What would you do?

DaisyJeep

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Mar 2, 2019
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Naples, FL
Had an oil change about a week ago at Valvoline. They didn't tighten the radiator cap. Engine overheated, and the heat ruined the water pump, which is now being replaced.

Would you contact Valvoline? Or just let it go?

Luckily, my insurance covered the cost of the tow, but the cost of the repair is all mine.
 
If they screwed something up, they should be on the hook for all bills incurred. No question about it.

I certainly hope you have a way to prove that they were the last to touch the radiator cap, though. Work order? Itemized receipt?
 
Im no lawyer, but: does the Valvoline receipt indicate ‘checked’ or ‘topped off all fluids’ or anything related to them having touched the radiator? And further more, I’d imagine you would need a professional / mechanic’s statement, on paper, (or willing to back it up verbally) indicating that the overheat was caused by a poorly seated rad cap, no?


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This is what it shows.
85041
 
I personally would have demanded that Valvoline fix it and pay for it.

One of my first jobs when I was 16 was at Jiffy Lube. After working there for long enough, I remember that they always were required to pay for mistakes that they made. One time they had to buy a guy an entirely new engine, since they didn't tighten his drain plug in good enough, and it fell out when he drove around the block, causing his engine to seize up.

They'll pay for it if they did indeed cause it.
 
It apears they only checked the coolant reservoir. There is nothing documented about the radiator cap.
 
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Well, my two cents:
(coolant reservoir level: checked) translates, to me, that they simply ‘looked’ at the level reading on the side of the coolant reserve and not actually removed the rad cap. Most of those shops, in my opinion, dont take extra care. They want customers in and out asap. More turnaround, more money.

End of the day, doesn’t hurt to raise the question to management.


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It apears they only checked the coolant reservoir. There is nothing documented about the radiator cap.

That is exactly what I was going to post. I don't know for sure, but I would think that they would not be having their employees opening hot radiators because of the risk to burns. It seems more reasonable that they would be having them top off the reservoir. There is really no need to open the radiator up unless the reservoir was bone dry. The only thing that would ruin the water pump would be to run it dry. Having a loose cap would leave you with antifreeze steaming out of the hood long before the coolant system emptied enough to damage the water pump. Sounds like an unfortunate coincidence to me.
 
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Interesting. And you're right...that cap would've been way too hot to open! So looks like it was a coincidence after all!

Thanks for your knowledge, everyone! At 47, I'm learning a lot about how a vehicle works. About time!
 
They should pay for the repairs if their negligence was the cause.

Having them take responsibility is another issue.

Assuming they don't take responsibility, proving it may be difficult.

Did they actually open the radiator?

Is the over heating the proximate cause of the water pump failure?

It can't hurt to submit a claim to them. Talk to the manager. If no luck, send a professional letter to corporate. If you have a lot of Twitter or IG followers tag them in a post.... That usually gets corporate attention better than anything else.

If they deny it, small claims court is your option.

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Here's the problem with trying to sue Valvoline. You have to have proof that you didn't take the cap off. If this would have happened immediately after you took off in the car within 20 minutes you might have a case.

The judge is going to look at whether or not something else might have happened which it is very likely.

They're also going to say your radiator cap might have failed due to no fault of theirs.

I hate to say it but you probably have no case.
 
I doubt they caused the issue... Nobody takes a rad cap off of a hot engine, it would have sprayed everywhere and made a mess.
 
It apears they only checked the coolant reservoir. There is nothing documented about the radiator cap.
You are correct and were I the one at Valvoline, I would point to that, circle it with a red marker, hand it back to you and say, "sue me".

When I worked at a body/mechanic shop, we had a few instances of folks sending their vehicles over so we could disassemble them for the BAR inspector to look at and see if causation could be determined. 100% of the time a defect was discovered. 100% of the time there was no way to prove that the previous shop was negligent simply due to the fact that no one could prove that someone else did not tamper with or change the shop's work.

In this case, no one can prove that Valvoline left the cap loose and it could simply be a case of someone making a claim to cover a repair unrelated to something that Valvoline did. I fully believe that is not the case but no one will be able to prove differently.
 
Here's the problem with trying to sue Valvoline. You have to have proof that you didn't take the cap off. If this would have happened immediately after you took off in the car within 20 minutes you might have a case.

The judge is going to look at whether or not something else might have happened which it is very likely.

They're also going to say your radiator cap might have failed due to no fault of theirs.

I hate to say it but you probably have no case.
Even if it failed in the work bay, that is going to be hard to prove as their fault or even responsibility to repair. I was chatting with the owner of a rig on the phone. I catch a bit of movement out of the corner of my eye and start watching to see what it was. Follow it down, water pump is dripping coolant on the driveway. Rig hasn't been started and run in 2 weeks, it has been on jack stands immobile for that entire time. I haven't touched the engine or any part of it and just sitting there it decides to start pissing on my driveway. WTF? I tell the owner he needs a water pump and if he's lucky, I won't charge him for getting crap on my shiny clean driveway. ;)