We know that there are certain dangers involved when you’re servicing a car but an explosion happening after an oil change is something you don’t often hear about.
The accident occurred during a regular oil change on a 2001 Chevrolet Impala sedan and was caught on film by a security camera.
The two workers are seen completing the service with one of them entering the Chevy and turning on the engine presumably to circulate the oil, at which point we see flames shoot out and then an explosion in the engine bay.
A co-worker of the owner of the Impala posted the video and asked readers of the QT3 forums what could have caused the fire:
“So this happened to my co-workers car last week during a routine oil change. Skip the first 20 seconds or so to get right to the juicy part.
Aside from being hilarious, I’m wondering if any of our more mechanically inclined QT3’ers can suggest what might have happened here? The engine is completely shot now and my co-worker is understandably upset about taking his car in for an oil change and having it destroyed.
The oil change place is claiming complete innocence and no responsibility. Their story is that the age of the motor (2001 impala) in conjunction with a known defect in GM 3.8L V6’s of that year caused it spontaneously fail despite them doing everything right in terms of the oil change.”
One of the forum members found a recall for the 2001 Chevrolet Impala, which the owner of the car says he had not done.
[From NHTSA Recall Notice]“General Motors is recalling 1,497,516 year 1997-2003 Buick Regal, year 1998-2003 Chevrolet Lumina, Monte Carlo and Impala, year 1998-1999 Oldsmobile Intrigue, year 1997-2003 Pontiac Grand Prix vehicles equipped with a 3.8l V6 naturally aspirated engine.
Some of these vehicles have a condition in which drops of engine oil may be deposited on the exhaust manifold through hard braking.
Consequence: If the manifold is hot enough and the oil runs below the heat shield, it may ignite into a small flame and may spread to the plastic spark plug wire channel and beyond increasing the risk of an engine compartment fire.
Remedy: Dealers will remove the spark plug wire retention channel at the front of engine and install two new spark plug wire retainers free of charge. The recall is expected to begin during May 2009.”
So, what do you think happened and the Impala exploded? Head over to the comments section to share your thoughts.
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