Engine Seizure - What I Learned

[Cort]

A week or so after the leaf springs and water pipe on the Oliver were fixed the engine seized on the van as I was trying to turn the trailer around and it got stuck in a meadow near Mammoth Lakes, Ca.  I was using traction mats to slowly pull it forward when the 6.6L engine seized.

I had it towed to the highway ($1200) and then used my premium AAA roadside service to get it towed 2 1/2 hours to Reno, Nevada. I got the premium roadside service just for this instance (The mechanics in Mammoth and Bishop were booked up for months).  Triple AAA will not pay for towing from a dirt road - hence the $1200 charge from Rauh towing. I got to know him pretty good - a good guy). 

Despite the fact that I had personally kept track of oil changes, that I had just gotten the transmission fluid changed, and a GM dealer had checked out the oil and other fluid levels 2 weeks before, that the check engine light never came on (showing that the oil was running low), the fact that I did not have a receipt showing that the oil had been changed by a shop, meant the dealer assumed that I had neglected to change the oil, and refused to honor the warranty.  The service guy's tone markedly changed when he learned that the engine had seized.

I contacted a shop about breaking down the engine to show that that was not the case, but the owner recommended against it because even if the breakdown showed that a rod or bearing had broken and no evidence that low oil was the cause, the dealer or GM would likely still refuse to honor the warranty. GM, it seems, will do anything to avoid paying to replace an engine. 

Big Oil Leak

I went to GEICO to see if they would help with the rental car and they led me to their mechanical breakdown department. I didn't realize it, but I had a mechanical breakdown on my insurance policy. (GEICO does this for newer cars). It took a while with the dealer essentially ignoring their requests but they got an engine specialist over there to inspect the outside of the engine. I almost fell off my chair when he believed that an oil filter failure caused the seizure. 

One question immediately was whether I broke the engine by trying to pull the trailer through deep sand. The answer to that was surely no.  Dragging anything through sand dramatically increases the strain on the vehicles suspension and its engine. In this case, the van's suspension - which is only rated to tow 10,000 lbs - held, while the engine - which is rated to tow at maximum over 18,000 lbs failed. The strain must have done something but I believe that it either revealed a problem with the engine that was already there or I just got unlucky.  I've been stuck many times and I know not to  bury a stuck vehicle further by revving the engine. As soon as the van got stuck, I turned off the engine.  The wheels were never buried much. 

I still question the diagnosis. The engine had always had a rough idle (it chugged like a little diesel), and from the beginning, I thought a rod or a bearing had broken. I assume, though, that the inspector did not find evidence of oil leaking from the upper half of the engine.  I was able to inspect the oil filter later and did not see anything amiss. GEICO told me that sometimes the connection between an oil filter and the engine can fail - causing oil to spew out. They also said it's rare for a large amount of oil to blow out like that. The filter had not contacted the ground or been damaged during the pull.  It's still and will always be something of a mystery to me. 

At that I thought the jig was up - I was going to pay for the whole thing when GEICO referred me to another department. They concluded that the oil filter failure was "an act of God"? or something like that  - an unforseeable accident - and said they would pay for the engine replacement. (I really almost fell off my chair at that point), 

They also ended up paying for the tow and about half the rental car charges over the 2+ months the van was in the shop (which were massive). 

When it came to the engine they disagreed with GM about the need to change the radiator and the fuel pump. They also paid for $150/hour (instead of the dealer $200/hour). Plus the dealer added on another $1000 or so because the engine was seized so badly that they had to take the bottom off. They also took 15% off the engine because it had been used for 2 years. 

GM actually got the engine pretty quickly and did the job pretty quickly as well. It was the runup to all that which took so much time. 

In the end, it was about a $16K job, and I ended up paying about $6K. 

