On Friday, April 8, I took my car to the WAL-MART store located along N Tarrant Pkwy just east of Davis, in North Richland Hills. As I paid before leaving, I was presented with a checklist which I was told I had to sign. This was something new; I'd been to this store maybe a dozen times before and had never been asked to sign anything other than a receipt if paying with credit. I looked over the sheet before signing, and saw that it was basically a checklist the mechanic had marked, next to a few items he recommended I have serviced. The only items marked were tire tread depth, and the fact my car was a half quart low on oil when it came in for service. I acknowledged both, signed the paper, and went on my way.
I drove straight from the store to a QuikTrip gas station on Davis, maybe 3-4 miles away. I noticed the smell of oil burning, but dismissed it as often times I myself get a little on the headers when adding. But once I stopped and was fueling, I saw a little smoke coming from underneath the car. I found this slightly alarming, so I popped the hood. I saw no oil or even smoke coming from the engine area, so I looked underneath the car. I saw several splotches of oil on the ground below the motor, and could see where the smoke was coming from: it had leaked from somewhere, and had blown up under the underside of the car, and was burning where it had contacted the exhaust pipe. I found it a bit odd that they had been so messy (I'd never seen anything similar before in a dozen oil changes at this same store), but a check of the dipstick showed the level was fine. I paid for my gas and drove to work, about 15 miles away in Grand Prairie.
As I went along, I started smelling the oil burning again, but just assumed it was the residual, original spill still burning off the exhaust pipe. However, as I began to encounter stops signs and red lights, I started seeing smoke rising up next to my windows, obviously coming from underneath. At this point I feared something was very wrong. However, I was close to work (where car-wise co-workers and tools are) so I drove the remaining few miles into my place of employment. By the time I rolled through the gate and onto the yard, smoke was billowing from underneath my car. I rolled to a stop, but kept the motor running. A co-worker noticed the smoking, and quickly came over as I popped the hood.
The first thing I did was check the dipstick: clean and dry. Then I looked underneath the car; the oil I'd seen leaking before wasn't residual from a messy job...it was the oil leaking out of the car outright. I lost nearly all of the oil in less than 20 miles. To make matters worse, my mechanically-inclined co-worker pointed out a coolant leak......from the seal where my distributor attaches to the side of the engine block....which he said indicated a likely cracked head....from intense heat do to the oil leaking out. He told me to shut the motor off before I did any more damage, so I did.
We pushed the car to a corner of the yard, and I immediately called the WAL-MART location that serviced the car. I got a manager, who relayed my call to automotive. I told them of the situation, and they said they'd send a tech out as soon as they could. I informed them that my job takes me all over the DFW metro, and I had prior obligations in Sunnyvale, some 30-40 miles away, and would not be there when the mechanic showed up. They said this was not a problem, to just leave the car unlocked. I made sure the car was unlocked, and left for my job.
While working in Sunnyvale an hour or so later, I received a call from the WAL-MART tech who was at my car. He called to ask where the keys were, so he could start the car. I told him the keys were with me, and that I'd taken them because I didn't want to risk blowing my motor by starting it again. Instead of telling me "well, I need to see the car run or I cannot do an evaluation", he simply said "I'm going to put a quart of oil in here and see if I can tell where it's leaking from. I'll leave the rest of the oil next to your car." I then asked him what he meant, to which he replied "I brought four new quarts of oil with me." I told him "ok", and hung up. I never heard from him again regarding the actual inspection of my car.
When I returned to my place of employment's office, a co-worker ran up and told me the WAL-MART guy had said for me to try and start the engine....that if it was knocking, that was bad and to shut it off. I thought this was kind of odd, since he'd told me he was going to add just one quart to try and find a leak and leave the other three quarts bagged up next to my car. My first instinct, before starting the car, was to check the oil. It was well above full, meaning he'd basically just poured all the new oil into my car and then left (not what he told me he was going to do). After seeing he'd completely filled the car with oil, my next thought was to look for a leak. I looked underneath the car, and stared for a good thirty seconds....no leak, nothing. I decided to try starting the car. Not five seconds after I turned the motor over, two streams of oil started pouring from the area where the oil filter is attached. I turned the car off, and the leak immediately stopped. I showed this to 3-4 of my co-workers and my boss: the car only leaked oil when it was running, and it leaked BAD.
