I was taking my wife to the doctor yesterday and with my luck my '82 300D turbo suddenly was making an unusual noise and it had a loss of power. I had just a week and a half ago gotten it out of the shop having the injection pump and shifter linkage bushings (big improvement) replaced and valves adjusted. Since the car was running like a champ, I was reluctant to think something was majorly wrong. Well, at 40 MPH I noticed a mile and a half later that I had NO oil pressure and my water temp was above normal. On a one lane road under construction I was trying to get to a spot on the shoulder when the motor obviously got too hot and stopped, leaving me to push in front of a whole line of angry commuters....none of which wished to help (society today...).
Anyways, there is a nasty mess of oil on the driver's side of my motor. It is hard to tell where EXACTLY it's coming from but looking at the splat pattern of the oil it appears to be coming from some where in FRONT of the injection pump and behind the steering pump. I have a Haynes book (which is only good for general maintenance work) and it doesn't tell me what carries oil in that part of my car. Some sort of line??

 

Wash the engine. Fill it with oil. crank it over to see where the oil comes out. However, since it's already overheated and the damage is done, I'd probably just look for a replacement engine at this point.

 

Found it. It was a small line that runs from under the steering pump some where to the injector pump. A half inch gash in the line. replaced it with 300 PSI hydraulic line. Fillin' up the oil this Saturday and see how it goes.

 

Got the line replaced and fresh oil in the motor. I got it to crank but it won't start. I'm getting some exhaust but no fire. Is it possible that I may have ruined my lifters? If so is my car worth saving at this point or should I junk it? It's my only car but if the lifters are too expensive to have replaced.....

 

You shouldn't have touched it- It needs to go back to the shop that did the work and they need to fix it. Hopefully you kept the line to take back to them.

 

You have no Hydraulic Lifters in your car to be ruined.

If the Shop was rotating your Fuel Injection Pump or removing it for the work they did they could easily have stressed that Plastic Oil Supply Line that after all this time is no doubt extremely brittle after all this time.
If it was not leaking right after they did the job it would be hard to pin the blame on them
unless you can show that it was cut by something.

I have been reading on various forums for at least 2 years and yours is the first Oil Supply Tube I have read of breaking.

I guess the Shop should have recommended replacing it.

You might drain your oil and save it for reuse; and, look at the bottom of the Oil pan for particles of Metal. If there is metal in the pan there is no point in trying to start it.

 

The guy at the shop replaced the line with a small fuel line. They are a small shop out in the middle of nowhere so getting them to fix it will consume more time than I have and no doubt will not give a rats bum.

 

If so they left themselves open to a Law Suite.
However, from what I have seen on those "Peoples Court" type shows you have to give them a chance to fix the problem or otherwise compensate you.

Also many shops have Insurance that takes care of their large warrantys.

You have nothing to loose by holding the responsiable. You ought to let them know and ask for some sort of compensation.
Let them know if for no other reason than to serve notice on them that they have to start doing better work.

Not the same situation; but back in the 1970s the shop my Mother always went to and had always teated her honestly charged her $150 for the Carburator itself (not the labor).
This would have been a slightly inflated cost for a NEW (not a rebuilt) Toyota Carburator at that time
I wondered why they did not put a rebuilt Carb on as most places would have done and reminded her that under our state law she could ask for the old parts back.
She did and sure enough they had put a Rebuilt Carb on and told and charged her for a new one. They gave her $80 back.
New Carb = no need for a Core = the customer can get the old part back.

 

Sadly the bums made the statement to me that since I "continued" to drive it I caused it to burn up. My wife is in the hospital and I'm so broke, I cannot even pay my mortgage so looks like I'm screwed. Guess I'll part it out. Thanks for the responses guys

 

They're playing you- You were in an emergency situation, and just because their repair failed at that time in no way makes it your fault. If they can't stand behind their work, make them understand you can make it so they get no more work. Like a local news investigation, lawsuit, etc.