Something about this diagnosis sounds off
09.02.10
Loved Tom and Ray:
My daughter bought a 2005 Kia Sorento nine months ago, and was settled an extended warranty by the dealership. A week ago, it started race badly, so she took it back. The technician said two cylinders were not working. He said they found a plunger ring in the oil pan, and corrosion on the top of one piston. Now they are telling her that the damage was caused by an "nameless foreign object" that got into the engine. They are calling this a "road stake," and won't pay for the large repair bill. Does this diagnosis make nuance to you guys?
— Jennifer
RAY: An "unidentified foreign object" got in there? Like what? Leonid Brezhnev?
TOM: There are only a few ways that a extrinsic object could get into the cylinders, Jennifer. And they're all unlikely.
RAY: One is through the air filter. But even the lousiest air drip is supposed to filter out objects larger than about 50 microns (that's about two-thousandths of an inch). So if a transpacific object large enough to cause catastrophic engine nonentity snuck in the through the air filter, the innards of the air filter would be destroyed.
Source: Pocono Record