I Hit A Manhole - Now My Car Is Dripping Oil :(

[doughboyr6]

The town is doing construction on a street near my house, they dug/broke up the existing asphalt and will be repaving it.

Yesterday on my way home, i drove slowly on the road. I came up to the area where there was a manhole and the asphalt around it was uncut (which is usual). However what was unusual is how high it was. Unfortunately, due to the placement of the manhole in the lane and relevant to where i was driving on the road, i couldn't swerve to avoid it. So i just drove slowly over it right under the middle of my car.

It scrapped the bottom of my car, but rather than sounding like a scrap, it made a few clunking noise and my car jolted a little w/ each clunk leading me to believe it hit something hard and not just scraped.

I'm very very upset and worried, I called Erin Mills Mazda right away and will be bringing in my car tomorrow to put up on the lift to check. If there are any major damage, if possible, i'm going to try to go after the town. The raised manhole is unusually high. They must understand not everyone drives an SUV.

I took some pictures of the manhole and i went back at night to measure and it was 3.5" high.

I put some cardboard underneath to car to see if anything is leaking and nothing was, but today when i drove away from my driveway, i found engine oil on the driveway. I think because the cardboard i had placed under the car was not big enough or i missed that area.

Has anyone else had this kind of occurance?

-----UPDATE: 2007/07/16-----

So i took it into Mazda today to have them take a look, they put it up on the hoist and inspected. The splash shield and a few other miscellaneous items was lightly scratched up (no biggie).

They did find oil. They cleaned the area to see where it was coming from, we were looking from the bottom of the car and couldnt see where the source was, was not from oil pan, it was dripping from higher up. They concluded that the oil drip was not from the impact, it was just so by coincidence oil started leaking from somewhere else.

So they lowered it back down and noticed the motor mount on the passenger side (by the coolant/windshield fluid) was leaking. This is the first i've herd as i thought all engine mounts were polyurethane (solid), but the service manager advised that this one was an oil filled one. He cleaned the area and for the next few days, i'll have to keep an eye on it to see if it for certain is from that motor mount. So that is where it stands for now. They advised that it is still under warranty, but i'm not sure if my aftermarket rear engine mount may have caused premature wear on the others, but until they say so, i'm gonna keep my mouth shut.

So it doesn't look like i'll be going after the city after all.

I'll keep you guys posted either way.

Here are the pics.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w107/doughboyr6/CIMG0344.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w107/doughboyr6/CIMG0345.jpg

you can tell that it was infact even higher than 3.5", i actually didn't even measure it from all the way at the ground.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w107/doughboyr6/CIMG0346.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w107/doughboyr6/CIMG0348.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w107/doughboyr6/CIMG0361.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w107/doughboyr6/CIMG0364.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w107/doughboyr6/CIMG0365.jpg
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w107/doughboyr6/CIMG0367.jpg

[dsichewski]

The town is doing construction on a street near my house, they dug/broke up the existing asphalt and will be repaving it.

Yesterday on my way home, i drove slowly on the road. I came up to the area where there was a manhole and the asphalt around it was uncut (which is usual). However what was unusual is how high it was. Unfortunately, due to the placement of the manhole in the lane and relevant to where i was driving on the road, i couldn't swerve to avoid it. So i just drove slowly over it right under the middle of my car.

It scrapped the bottom of my car, but rather than sounding like a scrap, it made a few clunking noise and my car jolted a little w/ each clunk leading me to believe it hit something hard and not just scraped.

I'm very very upset and worried, I called Erin Mills Mazda right away and will be bringing in my car tomorrow to put up on the lift to check. If there are any major damage, if possible, i'm going to try to go after the town. The raised manhole is unusually high. They must understand not everyone drives an SUV.

I took some pictures of the manhole and i went back at night to measure and it was 3.5" high.

I put some cardboard underneath to car to see if anything is leaking and nothing was, but today when i drove away from my driveway, i found engine oil on the driveway. I think because the cardboard i had placed under the car was not big enough or i missed that area.

Has anyone else had this kind of occurance?



if your leaking oil....A) check you oil dipstick and check the level before you move your car again...you don't want to run the risk of running the engine dry on oil and then having it seize and then that means a new engine at like 10k....try getting the city to pay that bill! I've got a feeling that you have probably damaged your engine oil pan in some way...whether it be a crack, a hole, or with the impact it disturbed the seal on it. see if you can yourelf, jack the front end up a bit with the car jack and see if you can see where its leaking from...also if the leak is big, like oil is droping out quickly...have the car towed to the shop...better safe than sorry.

Sorry to hear this type of thing happened, hope all goes well! good luck

[JonsMazda]

ouch..sorry to hear that man..hope ur car is ok :)

[Magitronic]

Just make sure you document it very well and the city will end up paying for it :o when i was on the 401 and hit a part off a snowplow that was on the hiway the day before .... Same goes when I got a flat tire which I proved to be the result of the construction going on in my naighbourhood (retards left scrap metal on the road) , the city paid it

[plontoc]

f you don't mind me asking, what department @ the city did you go through? Once could have been lucky, but to get paid out twice? Thats skill and talking to the right people.

[Wild Weasel]

As mentioned... DO NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR until you've verified that you've got plenty of oil and are not actively leaking any.

[MattC]

shit man, do you live on/around avenue road? a week or 2 ago i was on avenue and the same thing almost happened to me, had to swerve around one at the last minute.

[b]

Freddie!!!

Shit dude sorry to hear. Oakville is a bitch. They don't pay up! I have something from Jan 3rd 2006 that I am still after the city for.

Hit a mega pothole on lakeshore that was left from a construction dig they forgot to cover and I blew out both my front suspension and put flat spots on both my front rims & blew both front tires.

Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!

The guy you want to contact is:

From: JBall@oakville.ca
http://gfx2.mail.live.com/mail/w1/ltr/i_yellowshield.gif You may not know this sender. Mark as safe (http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/ReadMessageLight.aspx?FolderID=79195ece-9a1e-4b5a-99ce-08929547e015&InboxSortAscending=False&InboxSortBy=Date&Aux=0%2c0%2c632731201117600000&ReadMessageId=9633ec30-afaa-47c0-ba6e-a223fad92e50&Action=MarkAsNotJunk&n=596139989) | Mark as unsafe (http://www.torontomazda3.ca/forum/ReadMessageLight.aspx?Action=MarkAsJunk&FolderID=79195ece-9a1e-4b5a-99ce-08929547e015&InboxSortAscending=False&InboxSortBy=Date&ReadMessageId=9633ec30-afaa-47c0-ba6e-a223fad92e50&n=1520723708)
Sent: January 17, 2006 1:41:51 PM
To: B

Return Receipt

Your Fw: - Estimate ##.pdf
document:

Was received by: Jim Ball/Oakville at: 01/17/2006 01:40:02 PM

[asif9t9]

3.5" is a lot. If they are just resurfacing the asphalt, they would only be grinding and replacing 40mm (1.5") of asphalt. If you can measure 3.5", then take a picture and hold out a measuring tape to prove it.

Mind you, most cars should still be able to pass over 3.5". But I think you have a case of poor construction of they left 3.5" exposed.

Is this construction site in Oakville or Mississauga? Let me know and I'll tell you who to contact. Many times, it's best to email your councillor. City guys work in fear of councillors.

[sauga_kid]

Just out of curiosity, was the collar of the manhole spray painted orange for visibility? If so you might have a tough case getting reimbursed for your troubles. I do agree that 3.5" is a lot though.

[aznkid.com]

Let's see some pics of said manhole

[Voodoo]

i hit a manhole few weeks ago (yes its painted orange but its night and its at the corner, my HID didnt help much), ran over it with the right rear wheel, yesterday i took off my wheels to paint the calipers to found out a paint chip inside of right rear rim (45 profile tire didnt help much either). Luckily the rim isnt bend

[WhiteSpeed3]

i got to put a complant about the hole right away if u want the city for it

and sorry to here about the car

[lesnar]

sorry to hear that...keep us updated after you get your car hoisted

[Skarbro]

That's crazy. I remember you still have your under-engine cover on so that probably saved a little damage. But if you cracked the block, that's some serious $$ to fix.

[WLS ZMZM]

That really sucks.... sorry to hear that... if there is a leak get that checked out right away... gotta love the city and there bang up work!! I agree with whoever mentioned goign to your local councillor... they seem to be able to get the wheels in motion quite a bit faster....

[doughboyr6]

shit man, do you live on/around avenue road? a week or 2 ago i was on avenue and the same thing almost happened to me, had to swerve around one at the last minute.

nope, this happened in oakville. i couldn't even swerve as i would've been on the curb on one side or go onto on coming traffic the other.


Just out of curiosity, was the collar of the manhole spray painted orange for visibility? If so you might have a tough case getting reimbursed for your troubles. I do agree that 3.5" is a lot though.

it was sprayed orange. Its not that i didn't see it, its just that i couldn't avoid it or turn backwards due to my situation. There was a car behind me and there was traffic the other way. I didn't have much of an option but to go over it.


Let's see some pics of said manhole

will be posting them after dinner.


sorry to hear that...keep us updated after you get your car hoisted

went to the dealer after work and they threw it up on the hoist, update will come after dinner....

i'm hungry.

[MAZDA Kitten]

Yikes!
Atleast you followed all the necessary measures incase you need to go the city
The orange is faded and hard to see especially on a dark road
Thast brutally high

I had my motor mount replaced under warranty. There is a TSB on it
It was leaking everywhere too :complain

[sauga_kid]

wow, 3.5"+, that's nuts. Glad to hear that everything is okay so far. The City should hear about it nonetheless, even if it didn't cause your oil leak, it did scrape up the bottom of your car and that's not safe. How much are you dropped?

[doughboyr6]

Yikes!
Atleast you followed all the necessary measures incase you need to go the city
The orange is faded and hard to see especially on a dark road
Thast brutally high

I had my motor mount replaced under warranty. There is a TSB on it
It was leaking everywhere too :complain

I thought motor mounts were solid....

[b]

Anxious to hear if things turned out okay with your car!

[FLIPDADY]

The passenger mount is filled with hydraulic oil. Mine cracked last year and leaked all over my brakes.

[Skarbro]

The passenger mount is filled with hydraulic oil. Mine cracked last year and leaked all over my brakes.
Have they upgraded the mount since older years?

[FLIPDADY]

Have they upgraded the mount since older years?
Yup there is a newer mount.

[Skarbro]

So they lowered it back down and noticed the motor mount on the passenger side (by the coolant/windshield fluid) was leaking. This is the first i've herd as i thought all engine mounts were polyurethane (solid), but the service manager advised that this one was an oil filled one. He cleaned the area and for the next few days, i'll have to keep an eye on it to see if it for certain is from that motor mount. So that is where it stands for now. They advised that it is still under warranty, but i'm not sure if my aftermarket rear engine mount may have caused premature wear on the others, but until they say so, i'm gonna keep my mouth shut.

The way I see it, the aftermarket mount reduces the amount of play the engine has when revving, so it's probably easing the forces on the upper mount that is leaking. The mount was probably defective to begin with like others have posted.

[b]

Freddie, so what happened here? I haven't seen ya in a while to ask. Was it minor or major?