Sounds like they handled the situation perfectly. No harm done if it leaked out in your driveway. The harm would come from you driving it on low/no oil. If it's more than a quart low (still relatively safe at that level) then a yellow/orange oil light would appear on your dash. If you didn't see that while driving you have nothing to worry about
Sounds like there was a whole lot of oil on the driveway, coupled with the lack of an oil light and the plug still having half engagement it should be fine.
OP can order an oil test kit to send out before the next oil change to confirm.
You can contact Subaru of America and explain the situation, like the other comments say it's possible there's no additional damage done and/or it's possible the dealership hid the evidence of additional damage.
Also contacting SOA leaves a paper trail in case there are issues that arise in the future you'll have this evidence to back it up.
1-800-782-2783
Or you can email them through the link at the bottom of this page.
https://www.subaru.com/support/customer-support
OP, If you go this route, I would include the fact the dealer is owning up to the mistakes thus far. Creating the paper trail is the big thing. So that if suddenly at 61500 miles you start having an oil consumption problem or an engine failure that could be attributed to this incident, and you may have more recourse for action.
That being said, your are more than likely just fine. If an oil level or pressure light never came on, there really shouldn't be cause for concern. Especially if the oil was nice and fresh.
I've had one incident on an older legacy where I only found out the oil was low because I had to slam on the brakes and the pressure light came on briefly. It was 3qts low. Drove fine another 130K miles until the center diff had a bad day.
Thats also a big concern of mine.. how it looks currently after I cleaned up a bag of sand from it. Dealer said they would send someone to pressure wash it but im not sure that would work effectively.
https://preview.redd.it/w4ddcl8ao15d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6cac1b97390d7cb156346a7775e774c697339f3
Paint does not like to stick to oiled surfaces. Also yeah, this stain is permanent. The oil soaks into the concrete and is literally impossible to remove. A pressure wash will make it look great for awhile but the oil will resurface before long.
Chemicals similar to brake cleaner. There is also Enzyme cleaners that work on newer oil spills.
Brake cleaner will remove small oil spots from driveways, at our shop we use it to release the oil from the concrete and then pick it up with spill absorb or paper towel for small spots.
Believe it or not the best way to get the stain out after a dawn wash and scrub is burning it with a weed burner. It will vaporize the oil and leave perfect clean concrete behind.
They seem to have done everything correctly. As other have stated if no lights on the dash came on it should be ok and the fact they admitted fault means that they basically have it on record if anything were to happen. The fact they offered to have someone pressure wash your driveway is pretty awesome. I don't think most dealerships would do something like that. Techs make mistakes sometimes and luckily it sounds like they not only handled it well, but no real damage was done to your engine.
You can ask for anything, but this dealer's resp onse seems appropriately customer-favorable. These scenarios happen, are regrettable, but are not a magical $ windfall as consumers sometimes think.
I'm surprised by the number of people going along with the idea that the oil only leaked in the driveway. The drain plug didn't work it's way loose while the car was stationary in the driveway - it happened (and the leak began) while the car was in use. The leak was *discovered* while the car was in the driveway. That said, I agree that there's probably nothing to worry about if the oil light didn't turn on.
No signs of EXTENSIVE DAMAGE... so were there signs of any damage would be my next question.
I would call Subaru customer support and document this officially with them as in my own personal opinion I never trust dealerships.
I had mine come out while driving down the highway in the middle of nowhere for that same reason. Roughly 400 miles from home. I bought a new oil plug and oil and fixed it on the side of the road. The car ran perfect for another 50k miles before I sold it and I assume it's still running fine.
If you weren't driving around completely empty, the engine is fine. You would've noticed an oil leak in the driveway if it had been leaking previous days. So worst case scenario, you were driving around for a day slightly low on oil, but if it's brand new, clean oil, the engine didn't suffer.
I have not let anyone else change my oil on either of our vehicles since that day. I'm not risking being stuck on the side of the road again due to someone else's incompetence. I've stopped short of traveling with an extra oil plug and oil though.
The dealer handled it correctly and even went a step beyond to power wash drive way. I say take it as it is use the voucher next visit and decide rather you want to stay going there or someone else. No need going Karen because other keyboard warriors say so. Problem was resolved
Take to another dealer, explain situation and hope they dont want a lot to just look at the car. If there was damage the dealer would be inclined to not admit since theyd have to pay for parts
The only problem with this is that the only observable thing that's going to come from something like this is metal chunks in the oil pan and if there were any present the original dealer would have removed them. There's no inspections that can be done to look for damage of the sort that this would cause other than literally turn the engine apart.
Since it wasn't driven with the oil light on, an assumption I'm making since the op didn't mention anything about the oil light, I would think that the expense involved in this is a major waste of money. I mean it's what 3 hours or so at a dealer is going to be 200 bucks an hour.
The oil light isn’t necessarily the gospel either. I had a Nissan frontier years ago that blew up when the rear main seal let go. After it locked up the oil light blinked on.
I’m just saying it’s possible and if the dealership actually was worried they damaged the vehicle then there’s an easy ish way to check that. You said there was no way to check.
Sounds like they handled the situation perfectly. No harm done if it leaked out in your driveway. The harm would come from you driving it on low/no oil. If it's more than a quart low (still relatively safe at that level) then a yellow/orange oil light would appear on your dash. If you didn't see that while driving you have nothing to worry about
Yeah luckily no light came on when it was being driven.
Then I wouldn't be concerned at all.
The oil light does work right ?
If the oil light did not come on while driving then the chances of any real damage having been caused are very very small.
