So the people that changed my oil yesterday left the oil cap off the top of the engine. I stopped driving after I noticed smoke coming up from under the hood (about 35 miles). Other than that I haven't noticed any noises and the oil light didn't come on. The entire engine bay is a complete mess of course.

So...

1) Do you think the car will be ok? Do you think there was much damage to the engine?

2) I have an idea of what I want the people that changed my oil to do for recompense (clean the engine bay of all oil, buy a replacement oil cap, redo the oil change). Anything else I should have them do to ensure that everything is put back the way it was before the botched oil change?

7/25/2007 7:46:56 AM

what kinda car??

some cars nowadays can run for a while with all the engine oil drained.

most likely nothing happened.

but they are def. at fault. i wouldnt worry about getting a new motor, but yeah, you can most likely get it cleaned and even another oil change for no charge.

7/25/2007 7:51:34 AM

Nissan Sentra. I just called them a few minutes ago. I didn't address issues of blame or restitution, I just calmly (miraculously) explained the situation and they told me they would call me back in 30 minutes.

I don't think I lost that much oil - like I said the oil light didn't come on.

7/25/2007 8:08:53 AM

why don't you check the dipstick & see how much oil is in the car

7/25/2007 8:25:13 AM

Yeah, I plan on doing that after the oil has had some time to settle.

They called back and without prompting they promised to do all the things that I mentioned in the first post at their expense:

1) Tow
2) New oil cap
3) Clean
4) New oil change

The dipstick reads 2/3 full. I also checked the window sticker that tells you when to get the next oil change to get a better estimate on how far I had driven. It looks like they even mistakingly added the 3 to the ten thousands column instead of the thousands column (no biggie). Looks like I went 45 miles.

Now as far as the oil cap goes, I'd be more concerned that foreign material got in the engine rather than excessive amounts of oil getting out.

[Edited on July 25, 2007 at 8:43 AM. Reason : -]

7/25/2007 8:27:56 AM

very unlikely that anything got into the engine through the cap.

as long as your car is running, you are blowing air out of that cap, and well, its kinda hard for something to sneak down in there..

yeah, maybe some dust or whatnot, but that never hurt an engine .

i wouldnt worry about all that

7/25/2007 9:19:45 AM

So who were these idiots?

7/25/2007 9:57:25 AM

Precision Tune. It could happen anywhere really, but yeah. They are taking care of it, so I'm not that irate with them.

My wife used to work for a place that insures dealerships/repair shops. She used to receive claims like this all the time. Even people forgetting to put on oil filters - leaving the filter receptacle completely empty, forgetting to put the plug back into the oil pan after draining it, and even claims where the cars would fall off the lifts.

I guess it's just my turn to burn. In march a spark plug exploded and took our engine out. Last week we had to get all the fuel/oxygen sensors replaced. Now this - plus the car that they botched the oil change on needs new shocks and had a small oil leak.

[Edited on July 25, 2007 at 10:14 AM. Reason : -]

7/25/2007 10:12:59 AM

shoulda kept driving it till it caught on fire and get the insurance money for it from them

7/25/2007 10:14:20 AM

Quote :

"leaving the filter receptacle completely empty"

hell i never fill a filter first.

7/25/2007 10:17:22 AM

Maybe I didn't say it right. I meant that they took the old oil filter off and didn't put a new one in it's place - leaving a gaping hole.

7/25/2007 10:29:36 AM

You would think the grease monkey in the pit would have noticed something was amis
when he got sprayed with oil as they drove it out of the bay.

7/25/2007 10:44:54 AM

Quote :

"It could happen anywhere really"

exactly, any mechanic will tell you that they have done something stupid in their time.

people make mistakes.

7/25/2007 10:47:07 AM

hey at least it wont ever rust now.

7/25/2007 1:47:53 PM

^^true that. i've left the plug out of a car before. luckily, i noticed the valdese like slick coming out from under it when i was filling it (northstar=8quarts )

7/25/2007 2:19:58 PM

^ try doing that on a 3150 cat and walking off as 40 quarts pour on the floor

7/25/2007 2:22:07 PM

Quote :

"and even claims where the cars would fall off the lifts."

Too busy to try to find it at the moment, but there are pictures on some other board of mechanics who didn't lift an elise correctly when putting new tires on it and it fell back and off the lift.

7/25/2007 4:24:16 PM

Quote :

"Precision Tune. It could happen anywhere really, but yeah"

which one was it, the one near jones franklin? i've always used them because of the $15 oil changes...need to find someone off 64 business like that

7/25/2007 5:04:11 PM

yeah the fact that you didn't have to bitch at them says it's quality.

now if it were jiffy lube, that's another story altogether.

[Edited on July 25, 2007 at 5:19 PM. Reason : firestone dropped my friend's parent's car off a lift. hillarious.]

7/25/2007 5:19:10 PM

I've never taken my car anywhere for an oil change. I'd like a cookie.

7/25/2007 6:57:21 PM

neither have i

7/25/2007 8:38:35 PM

Call them back and tell them you need part number 710 for your car. It used to be on the top of the engine but now it's gone.

7/25/2007 9:00:11 PM