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Walmart destroy my engine. What can I do?

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EvenD

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma

I have a Ford 97 Escort. I went to Walmart to change my car's engine oil, and the next day I had to drive from Oklahoma to Texas.

6 days later, the engine stopped working after I had driven for about 1000 miles. The local repair shop told me the engine oil was too much they put in. (My car is 4qt. capacity and they put about 6qt.) I was forced to pay about $2138 to change a working engine in order to get my car back to Oklahoma.

I contacted Walmart’s insurance company (Claims Management inc.,) but the person said they had reviewed the video in Walmart and found they had no mistake in their operation (it is so ridiculous! who can see this tiny scale on the tape??) and he said he doesn’t know who had accessed to my vehicle in these 6 days, so they won’t pay a dime for my loss.

What I have is the receipts/reports from the Mechanic witten “car came in 2qt. over filled of engine oil.” I really don’t know what else to do, and this amount of money is making my life so much tougher now. If I go to sue them in a small claim court, will I win? Any advice would help. Thank you for reading my problem.
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma

I have a Ford 97 Escort. I went to Walmart to change my car's engine oil, and the next day I had to drive from Oklahoma to Texas.

6 days later, the engine stopped working after I had driven for about 1000 miles. The local repair shop told me the engine oil was too much they put in. (My car is 4qt. capacity and they put about 6qt.) I was forced to pay about $2138 to change a working engine in order to get my car back to Oklahoma.

I contacted Walmart’s insurance company (Claims Management inc.,) but the person said they had reviewed the video in Walmart and found they had no mistake in their operation (it is so ridiculous! who can see this tiny scale on the tape??) and he said he doesn’t know who had accessed to my vehicle in these 6 days, so they won’t pay a dime for my loss.

What I have is the receipts/reports from the Mechanic witten “car came in 2qt. over filled of engine oil.” I really don’t know what else to do, and this amount of money is making my life so much tougher now. If I go to sue them in a small claim court, will I win? Any advice would help. Thank you for reading my problem.
You can sue. Will you win? How can we know? Your case sounds a bit shaky. You drove 1,000 miles in 6 days in a 14 year old car. Presumably, your engine was not new and likely burned (or leaked) oil. It is reasonable to expect that you would have added oil during that 1,000 mile journey. Furthermore, you probably paid more for the engine than the car is worth. Even if you win, you won't be able to collect more than the actual value of the vehicle at the time of the oil change...

ETA: You will need to sue in Oklahoma.
 

xylene

Senior Member
Excess engine oil would cause catalytic converter failure...

Also, you have neglected to mention the total mileage of the the vehicle.
 

EvenD

Junior Member
Excess engine oil would cause catalytic converter failure...

Also, you have neglected to mention the total mileage of the the vehicle.

I bought this car from my friend 6 years ago with about 100,000 miles for $2000. During these 6 years, I have only driven for 20,000 miles (total will be 120,000 miles.)

I have never got any accident and I maintain this car carefully because it is my first one.


Presumably, your engine was not new and likely burned (or leaked) oil. It is reasonable to expect that you would have added oil during that 1,000 mile journey. Furthermore, you probably paid more for the engine than the car is worth. Even if you win, you won't be able to collect more than the actual value of the vehicle at the time of the oil change...
I hate to pay $2000 for the engine, and it's more than my car itself. But the engine died when I was in Texas, and I needed to have my car back to Oklahoma in by the next day so I was forced to fix it. At that time, I still need to use it to drive for about 10 hours.

I have no idea how to change the engine oil by myself so I did it in Walmart before this trip.
 
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Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I bought this car from my friend 6 years ago with about 100,000 miles for $2000. During these 6 years, I have only driven for 20,000 miles (total will be 120,000 miles.)
That means that you have no idea of how the car was maintained for 83% of its total mileage.

I hate to pay $2000 for the engine, and it's more than my car itself. But the engine died when I was in Texas, and I needed to have my car back to Oklahoma in by the next day so I was forced to fix it. At that time, I still need to use it to drive for about 10 hours.
You mean a plane ticket costs more than $2,000 from TX to OK. Who knew?!?

