I took my 1997 Oldsmobile Aurora into the Carthage Walmart TLE shop on Sunday morning, June 17th with the intention of getting a $20 fuel injection service. I was able to get the car looked at almost immediately, but stayed to watch because I was nervous about young Walmart service guys working on a rare model. I wanted to be there in case there were any problems.
Two men worked on the car, a middle-aged Hispanic gentleman who drives a red Firebird and a young white man in his early 20s with lots of tattoos who drives a truck. I was worried when they couldnt determine where to put the key into the ignition, but I needed this service done so I stayed. At the time it didnt dawn on me, but seems odd that they did not place a fan in front of the car as it was nearly 100 degrees outside. They completed the first half of the service in the shop and proceeded to pull the car outside the doors into the parking lot.By this time the engine was already as hot as Ive ever seen it (220ish). The first half of this service lasted about 15 minutes with the car running. Then the second half of the service started, where they pour a bottle of cleaner into the gas tank and rev the motor 1500 rpm to circulate the cleaner through the motor.
The older man let me know the temperature gauge was approaching 220, which is up at the higher end of normal in the orange area, and I told him not to worry unless it got closer to 240. The gauge only goes up to 280 and 250 is red. I am curious as to why he did not pay closer attention to the temperature gauge. This half of the service was all performed outside of the shop in the parking lot; again, no fan was being used in front of the car to keep it from overheating. We did verify that the electric fans on the radiator were both working properly. I was standing on the drivers side looking at the motor. Within about 4-5 minutes running the motor at 2000 rpm, the motor started steaming and blowing antifreeze. I told him to shut it off and he did. Looking in at the gauges I was shocked to see that the guy had run it up to 270 degrees and the dash computer was dinging with warning signs. Then the younger man came over to see what was happening. The engine quickly lost all its coolant. The older man acknowledged that he couldnt see the motor because the hood was in the way.
I was immediately distraught and loosened the coolant cap to relieve the pressure and the three of us waited until the motor stopped steaming. I was afraid that the cars V8 had gone into limp home mode, a safety feature in case of overheating where the car will only run on 4 cylinders. We tried to look into the engine and determine where the leak was coming from, but could not since it was too hot. I was so upset; I went to tell my girlfriend that the car would now need to be towed somewhere because they had blown the engine. I then went back in to the TLE service desk and told them what just happened and asked if I could leave the car in the lot until it could be towed. They agreed and I paid the $20 fuel injection fee. At this point I would think that they would have filed some sort of incident report but they acted as if it happened every day or something.
Next I paid $65 to have it towed Monday morning from the parking lot to Crossroads Chevrolet Cadillac. Their mechanics determined that the radiator is now cracked, and may have blown one or both head gaskets. This cant be determined until the radiator itself is repaired, which will be $596.75 plus $90/hour labor. I now owe Crossroads $90 for diagnosing the problem, paid $65 to Comers for the tow, and need an estimated $800-900 for the radiator job. I received this diagnosis on Friday, June 22nd around midday. I realize this is pretty steep but no other shops in town could get around to it.
I then went to the customer service desk at the Carthage Walmart and they said the store manager was gone to a meeting for the rest of the day. They told me that he would be back the next day from 8-5, however when I came back the next day around 10, I was informed that he had now taken vacation and would not be back for at least a week or more. Next I tried to call the market manager, Lee Autry. He was also unavailable. I was told to call the Carthage Walmart shift manager. I was able to reach Travis, and told me he would research the situation and get back to me within 24 hours.
After 24 hours had passed with no word from Walmart, I got a ride back to find someone who might assist me. I spoke with a shift manager named Jake who told me that since the car was running rough to begin with that it couldnt be their fault. I brought the car in because it was running rough, yet that had nothing to do with the engine overheating. He said it was standard procedure to run the car for 20 minutes at 2000 RPM. I told him that may be true, but when the temperature gauge is up in the red, standard procedure would be to shut the car off. I thought it was standard procedure to run a large fan in front of the car to keep this from happening in the first place. This seems common knowledge, not to mention I even told the guy to please watch the gauges.
I have to have my car fixed immediately. I expect Walmart to incur the cost of the tow, the diagnosis at Crossroads, the radiator repair and labor, and any other damage to the car caused by the overheating. I am on a limited and fixed income due to disability, and that car is my only mode of transportation. I have been without a vehicle and relying on friends, an hour from my home, for over several weeks now.
CMI, Walmart's claims division has denied my claim saying that my car obviously had cooling issues to begin with. Just ludacris! I have never overheated the car in 7 years of owning it and I had just had the coolant system flushed, new hoses and thermostat in the past 60 days or so. This was not just any Oldsmobile Aurora, but a highly decorated show car. I have poured thousands of dollars into it and now the damage surpasses its value. This fiasco melted the sensor wires to the block, cracked the block, stretched the valves, warped the heads and blew the radiator and both head gaskets!
I can't believe this behemoth company worth several hundred billion dollars won't take up a dime of responsibility for their obvious error but would rather try to settle a few thousand dollar case in court against a peon like me who has to live on $800.00 a month. Dear Walmart, I will never stop fighting you on this. Everyday that goes by only adds to the pain and suffering you're causing me. Literally, as I have come down very sick now due to this extreme stress and can't even get to my doctor!
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