Thread: Help! Mechanic killed our car

Hi. Hoping someone can provide some help. I'm located in Texas.

I took my wife's car in for an oil change recently and the car died a few days later. The car is an '08 Mitsubishi and we never had any problems with it before the oil change. One day after the oil change, the oil pressure light came on. I took it back to the same garage and asked if it could be a problem with the oil filter or something else related to the oil change since there were no problems before that time.

The mechanic hooked up his little diagnostic machine and said the timing was off...and it would cost about $900 to repair. I asked again if it could be something from the oil change itself and he stuck with the timing explanation. He never opened the hood again after the initial oil change. I asked if it would damage the car to drive it around with the timing being off and he said it wouldn't cause any problems.

A couple days later, the engine completely locked up. We kept driving the car because A. the mechanic said it would be okay and B. aside from the oil pressure light, the car was acting normal - no strange noises or anything like that.

We had the car hauled to the dealership and they told us there wasn't anything wrong with the timing, and that a timing problem wouldn't have caused this type of damage anyway. They said it didn't even look like the oil had been changed and asked if we had the receipt to show one had actually been done. We have the receipt but dealership says damage isn't covered under Powertrain warranty because it was faulty labor, and not faulty manufacturing, that caused the damage.

Now we're looking at $8000 for a new engine for a car that's barely three years old. Is there any type of legal action that can be taken or will this joker get away with destroying our car?

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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Thanks for reading, and I hope you can get some help!

Carson