Lessons learned

• Plot out turnarounds better. I could have continued to back the trailer up a small hill and gotten out of there fine but I looked at the meadow - and it looked like short run to the road - and I went for it. I didn't realize the sand in the meadow was so deep. 
• Even though it was clear that the pull should not have damaged the engine it did do something. Note that pulling anything through sand or mud is going to dramatically increase the strain on the suspension and engine. If your vehicle is already near its towing limit be careful. Probably better to have someone else pull the trailer out. 
• Keep oil receipts (or document oil changes another way (photo's). I think I will have the oil changed in shops until the warranty runs out. 
• Premium roadside service is a good thing. 
• Don't rely on vehicle warranties - Check out your insurance company. GEICO turned out to be a good company. I think of insurance companies in general as trying to wiggle out of everything. In this case, GEICO was the opposite - they came through when I was sure they wouldn't. I'll stay with them. 
• If you have a winch use it to pull the trailer out instead of using the tow vehicle.  I am putting on the XO trailer jack so that I can do that. Note that it was hitch that pulled down the rear of the van and caused the rear differential and hitch to get stuck. If I had attached the XO jack to the trailer (I had it but hadn't attached it).  I probably could have easily pulled the trailer out. 

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 07:38 PM by Cort

[Geronimo John]

Cort:

Wow, between Leaf Springs, Lug Nuts and a Blown Engine you've had a tough season for sure.

I hope the bad karma truck passes you by for awhile.  

May only Good luck and sunshine visit you!

GJ

Edited yesterday at 01:11 AM by Geronimo John
typo

[Cort]

2 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:

Cort:

Wow, between Leaf Springs, Lug Nuts and a Blown Engine you've had a tough season for sure.

I hope the bak karma truck passes you by for awhile.  

May only Good luck and sunshine visit you!

GJ

It's been wild! I'm learning a lot though. Hopefully, better karma in my future! 🙂

(Now I'm dealing with marine batteries that are dying at the 2 year mark. Time to start the lithium replacement :))

[Mike and Carol]

Tow vehicles at the margin of their limits are okay “most of the time” but instances like this really underscore having a tow vehicle with more capacity than is needed “most of the time”.  “Some of the time” we need to get unstuck from mud or sand, we need to do mountain towing in hot weather, we need to do some emergency braking, we have to tow in high winds, etc, etc.  

I’m glad GEICO stepped up and helped, that’s what we all want with an insurance company!  Good luck on the rest of your travels and thanks for sharing your experiences, it helps us all.  Mike

[Cort]

3 hours ago, Mike and Carol said:

Tow vehicles at the margin of their limits are okay “most of the time” but instances like this really underscore having a tow vehicle with more capacity than is needed “most of the time”.  “Some of the time” we need to get unstuck from mud or sand, we need to do mountain towing in hot weather, we need to do some emergency braking, we have to tow in high winds, etc, etc.  

I’m glad GEICO stepped up and helped, that’s what we all want with an insurance company!  Good luck on the rest of your travels and thanks for sharing your experiences, it helps us all.  Mike

Thanks!  The van is very good at hauling heavy loads but its not as capable at towing. At 10,000 lbs I imagine I could  max it out when trying to pull a heavy trailer out of the sand. I never conceived of that until this incident. 

A heavy duty truck would have had a stronger suspension and more towing capacity (but less storage space :). 

[jd1923]

5 hours ago, Cort said:

Keep oil receipts (or document oil changes another way (photo's). I think I will have the oil changed in shops until the warranty runs out.

Not good enough...

Always service your vehicles, including oil changes, at the manufacturer's dealerships during the warranty period. Use of aftermarket parts/service items can be claimed to be substandard which can VOID your warranty.

Also, it's pretty much a fact that oil filters purchased at Walmart, Fram oil filters for example, and most auto parts purchased on Amazon, are substandard!

The oil filter is absolutely your MOST important engine part, period.

Actually, your luck is pretty good! First good story I've heard re GEICO!

[Cort]

15 hours ago, jd1923 said:

Not good enough...

Always service your vehicles, including oil changes, at the manufacturer's dealerships during the warranty period. Use of aftermarket parts/service items can be claimed to be substandard which can VOID your warranty.

Also, it's pretty much a fact that oil filters purchased at Walmart, Fram oil filters for example, and most auto parts purchased on Amazon, are substandard!

The oil filter is absolutely your MOST important engine part, period.

Actually, your luck is pretty good! First good story I've heard re GEICO!

Always service your vehicles, including oil changes, at the manufacturer's dealerships during the warranty period. Use of aftermarket parts/service items can be claimed to be substandard which can VOID your warranty. - Thanks!