Later that day, the tech who'd done the inspection called to say that it was now up to their insurance company to either approve or deny my claim, and that I should hear from them by Monday. When the agent handling my claim called, he informed me that WAL-MART would NOT be held responsible because the tech's report stated that "the oil pan drain plug and oil filter were both TIGHT & DRY." He also said the tech mentioned I had a "severely deteriorated" oil seal, and that when he inspected my car, he could feel "a space around the seal where the oil filter attached", blaming it on the bad seal. I immediately thought back to the "waiver sheet" I was made to sign at the store; there was NO MENTION of any deteriorated oil seal, let alone one bad enough to cause over 3 quarts of oil to spill out in less than 20 miles. I would assume that might've been a priority on a spec sheet I was made to sign, detailing the mechanical shortcomings of my automobile.
When I threw this back at the agent, he told me without mincing words, that basically I was fucked because the report had been made by the tech, had been officially submitted, and the review was over. I then told the agent "But no one from WAL-MART has actually seen my car RUNNING. The leak isn't happening when it's just sitting." Again, he used the "your claim has already been denied" line.
I had the car towed to a mechanic my boss uses for a second opinion. He called within a few hours, and said "I don't know what they did, but as soon as I started this thing, oil just poured from the oil filter." He also said there was a possibility that it could have been my oil seal blowing out, but that "it would be a hell of a coincidence" if that was the case. He finally stated that, to prove one way or another whether it was a bad seal on my car or a mistake made upon installation by WAL-MART, he'd have to take the filter off. I told him not to touch it, and just tow it back to my place of employment. So right there I'm out $130 just in tow fees, and I still have a leaking car that nobody from WAL-MART has seen run or WILL see run. And the filter they put on is still on the car, and has not been touched since the guy who installed it.
So I called the location where the car was serviced again. I told them about the mechanic's report, and asked that they send another tech out to actually see my car run. I told them to pick a day/time convenient for them and that I would adjust my schedule. I even went so far as to say "if what your mechanic says is true, then you need only send a tech out to remove the oil filter (which still hasn't been done) to prove WAL-MART is not at fault." The manager agreed, then told me she'd call me back with a date/time. I got a call back just a few minutes later, from the same manager, who informed me that since a claim had already been made/denied on the car, they wouldn't send out a tech for a second time.
A friend of a friend sent us the names/numbers of a couple regional WAL-MART managers, and told us we might have more luck going that route, because WAL-MART doesn't like lawsuits, especially public ones. We tired calling both managers, got the initial "Oh my God, we need to take care of that" urgency that I'd received from all the other WAL-MART people I'd spoken with since this all started, but then received NO REPLY after they promised to get back with us.
My car remains on my employer's yard. The oil filter installed by WAL-MART on April 8 at 8:55am is still on the car, and has not been touched since that time. And whenever I start the car, it still leaks like crazy. WAL-MART refuses to send someone out to remove the filter to prove their innocence.
Regardless of whether or not any attorney will take my case, I've got no choice but to move on. Honestly, I don't expect anything will come of this, because things like this usually work in favor of the corporate giant and not the honest, working-class person. Oh well, I have to get up each morning and go to work lawsuit or not (victory or not), so I'm less-inclined to cling to the hope based on principle alone. Chock another one up for the Big Guy. But fuck'em, I'm a cockroach. They'll never kill me, I'll just keep coming back. My Dream will not be extinguished by any force known to man. (As I've said before, I'm in negotiations with Death as I type, so even that is not necessarily a lock).
