Engine Seizure Help

Mr_Mister

When i was driving the oil warning light came on suddenly and after 10 mins of driving, the engine cut out. Called breakdown services and they said that the sump cable had come out for the oil and this drained out all the oil and caused the engine to seize. It appeared to have been loose or pulled out !!

The previous day, I took my car to a local garage for service and to check out why the engine management light had come on recently.
They called me after a few hours to say that they did not carry out the service as they could not diagnose the issue with the engine management light and that it can only be done by a Ford service centre. Once that has been resolved he suggested that i can bring the car back to them for a service. I took the car back home and called Ford to book the car in for next week.

Now this increasingly looks like someone at the garage attempted to drained the oil but did not carry it out as the engine light had to be checked at with Ford.

The quest is, the garage will most likely deny they did anything as a service was not done although they did diagnostics, so where do I stand? I dont wanna fork out hundreds of pounds for a mistake made by a garage.
Help

harveybobbles

I stopped reading this post after the first 21 words - you have your own answer i'm afraid...!

deltic_2

Even if you can prove the garage did something wrong, they will say that you should not have driven the car at all once the oil warning light came on.

It is a red warning light which means you stop driving immediately

steveo3002

yep all handbooks state you stop straight away....

jeannieblue

Just counted, 21 words exactly. Quite often its too late when the oil light comes on, even if you stop immediately.

Hundreds of pounds could be optimistic sadly.

Sorry, but you are up the creek minus a paddle - why would garage do an oil change etc., then deny it and then say come and get the car? It is as if you are saying that they deliberately sabotaged it. Doesn't really make any sense.

Out of interest what car/year is it?

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

You don't drain the oil from the sump cable (whatever that may be, oil sensor perhaps), you drain it from the sump plug.

Oil light comes on - stop immediately. Its there for a reason.

The engine is likely scrap now. You should be able to get a replacement quite easily depending on the make and model of the car.

jeannieblue

2002 Focus - judging by an earlier thread of this morning regarding engine management light.......... obviously went out for a drive later in the day

uktyler

I'm more worried about the five litres of motor oil spread down the road, as a motorcyclist that could be lethal, didn't the breakdown man even mention this?

jeannieblue

uktyler wrote: »

I'm more worried about the five litres of motor oil spread down the road, as a motorcyclist that could be lethal, didn't the breakdown man even mention this?

Find out where he lives

Mr_Mister

jeannieblue wrote: »

2002 Focus - judging by an earlier thread of this morning regarding engine management light.......... obviously went out for a drive later in the day

yes :-(
ford focus zetec 1.6 2002
doesnt the engine management on the car cut the power off to the engine?
the temperature guage was looking normal and there was no sign of overheating

custardy

if the ECU detects issues with readings from sensors it can cut power to protect the engine from damage.
as said with driving that long with low/no oil pressure its pretty much terminal