I have no idea how to change the engine oil by myself so I did it in Walmart before this trip.
I didn't mention anything about CHANGING the oil...
 

Dave1952

Senior Member
If the mechanic will testify in court then you do have a chance. Without the mechanic you don't.
Since the car was damaged you are entitled to up to the fair market value of the car. This will probably be less than $2000. Look at the NADA and Kelly Blue Book web-sites

Good luck
 

Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
they had reviewed the video in Walmart and found they had no mistake in their operation
Ask to see the video and see if it convinces you that they did make a mistake. If they added oil from quart bottles, it's pretty easy to count how many bottles they put in.
 

ecmst12

Senior Member
You should also recognize that you don't know the condition the engine was in before this happened. A 97 Ford Escort with 120k miles was near the end of its natural lifespan.

You probably would have been better off taking that $2k you spent and buying a different used car to get home in.
 

justalayman

Senior Member
Ok, you have a lousy case, apparently your state allows lawyers in small claims court(and WM might send one to represent them), and it will cost you about $200 to file the case and have the defendant served.

Other than that, I can't see any reason you shouldn't try.
 

EvenD

Junior Member
Ask to see the video and see if it convinces you that they did make a mistake. If they added oil from quart bottles, it's pretty easy to count how many bottles they put in.

Ok so this is how things had turned out in these days:

1. Walmart's insurance company (CMI) refused to provided me video and closed the case.
2. I went to Walmart to complain not got nothing back. They told me to contact CMI
3. I filed BBB (Better Business Bureau)
4. CMI wrote to BBB said they were willing to send me the video
5. I wrote back said they didn't inform me
6. I got the video yesterday (finally!!)
7. Video is not as clear as Walmart people claimed
and here is the video I uploaded on youtube:
YouTube - 2010/11/11 Walmart Oil Change

There are 3 sections in this video. First is front view. the only part is worth to watch.
Second part is bottom view, I can't understand the process he drained my oil.
Third part is rear view, basically it's just a different angle.



Can anyone please tell me what size the bottle is in the video?
 
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justalayman

Senior Member
13 minute video.

can you narrow down where, in the time line, the jug in question shows up?

and what brand and weight of oil was it?
 

EvenD

Junior Member
about the video

13 minute video.

can you narrow down where, in the time line, the jug in question shows up?

There are 3 sections in this video. First is front view. the only part is worth to watch.
Second part is bottom view, I can't understand the process he drained my oil.
Third part is rear view, basically it's just a different angle.

You can see a guy taking a huge bottle of engine oil within the first minute to the red car(my car.)

and what brand and weight of oil was it?
this is also my question. Can you tell what size the bottle is?
 

justalayman

Senior Member
I'm not sure about that Zig. It kind of looks like a very large shop container and not the jugs from the shelf that have 4, but usually 5 quarts of oil in them. That is one reason I asked about what kind of oil it was. If it was a house brand, it might be purchased in bulk and this jug is used to measure the oil and fill with. I see no labels that would indicate it was a jug from the shelf already full of oil.

yep, if you watch starting at 11:30, you can see the guy fillling the jug. The best I can say is to go to the garage and try to determine how much that jug holds and scrutinize the video to see if you can see how full the jug is and try to determine how much oil that would be. Other than that, I couldn't really say how to determine how much oil they put in.
 
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It also doesn't show if they pulled the drain plug or just replaced the oil filter and neglected to pull the plug and drain all the oil.

Also 2 or 3 extra quarts would have blown a head gasket and eventually overheaded and pluged your exhuast. Probably would have had to replace the CAT like previously mentioned.
Before any big damage and a thousand miles, the engine would have ran like sh1t. Specially on the highway and your oil pressure gauge would have dropped or the idiot light would have come on.

If your reciept shows a new CAT or cleanning the CAT then it would be more believable. But with out that....
 
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