I got my oil changed yesterday. Car is leaking coolant today. Course of action?

I took my car to one of those chains to get the oil changed yesterday. Today, I notice that the car is leaking coolant, slowly, and I’m 98% sure that it wasn’t leaking coolant before I took it into this place. They did fill up the coolant, so there is a chance that the leak was already present and filling the reservoir only highlighted or exacerbated what was previously an undetectable leak.

What should my next course of action be? I can’t really tell where the leak is coming from in the engine, so I was thinking that I should just take it to my (fairly trustworthy; I’ve never caught him screwing me over) mechanic and have him tell me what the problem is. Then, if it’s something that seems like it was probably caused by the quick-lube people, I’ll take it up with the manager.

Thoughts?

This happened to me a few months ago: I had a coupon for a cheap oil change, so I took my car into th eplace. They tried to sell me new tires and a bunch of other stuff; I said no.

Next day my engine went into the red zone, and I realized the radiator was leaking horribly. I took the car back to the shop the next day; they told me that my engine carriage was loose and that the radiator was busted, and charged me $400 to fix it.

I had noticed before that something was pressed up against the radiator inside my car, but I’d stupidly done nothing about it. If it hadn’t been for that, I really would have wanted to take them to small claims court. As it was, I sucked up the cost and vowed to talk shit about the repair shop to whoever would listen.

Daniel

Your speculation on why the leakage is now apparent is the most likely scenario.

Your plan on dealing with it makes perfect sense.

It is also possible that since they filled the coolant , they overfilled and the leak that you are seeing is the excess coolant leaking from your coolant resevoir. I would recommend that you return to the shop that did the oil change. I’m sure that they will address your concern. If it was overfilled it will correct itself soon, if not, or the shop hassles you about it , take it to your mechanic. Better safe than sorry.

I agree with GaryT. Yesterday I topped off the oil in my car. This morning, on the way to work, a radiator hose burst. Two separate, unrelated events. It was just coincidence that they happened a day apart. Fortunately, in my case it was a pin hole leak just above the clamp. Fixing it was as simple as remove the clamp, cut off the bad hose section, re-clamp the hose and top off the coolant.

Now, had I taken the car to a shop to top off or change the oil and the next day the hose burst, I probably would have had a fleeting thought that the shop botched something. In all likelyhood the shop did nothing to cause the leak, but it’s only natural to look for a cause and effect relationship.

I hope yours turns out to be as simple a problem as mine.

IANA mechanic, but if I were you, I’d check the overflow tube that comes out of the radiator to see if that’s where the coolant is coming from. They may have overfilled your radiator a little (a common occurrence), and it’s simply the excess draining off when the system is under pressure.

:smack: