Blown engine!

[Spring]

I bought a beautiful 2014/2015 GLS diesel auto Pajero 71,500 on the clock, in Mt Isa 7th June.
It replaced my dear old 2003 model.
5,000kms later I am sitting in Mission Beach and my lovely new car is sitting in the Tully dealership with a blown motor.
We were tootlingup the highway towing a 2 1/2 ton van, when the engine noise changed and we smelt something burning.
Stopped quickly, popped bonnet and oil everywhere. The oil filler cap was off, (I have no explanation for that, I had dipped oil 200kms before and not added any oil).
RACQ added 4 litres before it registered, started engine but clattering sound meant no go.
Upshot is motor is blown. Mitsubishi are refusing warranty because oil came from filler hole.
The oil warning light did not come on prior to the breakdown. Service manager tells me that by the time that light comes on the damage has been done!

This car had been regularly serviced and well looked after.
Does anyone have any ideas?

[disco stu]

Have to be something seriously wrong for 4l of oil to come out of the filler hole. I accidentally left the cap off for a while and just had a spray come out, not litres of it

I guess what I'm saying is that in my opinion, an issue happened causing the oil to come out of filler hole, not the other way around

Sorry to hear of your problems

[Kingmarz]

Obviously combustion is getting into the sump so it wouldn’t matter if oil cap was on or off in fact if it mysteriously hadn’t come off it probably would have blown out the seals or push it out the breather and caused runaway. I bet money on a melted piston which should be covered by warranty so go back and argue as what’s the point of having a warranty if they won’t even cover a blown engine and running low on oil won’t cause a melted piston so MMC’s excuse is total BS.

[disco stu]

I had the exact same thought-piston with a hole in it somehow. I just wasn't confident enough to say it. Surely that would fall under warranty

I would be taking this further-they haven't established what caused the issue, just said that it's because it came out the filler hole. You didn't to the engine upside down. The cause needs to be found, as that will determine things. Low oil doesn't burn a hole in a piston for example, so if that was the problem it isn't your fault

[Spring]

Thanks for your responses.
I also feel that it was a catastrophic failure as if it had been leaking over a longer period of time I should have seen smoke and smelt something burning earlier.

[Morten]

Standard operating procedure with all warranty claims...deny manufactures responsibility straight away, then continue to try and bluff the customer into believing it was something they did to cause it to break......Had a couple of mates blow gearboxs up in Rangers...both told Fraud they towed with them..Fraud said "well theres your problem,you towed stuff..."

[nj swb]

Thanks for your responses.
I also feel that it was a catastrophic failure as if it had been leaking over a longer period of time I should have seen smoke and smelt something burning earlier.

For what it's worth, many years ago, I was party to a Hilux running out of power at highway speed - because it had run out of oil. The owner knew the oil pressure light didn't work, an oil line rubbed through, and (travelling at night, at 100km/h) the vehicle gradually ran out of power until they stopped. The vehicle was covered in oil from one end to the other, and the engine was (needless to say) beyond repair.

This doesn't sound like your experience. An engine blowing out its oil over 2 hours should make more of a mess than you describe - more than just the engine bay. I don't believe your failure started with the oil cap coming off.

Have the engine stripped down, with a full written report of the findings (including photos). Even if you need to pay for it.

The damage from running without oil will be very different from a holed piston i.e. a holed piston might lead to running without oil, but it's difficult to explain how running without oil will create a holed piston.

Holed piston = cause of the problem, not your fault.

Running without oil = more difficult to see a happy outcome for you.

Good luck!

[disco stu]

Please keep us informed about what happens with this. Interested to hear the cause and the outcome of warranty claim

[MiteeWidge]

Hi Spring. I guess it's no consolation but I can think of worse places to breakdown than Mission Beach at this time of year. Hope the weather stays good for you and all gets sorted to your satisfaction.

[bb2wa]

Reminds me of the time I picked up a petrol rental car in Christchurch NZ. Drove several kms then pulled up quickly with smoke pouring out from under bonnet. Flames underneath. No fire extinguisher. Soon went out. Rental crowd had just serviced the car and left oil filler cap off. As it was the last rental car available in NZ at the time (yes lots of press about it), a replacement wasn't an option. So oil top up. Plug back in and the holiday commenced.

[disco stu]

Keen to hear what's happened so far with this