heard the oil spraying out from the housing/filter mating area. It sounded like someone was running a garden hose with their thumb over the nozzle to water their flowers. Oil was everywhere... garage floor, walls, my wife's Jeep, and covered most of the bottom of my truck.
Point is, I would imagine you would have an equally huge mess if the dealer's claim of a failed gasket was true.

 

[Valpo Jeep]

Every time that I paid someone else to change my oil, I ALWAYS checked the dipstick before I leave the facility. Too many stories of this or them to charge and not change the oil.

 

[Elada20]

Sorry to say this but something is not adding up to this story...

 

[Zipzit]

Many years ago I was changing the oil on an old Ford Ranger. It used the screw-on filter with the seated o-ring on on the mating surface. Long story short, I failed to notice the old o-ring stuck to the filter housing and I installed the new oil filter with o-ring on top of it. Filled the oil and started the engine.

I saw this happen once on a V6 Mustang. The difference there was the oil filter used a square cross section seal at the oil filter. The two seals mated up pretty well for 500 miles or so. Then there was a leak spraying oil on the exhaust. Oil smoke was our observation of the issue.

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