Possible faulty repair?

Question

Our 2012 Honda Odyssey recently went into the shop for brake repair. The mechanic inspected the car and found a slight leak in the oil pan and requested that we replace the oil pan gasket. We agreed to the repairs and picked up the car a couple days later.

On the third trip after getting our van back, we started getting a “low oil pressure” light and immediately took it back to the mechanic. After inspecting they found metal shavings in the oil, a damaged bearing, and suspect a problem with the oil pump. The mechanic thing can we need to replace the engine.

Of course the mechanic couldn’t find any evidence that their repair led to the current damage, saying it’s an “unfortunate coincidence.”

So, what is the likelihood this IS and coincidence vs that the majo made a mistake, damaged the engine, and then covered it up? How could I possibly know?

Answer 1

Bottom line is, you don't know and even if you thought you did, there's really no way to prove it. If you could show the repair really wasn't repaired and the pan was still losing oil, which caused oil starvation, which caused engine damage, then maybe ... but that's a huge long shot and really isn't too provable, either. I'd assume there was oil in the engine when you left the shop, otherwise you would have immediately seen a low oil light.

As long as the pan seal was repaired correctly, there's no reason to believe what the shop did was connected to the engine damage. With that said, if the low oil light came on, there must have been a leak somewhere. Again, proving the shop is at fault would be nearly impossible.

Note: If this does require an engine, lucky for you there are a plethora of used J35 engines out there you can get. The JDM engines from Japan are a really good cost to value ratio and I'd look into them if I were you.