'Should Be Coming to the Dealership': Hyundai Driver Gets Oil Change At 'Outside' Shop. Now They Need an Engine AND Transmission

A Hyundai dealer’s service department says it had to replace the engine and transmission of a 2022 Santa Cruz due to a botched oil change. Center Reach Hyundai (@centerreachyundai) posted a TikTok video explaining what went down.

The dealership writes in a text overlay on the clip that it had to perform the "rarest Hyundai service," which turned out to be a "double trouble" situation. The automotive tech says that this entailed entirely replacing two crucial components.

"We got a 2022 Santa Cruz here. And doing something that you don’t normally do … replacing an engine and a transmission at the same time. But it just so happened that this customer went and got an oil change at an outside shop. And they left a drain plug inside the oil filter. And it sucked it up, and it stopped the oil flow. So no oil pressure. Which in turn becomes a seized engine."

Following this, the video cuts to an image of some of the Santa Cruz’s internals on the shop floor.

"You gotta take the subframe out. The axles out. Driveshaft and the exhaust and then the whole engine and transmission come down as one. On one of these tables," he says. The tech continues, "You know, you swap everything over and stick it back."

Then someone off-camera asks, "Where should somebody go if they wanna get their oil changed properly?" The tech says that customers need to bring their cars to businesses with "a reputable name." Then, he repeats just how "rare" it is to have to completely change out a car’s transmission and engine simultaneously.

"Oil Change Gone Bad"

The incident presented by Center Reach’s service department indeed sounds like a rare occurrence. But there have been instances of people complaining about their car’s performance after an oil change. One person on Toyota Nation wrote that they changed their oil themselves, but noticed their transmission was slipping after the work was done.

Other users in the discussion were confounded, with one person stating that their issue was more than likely a coincidence, since the car’s engine oil change shouldn’t affect their Corolla’s transmission performance, or that they had accidentally drained their transmission fluid instead of their oil.

One Reddit user said they had a bad oil change that caused their Subaru to blow smoke while driving. While they didn’t notice any dips in performance, they saw that their oil reserves were "bone dry." The culprit? Their ride’s oil drain plug was "hanging by a thread," which caused their car’s oil to leak rapidly.

After securing the drain plug bolt and refilling the oil, the part has stayed in place without any problems, they said, which ultimately led them to believe that whoever performed the oil change neglected to replace the plug properly.

Motor1 has reached out to Center Reach Hyundai via email for further comment. This post will be updated if they respond.