My car had a small oil leak since i got it and I took it to a mechanic that said it was the rear valve cover gasket and so I paid him to replace them he so said he would do a general check up for free and told me it looked good. I pick it up the next morning and when I get on the freeway my check oil light pops on and then off a couple miles later it comes back on fading off and on not flashing like a cel does so I start pulling over and something pops and small parts start flying behind my car and the engine shuts off. I have had it for about a month and put 2000 miles on it with no problems and I made it a little less than 6 miles from his shop when this happened. I need an opinion on what I should expect or do.

 

1. Have the car looked at by a different shop. Get their opinion as to what went wrong. Give them all the facts. The blown engine may be related to the mechanic's work but it's also possible that it's not.

2. Depending on what they say, your next stop may be a lawyer. Find one that knows about automobile service failures. Most lawyers don't.

3. Next time your oil light comes on STOP THE CAR IMMEDIATELY! There is no distance you can drive safely with the oil light on, especially at freeway speeds.

 

Sounds good. I really didn't have much time to do much as I was in the fast lane on the freeway in moderate traffic in Cali. But apparently by what everyone is saying I should have stopped immidiately I get that but it was a matter of minutes but I guess a couple minutes is just too much. There just aren't very many exits and I was I think maybe 2 exits from the shop. I know these cars have a fair amount of issues but it's just hard to not think it has something to do with what he did. I've driven it for for many miles and then I have him work on an oil leak and the oil light comes on and engine blows it's just the first thing you would think but I guess it's not impossible for it to be something else I just try to use common sense and i don't count on coincidence that much. I had it towed back back to his shop but I maybe should have towed it to another for second opinion as I'm afraid he may try to cover up what he did. It is a small shop and I'm a little worried he may have tried to do somethingn that would have caused me to go back and pay more but it went a little over board but who knows. A couple stories he told me had me definitely doubting his business ethics. He told me he had a guy come in every time it rained and he would just blow the water off the spark plugs and it would fix it and he would then tell him he fixed something and would see him Everytime it rained. He was working on another Sebring at the time I brought mine in and said the lady had basically paid 1100 for something that wasn't even the problem he was mistaken and had to do something completely different with it but he wouldn't tell her that. It just makes me wonder about how he runs business. I hope it was a coincidence but it seems unlikely to me. Someone suggested it could have been sludged up and maybe when he replaced the valve cover he plugged up an oil tube with some sludge causing the oil pressure to mess up, I guess that's possible but it sucks that paid him to work on my car and he would let something like that happen.

 

He had thought I hit something and caused a hole in the oil pan but my dad just went over there and a rod blew out of the engine and through my oil pan. I'm guessing low oil or oil pressure caused this to happen since the light came on right before this happened.so I have to get a new engine I was wondering seeing when buying new engine is the water pump and timing chain included? Is this something I should buy new and have it also replaced? I saw the water pump is really cheap but for the timing do I need just the chain or the whole timing assembly?

 

It really doesn't make sense to put a brand new engine into a 12 year old car. Look for a used engine from a car of the same vintage or a rebuilt engine from the same vintage. Beware of 2.7L engines that are from 2001-2003 as they have a different design from yours and the computers are not compatible. I think the change was made during the 2004 model year. You should have no problem with an engine from 2005-2006.
The water pump and timing chain will be included on a used engine, of course. Rebuilt engines come in many flavors: short block, long block, complete engine. You deal with the engine re-builder and buy what you need. If the damage was confined to the lower part of the engine, you may be able to get away with a short block and transfer the heads and valve train from your old engine. If the damage extended to the upper part of the engine then you'll need more than just a short block.
They changed the timing chain somewhere along the line. Yours probably has the newer chain. Owners of older engines needed to replace he chain when they replaced the water pump. Because the water pump is buried behind the timing chain, it will probably be included in anything other than a short block set.

 

I see. Thanks you for this info it will be really helpful. Do you know of a year of Chrysler Sebring g that doesn't have any of these "problems" people complain about or is it the entire line of Sebring? How about the 99-00? The reason being I'm seeing it may be cheaper to buy a different car than installing a used or rebuilt engine. And if I'm going to buy a different car I was wondering if there's any sebrings that don't have that engine that some people seem to dislike.

 

The older engines (2.5L and 3.0L) have been known to have distributor problems. It's a completely different engine (Japanese, I think) with it's own set of troubles. You'll not find any car by any manufacturer that has no problems, ever. Things with moving parts wear out, more so as they get older.
Sebrings were built with 4-cylinder engines as well as the V-6's, but again, there's no engine that is guaranteed not to gave problems of some kind or another, especially if somebody working on it does something that causes it to lose all its oil or whatever it was that happened.

 

All Chrysler engines found in the Sebring convertibles from 1996-2006 have the same fatal flaw. The water pump is driven either by the timing belt (2.5L six, 2.4L four) or the timing chain (2.7L six). The good thing about the 2.5L and the 2.4L is that a leaking water pump will not contaminate the engine oil. However a broken timing belt will usually destroy the engine since they are interference motors. If the belt and water pump are replaced according to the maintenance schedule they usually are more reliable than the 2.7L. You can find 2.4L fours in Sebrings through 2006. The 2.5L was not available in Sebring convertibles after 2000. As for your car unless you have some attachment to it it's probably not worth replacing the motor. In this area Sebring convertibles are usually well under $2000 unless they have extremely low miles.

John

 

I wouldn't get a lawyer, you will never recover the cost, especially going to court, it will cost thousands of dollars. I hope you brought it to another shop right away, even a Chrysler Delaership would be best to find out what happened. Then if it looks like the ther shops fault you can sue them in Small Claims court, most SCC's allow up to 5000 or 10000 depending on your state. Just you and the shop there, no lawyers allowed. If you have a document from Chrysler saying its likely due to faulty work then you will most likely, like 99% win, if you present your case professionally and no personal attacks, just facts, facts only. Its like 30$ to file and another 30$ to have a server serve the shop or even some deputies do it. But first you must write the shop, make it certified telling them you have evidence the work was faulty and you want to recover x.xx amount for repairs, get 2 bids. They have 30 days to respond, after the 30 dys you can then file in SCC, Ive been there many times, won always, the level of proof is not like in Superior or Federal courts, its a very low bar of what makes sense and seems reasonable. But it you tore the car apart before you brought it to a shop you will probably lose the advantage of proving the other shop did wrong work.