engine seized

I feel your pain Armani,
On Aug. 2 brought my 2010 Legacy into our CNY dealership for the "Summer Special" Oil filter change tire rotation brake inspectionetc.. Got the car home parked it and between then and yesterday mostly used it for short errands as My new car is a Camry Hybrid XLE that I wanted to put some miles on. Anyway Wife takes the Subaru two miles down the road and I get a call that she had all the warning lights come on and the car quit and she coasted into a parking space.
Car has only 33 miles since the oil change!
I went out into the garage to go get her and saw a big puddle of oil on the garage floor where the Subaru had been parked. Got to the car called Subaru roadside assistance and not too calmly waited over 3 hours for a tow truck and this after 3 calls to roadside assistance and being put on hold for 3-5 minutes each time eating up wife's cell phone minutes. (If you call them have the last 6 digits of the vin handy). Car eventually flatbedded to the dealer. Called them to let them know it was on the way.
Long story short got a loaner car free ('12 Legacy) and they will be pulling out the old engine and replacing it with a new one. Apparently the oil pan drain screw was not put in properly. Wife says as soon as the dashboard lit up the car died. Can't figure how it was able to coast down a slight decline into a parking space as I thought once an engine seized the car wouldn't move but she says that is what happened.
I lit into the service department and anyone else that I could find. They said to me earlier not to worry the new engine is warrantied and it will be good as new! I said how can I depend on that as you can't even get an oil change right!

This is why people should do things themselves.

Romano? Rapp?

At least you'll get a new engine.

The difference is a 19 yr old oil changer got distracted and forgot to tighten the plug. Now you have a person who has done this before and this is his career not job. Don't sweat it. They will fix your car throughly. Sorry about your situation. Congrats on the new hybrid Camry.

Ps I work for Toyota as a master tech.

Changed our oil today. I know it's done right and quality parts are used. Walmart auto shops recycle oil for free and will get the waste.

sound like the tech forgot to put oil in your car, " the small oil puddle should have been a huge oil puddle 4.5 qt of oil is not a small puddle!!!

Heat makes oil thinner. When he was driving the car at operating temp more oil was lost than when the car was sitting. That being said I think most of his oil was lost driving home from the dealer. Any that was left hit the garage floor. Then his wife got in and drove it with no oil and the engine seized. Just my $.02

Originally Posted by Jace2010LGT

The difference is a 19 yr old oil changer got distracted and forgot to tighten the plug. Now you have a person who has done this before and this is his career not job. Don't sweat it. They will fix your car throughly. Sorry about your situation. Congrats on the new hybrid Camry.

Ps I work for Toyota as a master tech.

Agreed. Someone who knows what they are doing will do the swap. 90%+ of people at shops don't pay attention to detail. Unfortunately these are the guys doing fluid changes and tires. Routine maintenance, get the tools and DIY it.

Wouldn't take a dog to them had to sue them years ago for selling a new car that wasn't. Judge found in my favor. So I guess you can conclude who is at fault. I was told that the tech was not there today when I picked up the loaner. I was told that he has been working there a long time. Gene4 I can only conclude that the tech didn't tighten the drain plug or forgot to either take off the old washer or not put a new one on, or doubled up on the washers and eventually the drain plug loosened enough to come out. If it wasn't in in the first place I wouldn't have even made it home to Cicero. It's a bad Rapp for sure ...pun intended.

Forgot to mention that I'm sorry about your dilemma. That's probably really frustrating.

gened1, very poor. I had a bad experience over there in the past with my STi so I haven't gone back. Hopefully my new Legacy fairs better at the other local shops for any work I through their way.

Be sure to wave if you see me, I am in Cicero as well.

my brother had a similar issue with this '03. he drove it home and the next day he found a large puddle of oil under his car. it ended up being a cross threaded bolt holding the cylinder head on. rather than replace the car they spend 3 weeks replacing the engine. i had something similar happen to my '99 wrangler off the lot and they ended up replacing the jeep for free.

As an Old Timer..... I have learned to always, ALWAYS, check out such things when picking up your car from service visits, not just from Dealers, but regular shops as well (Mavis, Firestone, etc).... I usually get to a gas station, fill'er up and check everything under the Hood: Oil, antifreeze, brake fluid levels, tranny fluid, etc...just to be sure it's all at correct levels. Over the course of 40+ years of driving cars, mistakes and carelessness will happen. Better to be safe than Sorry.

Wife had the oil cap fall off at her next stop and could smell oil because of teh positive crankcase ventilation pumping up. Another time they had to replace the oil cap because they forgot it completely.

Brother in law had his oil drain plug stripped, but he had complained about it before and knew of the problem before going there for the first time. I think he set them up.