Driving my Outback home from Midas on Tuesday (1/18/22) the car died coming over a hill and wouldn’t start back up. Towed it back to Midas where they checked the timing belt and drained the oil which had metal shavings. Midas doesn’t want to open it up to investigate. They say they are capable and equipped, but they no longer do that kind of work.
I realize that there’s a 95% chance the engine is toast. Before I replace the engine I need to open it up and find out what happened.
Could they have done something when replacing the oil pan gasket that could have caused it to seize up?
on December 23rd they had changed the timing belt (and cam shaft seal), but left the bolt on the tensioner loose enough that it slipped. I had shown up to pick it up, started it, noticed it sounded weird and turned it off after a minute. The mechanic came out and had me start it again. It ran for another minute while we listened and tried to figure out what it was. They looked it over the next day and they said it was fine.
I have driven the car probably 400 miles over the last 4 weeks. Is there still a chance that the engine was damaged by the timing slip, but wouldn’t completely fail for a month? What would it look like?
Or, was it a mistake having to do with the oil pan gasket?
What should I be looking for?