https://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/10/25/jiffy-lube-car-fire-peabody-massachusetts-kia-sorento-michelle-noriega-wbz-tv-i-team/

This isn't the off topic section.

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Milan Brown 1979 240D, rebuilt OM617.952 turbo diesel, rebuilt 722.315 transmission - engine spun a rod bearing

1979 300SD, ~90k original miles, all stock

While it does not look good for the oil change place, there are gaps in the story and with many sensational news stories, not enough information.

The automatic transmission and power steering have oil too, there was no mention of the exact type of oil.

While SD Lyons has investigation experience since 1990, there are gaps here. I wonder if the inspector drained oil from the engine and measured what came out. If there was sufficient oil in the pan, a faulty oil change was not likely to be the culprit.

A leaking drain plug has about zero chance in causing a fire. For the most part, the oil drain plug leads directly to the ground not an ignition source. A small drip won't catch fire and a major dump of oil will lead to the engine locking up. Also, it should be very easy to determine if the plug was tight, even without a gasket the plug would seal well enough not to dump all of the oil.

Leaking oil filter? Possibly but only if there was a fine spray of oil against something very hot ( Exhaust / cat converter )

Given the car is in the salt belt, a rusted through power steering or transmission cooler line could generate a fine spray that could catch fire.

Don't leave the out the possibility of insurance fraud given the car owner is financially upside down in the car.

The kia oil drain is close to the exhaust, but I don't think that oil would be likely to come in contact with the front pipe even if the plug was omitted. The filter is a top-loading cartridge, which is in a crowded spot. Four o-rings have to be replaced as well as the filter. If the top wasn't screwed down tightly, or if an o-ring was omitted or damaged, oil would mist over the top of the engine. A sloppy installer might leak a fair amount of oil as it was lifted out. It's not hard to imagine it finding it's way to a hot manifold or pipe.

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This is why I call the investigators competency into question. Clearly a leaking engine oil drain plug was not the cause of the fire.


I'd accept that the filter may have leaked. Draining the pan would tell the tale as the level should have been near empty ( compensating for any oil that burned off in the fire though I'd expect not much loss unless the owner left the car running. )

We can't rule out the customer committing insurance fraud by loosening the oil filter or , at minimum, contributory negligence. " After leaving the shop, my brakes barely worked. I wasn't concerned because the car sort of stopped and I was late for the Disco."

"I could see a little bit of smoke, but it wasn't a lot of smoke, so I wasn't concerned."

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When cryptography is outlawed, bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl.

The writing is on the wall.

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1998 Ford Escort ZX2 5 speed - 279,000 miles My Daily

1992 Mercedes 300D 2.5 202,000 - Pure junk
2000 Mercedes E320 Black - 136,000 miles - Needs repair

Don't forget to grease the screw and threads on the spring compressor.

Unfortunately, this is true on some cars after an oil change. On my Subaru, for example, the oil filter is idiotically located in between the legs of the exhaust header. It's impossible to change the filter without getting some oil on the tubes and heat shields. So far, it's only been smoke and no fire.

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Thats the wrong tool, I use the claw tool which I have had since the early 2000s, (I only recently started seeing it in USA). - the claw takes a 1/2 inch ratchet and grips the oil filter hard. once its undone, I just reach in with long gloves and a rag to spin it off.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Long time ago I took my gf(exgf) Subaru Forester to get an oil change.. somehow they drained the trans fluid and put oil in there. I’m not even 100 percent exactly what they did. The oil filter was changed and there was also fresh oil in the engine. Got home and the trans was slipping like a motha. Took it to a real mechanic to get that all straightened out. Went back to the oil change place and they refused to even talk about it. Was going to sue them for the $500 it cost me to fix the problem

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1993 e300
1995 e320
1994 e320
2006 s500 4matic
2004 Jeep wj overland
2001 Ducati 748
2004 Honda shadow aero

On what basis would you sue if you didn't 100% know what they did?

What did the other shop do to correct the problem at $ 500 ?

from what the mechanic said had happened. he took the motor oil out of transmission..flushed, put atf in transmission, new filters. new motor oil in engine..filter and diagnosis of the whole thing. the whole scenerio was completely unacceptable even if theyre a bunch of jiffy lube idiots. the shop manager of the other place told me to kick rocks and they did nothing wrong.

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1993 e300
1995 e320
1994 e320
2006 s500 4matic
2004 Jeep wj overland
2001 Ducati 748
2004 Honda shadow aero

Its very common on older subarus as the transmission and oil pan are very close to each other and use similar drain plugs, Lots of vehicles got a transmission drain and doubled up engine oil that way.

It was also later fixed by Subaru, they installed a T-55 bolt for the transmission drain.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

Early Subaru had a separate differential oil fill drain / fill from the transmission from what I recall with draining the differential being the common failure.

This was nothing compared to the SAAB 99 / 900 classic where the engine sat atop the transmission but fluids where separate.

EDIT > Subaru auto transmissions have a steel pan with a drain plug. The transmission pan is far enough back that even if someone didn't know the car was front / all wheel drive, they would have a hard time confusing the trans for engine oil as the configuration looks just like a rear drive car.

At time 0:40 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coXdL6sDw1g

2005 forester.
I understand mistakes happen but they knew they made one and tried to cover it up. Auto transmissions don’t run on 5-30w. They changed both the trans and crankcase with motor oil

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1993 e300
1995 e320
1994 e320
2006 s500 4matic
2004 Jeep wj overland
2001 Ducati 748
2004 Honda shadow aero