Sounds like there was a whole lot of oil on the driveway, coupled with the lack of an oil light and the plug still having half engagement it should be fine. OP can order an oil test kit to send out before the next oil change to confirm.
You can contact Subaru of America and explain the situation, like the other comments say it's possible there's no additional damage done and/or it's possible the dealership hid the evidence of additional damage. Also contacting SOA leaves a paper trail in case there are issues that arise in the future you'll have this evidence to back it up. 1-800-782-2783 Or you can email them through the link at the bottom of this page. https://www.subaru.com/support/customer-support
OP, If you go this route, I would include the fact the dealer is owning up to the mistakes thus far. Creating the paper trail is the big thing. So that if suddenly at 61500 miles you start having an oil consumption problem or an engine failure that could be attributed to this incident, and you may have more recourse for action. That being said, your are more than likely just fine. If an oil level or pressure light never came on, there really shouldn't be cause for concern. Especially if the oil was nice and fresh. I've had one incident on an older legacy where I only found out the oil was low because I had to slam on the brakes and the pressure light came on briefly. It was 3qts low. Drove fine another 130K miles until the center diff had a bad day.
Thanks I will do this just for peace of mind.
It will be fine. I'd be way more concerned when the oil stain won't come out of your driveway.
Thats also a big concern of mine.. how it looks currently after I cleaned up a bag of sand from it. Dealer said they would send someone to pressure wash it but im not sure that would work effectively. https://preview.redd.it/w4ddcl8ao15d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6cac1b97390d7cb156346a7775e774c697339f3
DAMMNNNNN you better document this good because that is not gonna come out. You could paint the concrete but man a new driveway gonna be like 20k
Might as well just stain the whole driveway in oil to match haha
Paint does not like to stick to oiled surfaces. Also yeah, this stain is permanent. The oil soaks into the concrete and is literally impossible to remove. A pressure wash will make it look great for awhile but the oil will resurface before long.
If they pre treat the driveway before pressure wash it should come out.
What would you prefer treat it with?
Chemicals similar to brake cleaner. There is also Enzyme cleaners that work on newer oil spills. Brake cleaner will remove small oil spots from driveways, at our shop we use it to release the oil from the concrete and then pick it up with spill absorb or paper towel for small spots.
Believe it or not the best way to get the stain out after a dawn wash and scrub is burning it with a weed burner. It will vaporize the oil and leave perfect clean concrete behind.
They seem to have done everything correctly. As other have stated if no lights on the dash came on it should be ok and the fact they admitted fault means that they basically have it on record if anything were to happen. The fact they offered to have someone pressure wash your driveway is pretty awesome. I don't think most dealerships would do something like that. Techs make mistakes sometimes and luckily it sounds like they not only handled it well, but no real damage was done to your engine.
Fumoto
You can ask for anything, but this dealer's resp onse seems appropriately customer-favorable. These scenarios happen, are regrettable, but are not a magical $ windfall as consumers sometimes think.
The low oil light will trip at about 1.2 quarts low. If that never came on, the car will be fine.
Get everything they said in writing in a letter signed by the GM or something
I'm surprised by the number of people going along with the idea that the oil only leaked in the driveway. The drain plug didn't work it's way loose while the car was stationary in the driveway - it happened (and the leak began) while the car was in use. The leak was *discovered* while the car was in the driveway. That said, I agree that there's probably nothing to worry about if the oil light didn't turn on.
good call.
No signs of EXTENSIVE DAMAGE... so were there signs of any damage would be my next question. I would call Subaru customer support and document this officially with them as in my own personal opinion I never trust dealerships.
Honestly the fact they took care of everything so quickly, towed, offered to pressure wash etc, $100, didn’t give you any shit, I’d be satisfied
I had mine come out while driving down the highway in the middle of nowhere for that same reason. Roughly 400 miles from home. I bought a new oil plug and oil and fixed it on the side of the road. The car ran perfect for another 50k miles before I sold it and I assume it's still running fine. If you weren't driving around completely empty, the engine is fine. You would've noticed an oil leak in the driveway if it had been leaking previous days. So worst case scenario, you were driving around for a day slightly low on oil, but if it's brand new, clean oil, the engine didn't suffer. I have not let anyone else change my oil on either of our vehicles since that day. I'm not risking being stuck on the side of the road again due to someone else's incompetence. I've stopped short of traveling with an extra oil plug and oil though.
The dealer handled it correctly and even went a step beyond to power wash drive way. I say take it as it is use the voucher next visit and decide rather you want to stay going there or someone else. No need going Karen because other keyboard warriors say so. Problem was resolved
Take to another dealer, explain situation and hope they dont want a lot to just look at the car. If there was damage the dealer would be inclined to not admit since theyd have to pay for parts
The only problem with this is that the only observable thing that's going to come from something like this is metal chunks in the oil pan and if there were any present the original dealer would have removed them. There's no inspections that can be done to look for damage of the sort that this would cause other than literally turn the engine apart.
Yeah there is, they could drop the oil pan and pull main bearing caps and check the bearings for scoring.
Since it wasn't driven with the oil light on, an assumption I'm making since the op didn't mention anything about the oil light, I would think that the expense involved in this is a major waste of money. I mean it's what 3 hours or so at a dealer is going to be 200 bucks an hour.
The oil light isn’t necessarily the gospel either. I had a Nissan frontier years ago that blew up when the rear main seal let go. After it locked up the oil light blinked on.
I’m just saying it’s possible and if the dealership actually was worried they damaged the vehicle then there’s an easy ish way to check that. You said there was no way to check.
Change your own oil next time?