Took my 2000 4runner to Toyota dealer for oil change. Bolt wasn't tightened and fell completely out. Lost all oil, light came on, then stalled out. Had it towed to dealer where they put in new oil and said there was no damage.
Now, I am paranoid, thinking I'm hearing all kinds of different noises when I really didn't pay attention to what my 4runner sounded like before.

I asked dealer what would make it stall out if there was no damage, and he told me that when the vehicle heated up, it automatically will stall before damage is done. Does this sound right.

Today, I noticed the oil has a lime green color to it. I've checked the oil level twice now, and it had more oil showing after I was driving it, checked when cold the level was lower.

Any thoughts, or do our 4runners have a sensor to automatically shut off vehicle when it gets hot. Thanks. Debbie.

Not trying to sound mean, but are you checking the Radiator Overflow to check the Oil?
Radiator Fluid in our trucks should be of Orange Color. Some people use the Green Radiator Fluid. Is this where you are seeing the color.

Or are you checking from the Oil Dip Stick? If this the way you are checking, then I would say there might be a crack in your engine block allowing Collant into your engine.


I could be wrong.

You should check your oil before you start it up to get a good reading of how much oil is in there. First Dot toward the bottom means you are a quart low. In between dots means you are ok, but it wouldn't hurt to add just half a quart.

If you are still seeing a green shade color in your oil, take it back to the dealership and ask them to check it out.

The thing that stops the engine when you run it dry is friction, heat, warpage, and seizing. No automatic shut-off that I've ever heard of. I have a feeling the dealer might be buying you a new engine if you stand your ground. I would not let them get away with it because it's probbly the worst thing that could possibly happen to your engine. You brought it to a dealer so you could have the piece of mind knowing the job was done right and that's why people pay more $$ to have their cars worked on at the dealer. I would make the point that they severely shortened the life span of your engine (which I believe 100% that they did regardless of whether it seems to run ok right now). Sorry to hear that, but this is more serious than what they would like you to believe.

Yeah, the green stuff indicates a blown head gasket or worse especially if the "oil" level is increasing showing more coolant going in to the oil.

Don't back down, the dealer f*cked up and it looks like they owe you a new motor.

yeah typically when this happens you need to pull the heads of at the very least and have a look to see what you've done, there maybe some thermostat control that will kill the engine when it gets to hot, but to be honest i don't know i have only rebuilt old aircooled motors and top ends on old mopar motors, no idea how these things are put together, but like others have said most of the time when an engine stops from not having any oil in it it's from friction, which produces heat which warps things which then gouges and seizes, the tolerances in engines are pretty tight so even if things weren't bad enough to completely seize the engine there is still a good chance that piston rings did some sort of damage to the cylinder.

hold your ground and at the very least make them do a compression test and inspect all of the gaskets fluid again, the green color is either from coolant or they slipped in some oil that has gear oil in it usually used for breaking in engines, which is another bad sign that there maybe damage they aren't telling you about. either way the oil shouldn't be green at this stage in the 4runners life.

i might take it take it another dealer and have them check it out at this point, just tell them that you are going to do this becuase your not sure if your getting the straight truth from them and if the other toyota dealer comes back and says it's ruined you're holding them accountable, i believe if you go about it that way and stick to the major toyota brand dealers that worst case scenario you take this to toyota of America and get it sorted out on that level.

Take it to another Toyota Dealership. Don't tell them that another dealership did it. Get a quote. Take it back to the first dealer and have them fix it. 9/10 the first dealership is going to admit anything is wrong.

*Edit: theizzardking beat me to it.

Don't you guys think there would be more pronounced noise/performance problems if it really lost oil and locked up? I would think there would be some serious damage if it shut down due to lack of oil; by the time the heat got through the block, into the coolant, and to the thermostat, I would think the damage would already be pretty severe.

Also, a dealer wouldn't put green coolant in a 4runner. Are you the original owner? Has anyone else ever done a radiator flush on it?

I agree with Brian, if you really lost all your motor oil, they owe you at minimum a new engine or you sue. I can't imagine it did no damage if it stalled out.


Also, is there really a temp shutoff, or will it just start boiling coolant out the overfill res like other cars, alerting you to temp problems with the giant cloud of steam coming from the engine?

You may even want to print this thread out and show it to them to help your case if you're not comfortable talking engines with them. The green color in your oil must be an additive they used (like izzardking suggested) to try to cover their asses because someone is probably going to get fired for this one. Not tightening the oil plug and filter is totally inexcuseable - especially if they are going to try to cover it up and send you on your way as if it's ok to run an engine dry. Also, I don't believe it's coolant in your oil, if it was it would look just like a chocolate milkshake when oil and coolant mix.

How long was the light on? I've run two engines dry, one had a filter gasket go crooked and drained out, and another time my daughter holed a pan on a rock parking where she shouldn't. Both had the light come on, but neither was driven until it stalled or seized. When I see an Oil Pressure light, I STOP THE CAR! The first, a Toyota Corolla, lived on ten more years until sold and beyond. The second, a fifteen year old BMW 785i, lived three more years until totaled by the same daughter, sigh....

Running dry briefly will not kill an engine. The oil film stays intact for several minutes. Running until it stalls means bad things have probably happened--although if it had really seized, it would never have started again. I have no idea why it would stall before seizing up badly; I have never heard of ANY car with an auto shut-off.

I would def take it to another dealership and have them look it over b/c the dealership you took it to is not going to want to tell you they fubar'd your engine. On the other hand I once busted the oil pan on my Jeep CJ and didn't realize it till the oil drained and the engine stalled, we replaced the pan and it still runs to this day. It really is a toss up so get it checked now before its too late to hold the dealership liable.

Ask the dealership if you can get a free supercharger with your brand new 3.4 L that they will pay for, install, and warranty

Seriously though, at the very least you should get a very nice warranty for your potentially ruined engine and some service perks, e.g. they change your oil, tune it up, and replace filters, all for free for as long as you have the vehicle. Throw some coolant flushes in there and maybe you forget about the massive, massive f*#! up they just made

not true, it can happen where everything gets hot and things start to warp and it get's bad enough to make the engine loose time and stalls before it completely locks up, depends on your def. of seized you know, most of the time a seized engine means completely locked up and in that case your right, it will never start again until you do some machine work and replace pistons and rings at the very least, and that's not even looking at what happened to the bottom end, what i have seen is engines that start to seize but stall out before that happens, you can easily top it back up with oil and some break in fluid to lube everything back up again and drive it for a while sometimes, but that doesn't mean you haven't damaged cylinders and piston rings and all of the rest, a compression test should tell you how well the rings are seated in the cylinders i don;t know these motors but i would think that if it comes back anything less then 120 something has gone horribly wrong.

again i don't know these motors so i don;t know what the compression is meant to be on each cylinder, this is just my general experience with motors i have encountered and those are vw aircooled ones which are kind of known to be one of the simplest motors ever made for a vehicle.

^^^^Agree! For me, 'seized' means 'locked up' as in pistons won't move up and down or crank bearing melted, etc. But, as I said, if it only reached stall without seizing, that means bad things happened, not some cockamamie bogus BS 'automatic' shut-off.

yeah i thought that sounds weird, i haven't really worked on an engine newer then 1970 something so all of this electronic b.s. always confuses me.

That lie would piss me off something fierce if it was me. Not only did they f**k up your engine out of pure negligence, then they make up this magic sensor that saves the day (or more like their asses) and ends world hunger. You need to talk to their manager and the regional manager immediately and not only demand they replace your engine, but expose their lie.