jack lambert
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- Nov 26, 2019
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- holden adventra cx8
Hey guys, not too long ago replaced the following on my Holden Adventra cx8 ls1 at my local mechanic, brake pads, air filter, oil change & tie rod as i was driving the car on 2500km trip. That trip was successfully completed without the air filter correctly installed by my mechanic . I discovered the air filter was not installed correctly when i was having issues starting the car after a beach run at south ballina beach access. My friends and I assumed at first that the air filter was blocked with sand and the engine was deprived of air but this was clearly not evident when removing the air filter casing as the air filter was pitched and not sitting in its casing correctly leaving a large 3cm gap for whatever debri to get sucked passed the air filter and into the engine.
At this point it was quite clear that the car was not starting because sand has been sucked into the engine. I removed the air intake pipe to look into the throttle body and air intake manifold with a torch to find clear evidence that sand had smothered the throttle body and air intake manifold completely and the reality of the car not starting existed in sand interfering with the air & fuel ratio. After cleaning up as much sand from the throttle body and air intake manifold I attempted to start the car, the vehicle fired up after several attempts and seemed to be running fine. I had a 45min drive home, after 15min of driving the oil pressure warning symbol started sounding its alarm, I anxiously pulled over, turned the car off, checked the oil, plenty of oil. I turned the car back on and the warning was not appreaing so i continued to drive but 15 mins into driving the alarm reappeared. I continued this process of pulling, turning the car off and waiting. This happened about 3 times until I arrived home.
The next day I confronted the mechanics workshop, they were very apologetic about not installing the air filter correctly and was informed that the engine is fine and that if the sand were to do any damage to the internals of the engine it would of been directly noticeable on the 45min drive home from south ballina. I was hopeful at this stage as he said is was sweet and that he would clean the throttle body and air intake manifold properly and the car would be fine. I got the car back feeling confident that it was mechanically 100% until the oil pressure alarm started going off again later that day, I dropped the car back the following day and he made me feel confident it was just a faulty oil pressure sensor. I trusted that he was right but it seemed like it was too much of a coincidence that an oil pressure sensor would just randomly fail right after such a situation.
The oil pressure sensor was then replaced and the oil was flushed, i drove away after being told that the engine was actually in very good condition. Later that day the oil pressure alarm sounded itself again and it was clear that it had nothing to do with the sensor. I spoke to the mechanic and he suggested that it could maybe be a wiring problem to the sensor or possibly the oil pump has failed? After hearing that I still felt like it was too much of a coincidence that this oil pressure alarm was related to something other than the situation with the sand that had been in the engine. I started to notice a slight tick from the top of the engine so I knew whatever the problem was it was getting worse.
After doing some of my own research i started to come to the conclusion that maybe the sand has worn the piston rings out and causing low oil pressure and the tick could quite possibly be the piston rubbing on the wall of the valve. After this research I reapproached the mechanic for what felt like the 100th time and suggested an oil pressure test to see if my theory made sense. The car has been at the mechanic since thursday and is getting back to me about oil pressure tomorrow but he has informed me today that the oil has metal in it! Little shards of metal have been running through the engine.
Anyway does anyone have any advice on my situation? Anyone know whats going on? Do you think that these problems are related to the sand getting sucked into engine for him not installing the air filter properly?
The car has always been driven inside its capabilities, always serviced & has fairly low kms. I don't understand how these problems can just appear at the same time as this? Could my mechanic be trying to get his way out of owning responsibility?
At this point it was quite clear that the car was not starting because sand has been sucked into the engine. I removed the air intake pipe to look into the throttle body and air intake manifold with a torch to find clear evidence that sand had smothered the throttle body and air intake manifold completely and the reality of the car not starting existed in sand interfering with the air & fuel ratio. After cleaning up as much sand from the throttle body and air intake manifold I attempted to start the car, the vehicle fired up after several attempts and seemed to be running fine. I had a 45min drive home, after 15min of driving the oil pressure warning symbol started sounding its alarm, I anxiously pulled over, turned the car off, checked the oil, plenty of oil. I turned the car back on and the warning was not appreaing so i continued to drive but 15 mins into driving the alarm reappeared. I continued this process of pulling, turning the car off and waiting. This happened about 3 times until I arrived home.
The next day I confronted the mechanics workshop, they were very apologetic about not installing the air filter correctly and was informed that the engine is fine and that if the sand were to do any damage to the internals of the engine it would of been directly noticeable on the 45min drive home from south ballina. I was hopeful at this stage as he said is was sweet and that he would clean the throttle body and air intake manifold properly and the car would be fine. I got the car back feeling confident that it was mechanically 100% until the oil pressure alarm started going off again later that day, I dropped the car back the following day and he made me feel confident it was just a faulty oil pressure sensor. I trusted that he was right but it seemed like it was too much of a coincidence that an oil pressure sensor would just randomly fail right after such a situation.
The oil pressure sensor was then replaced and the oil was flushed, i drove away after being told that the engine was actually in very good condition. Later that day the oil pressure alarm sounded itself again and it was clear that it had nothing to do with the sensor. I spoke to the mechanic and he suggested that it could maybe be a wiring problem to the sensor or possibly the oil pump has failed? After hearing that I still felt like it was too much of a coincidence that this oil pressure alarm was related to something other than the situation with the sand that had been in the engine. I started to notice a slight tick from the top of the engine so I knew whatever the problem was it was getting worse.
After doing some of my own research i started to come to the conclusion that maybe the sand has worn the piston rings out and causing low oil pressure and the tick could quite possibly be the piston rubbing on the wall of the valve. After this research I reapproached the mechanic for what felt like the 100th time and suggested an oil pressure test to see if my theory made sense. The car has been at the mechanic since thursday and is getting back to me about oil pressure tomorrow but he has informed me today that the oil has metal in it! Little shards of metal have been running through the engine.
Anyway does anyone have any advice on my situation? Anyone know whats going on? Do you think that these problems are related to the sand getting sucked into engine for him not installing the air filter properly?
The car has always been driven inside its capabilities, always serviced & has fairly low kms. I don't understand how these problems can just appear at the same time as this? Could my mechanic be trying to get his way out of owning responsibility?
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