Saga of an Oil Leak

In late June I took the Highlander to the Toyota Dealer for a scheduled oil change. No big deal. A week or so later, I noticed oil spots on the garage floor. “Aha!” I think to myself, “They did not tighten the drain plug securely.” So at the next opportunity I drove in to the dealer and asked them to check it. It turned out not to be the drain plug and three hours later I left with vague assurances that they had taken care of the leak. Not.

I made an appointment to have the leak truly found and fixed, stressing that they should keep the car for as long as it took. Little did I know. That was on Friday July 20. On July 31 I got my car back. Here are the gory details:

Friday afternoon, July 20 – “Okay, Mr. A. We found the leak. It is in the head gasket. I had to order a gasket kit, so come on by and pick up a free rental to drive until we get it fixed.”

The free rental turned out to be a nice 2007 Camry, so except for getting in and out of it (one of the primary reasons for getting the Highlander in the 1^st place) it was a sweet ride. It did have one distinguishing feature: every time you turned it on a message scrolled past on the large radio display screen proclaiming “Welcome to Camry.” We were pretty sure the car wasn’t going to become something else overnight, so after the 20^th or so time this got a little old.

Tuesday afternoon, July 24 – “Well, Mr. A, the plot thickens. When we replaced the head gasket we discovered that we couldn’t torque down a couple of bolts; they were stripped in the block, so Toyota is buying you a new engine. You just keep on driving that nice Camry and we’ll let you know.”

Wednesday, July 25 through Monday, July 30 – “Welcome to Camry.”

Tuesday Morning, July 31 – “Okay, Mr. A. Come get your car.”

So I did, and it’s nice to have it back. There’s just one problem (you are expecting me to say that there’s oil on the garage floor, right? Frankly, I’m too scared to look). No, now the car sounds like some 12-cylinder sports car. When you press on the gas you hear a deep, throaty roar, not a quiet 4-cylinder purr. I don’t know if this is good or bad. I just know that’s not what it sounded like before I changed the oil and started all this. I guess we’ll find out.