Over filled oil - 09 Hyundai Elantra

Question

I dropped off my car for an oil change which is an older model, but I always took care of it so it ran great. I listen to the vehicle all the time to ensure nothing seemed off, and no issues. The following is how the car came back to me after I dropped it off.

When I picked the car back up I noticed the acceleration was sluggish and that i couldn't seem to get it over 30 miles per hour. This was not included in the reasons the car was in the shop. It was all standard up-keep. So I turned the car around and drove it back the the Hyundai Service Center when the guy who's team serviced my car met me, test drove my vehicle around the parking lot, never cresting more than 15 miles per hour, and eventually assured me everything was fine. So I went on my way. I've worked with him a lot so I trusted his word. At this point the car had been driven about 3.4-3.5 miles(calculated with google maps distance mapper).

I no sooner get out of the parking lot and the engine starts ticking, I smell oil, and all of a sudden my car wont accelerate AT ALL. This was brand new to me I had never once experienced this issue before. Worried by the ticking noise and zero acceleration, smell of burning oil, and white smoke coming out of my muffler I put it in neutral and pulled off the main road and called the service center back up.

It took some convincing but they came out, got it to drive again, and pulled it back across the street into their service center. The next day I learned that the oil had been overfilled(no one said by how much). I think they swapped out some sensors, drained some oil and asked me to come pick it up, no charge.

Well a week or 2 later i get check engine light, so i call the service center and they say they'll look at it the next time i'm in. Next time I was in I brought up the check engine light and...NO one checked it. I shrugged it off and said "I guess we'll check next time"...this process repeated the next time I brought it in.

Well here we are months later and my car needs its inspection sticker and now they can't inspect the car until they deal with the Check Engine Light (for emissions) that's on the dash. I'm convinced this was caused by them over filling my oil.

I need professional unbiased advice. Is it possible they caused this extra large bill i'm about to receive? If so, what can Hyundai do for me here?

Answer 1

Find out what the check engine code is. Major auto parts stores (Advance Auto Parts, Auto Zone) in the US will scan your car for free (so that they can sell you the parts to fix the problem).

The code may be directly caused by overfilling, indirectly caused or not related at all.

Once you know the code you can formulate a plan of action. Some sensors are easily replaceable, others are not.

If the shop you have been using is not standing behind their work/avoiding responsibility, you may wish to find a different shop. This is not always easy but in practice there is a massive imbalance of information between a car owner and a mechanic - the mechanic can always come up with a million things to bill the car owner. Even if the shop agrees to fix whatever the problem is you most likely will be paying for it anyway. Might be best to cut your losses and go elsewhere from now on.