Dumbest Thing You've Done While Doing An Oil Change.

[1sttruck]

After checking the level I decided to top off the power steering fluid, unscrewed the cap from the bottle of fluid, and when I removed the cap the foil liner fluttered out from cap and drifted down to into the power steering pump. I fished for it for about an hour and then gave up, as per the manual it looked like it might have a screen on the pump. A bit later when driving into town over a bridge the steering got reeeeaaaal hard and made nasty noises when I turned the wheel. It made the noise for a few miles and then got quiet. I doubt if the wife could have turned the wheel, which isn't a good thing as you'd like something like that to fail gracefully. I managed to pull the reservoir without pulling the pump and found the foil liner, but still had to replace the pump a few weeks later as it just got noisier and harder to turn.

The replacement pump shaft must have been oversized as the first pulley that I installed on it seized before it got seated, and I spent over an hour with a Dremel and cutoff wheel getting it off while trying to avoid nicking the shaft. I barely got the 2nd pulley on.

Lesson learned is don't leave access covers off while you're doing stuff.

 

[garyb80]

I was changing the oil for the older lady that lives next door. I went in under the front side but found it more convienent to slide back out under the driver side. As I slid my head out, the lady was standing next to the car with her back turned and I got a bid ole eye full of butt up under her skirt.

Right then she turned and looked down at me.

I've still got that image burned into the back of my eyes. My therapist thinks it was Freudian slip and has got something to do with my mother.

 

[Drew99GT]

quote:

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Originally posted by garyb80:
I was changing the oil for the older lady that lives next door. I went in under the front side but found it more convienent to slide back out under the driver side. As I slid my head out, the lady was standing next to the car with her back turned and I got a bid ole eye full of butt up under her skirt.

Right then she turned and looked down at me.

I've still got that image burned into the back of my eyes. My therapist thinks it was Freudian slip and has got something to do with my mother.

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Oh man, I just spewed beer on my new laptop; **** you

I haven't done anything too catastrophic. Everytime I change the oil in my Dad's Blazer, I NEVER have the drain pan positioned right. I just hate seeing the oil come rushing out over the back of my drain pan. The oil in that thing comes out parallel to the ground. The thing is, I have this problem because if a let the drain pan sit far enough out, then it spills all over the front side of the pan when the oil stream turns to a trickle. It's now my routine to have my trusty bucket of cat litter at my side as part of my usual routine. I have one of those large black drain pans that has a sealed lid on it with a hole in the middle.

 

[Drew99GT]

quote:

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Originally posted by garyb80:
I was changing the oil for the older lady that lives next door. I went in under the front side but found it more convienent to slide back out under the driver side. As I slid my head out, the lady was standing next to the car with her back turned and I got a bid ole eye full of butt up under her skirt.

Right then she turned and looked down at me.

I've still got that image burned into the back of my eyes. My therapist thinks it was Freudian slip and has got something to do with my mother.

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Dude, I can't stop laughing...........

 

[TallPaul]

quote:

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Lesson learned is don't leave access covers off while you're doing stuff. [/QB]

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Good advice. I have this paranoid fear that something is going to go in my oil filler, a piece of the plastic from the oil bottle cap ring, or a fly, or whatever. Also, what if a fly goes in the drain hole when you're not looking?

Sure like the Fram Sure Drain for that unlikelihood.

 

[T-Keith]

quote:

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Originally posted by TallPaul:

quote:

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Lesson learned is don't leave access covers off while you're doing stuff.

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Good advice. I have this paranoid fear that something is going to go in my oil filler, a piece of the plastic from the oil bottle cap ring, or a fly, or whatever. Also, what if a fly goes in the drain hole when you're not looking?

Sure like the Fram Sure Drain for that unlikelihood.

[/QB]

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Come on don't get too pananoid, reminds me of the Simpsons, when Homer got attacked by bees from his oil drain hole.

 

[TallPaul]

quote:

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Originally posted by T-Keith:
Come on don't get too pananoid, reminds me of the Simpsons, when Homer got attacked by bees from his oil drain hole.

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So it really can happen, wow! I have to get some more sure drains.

Would love to see that Simpson episode.

 

[edvanp]

Years ago..I swear...

Topped off the power stearing fluid, a pint low, with brake fluid in my 73 4 door impala winter beater. That was the end of that.

 

[gmayer5454375]

I did 2 stupid things. Once added oil and forgot to put the filler cap back on. The other When I put the filter on, I never tightened it. Found out about 15 miles from home something was wrong both times.

 

[ChiTDI]

Kid next door comes to me after completing his first oil change. Engine runs well, car won't move. Quick look at the used "oil" - used ATF!

 

[brianl703]

quote:

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Originally posted by ChiTDI:
Kid next door comes to me after completing his first oil change. Engine runs well, car won't move. Quick look at the used "oil" - used ATF!

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That must be why they don't want to put drain plugs on the transmission!

 

[MAJA]

I had a '83 T-Bird with a 302, and the "two" drain plugs on the pan, due to the oil pan design of curving over the rack and pinion steering rack. Well, you guessed it, first time I changed it, I only removed one. Refilled with the proper amount, started and ran for about 5 minutes, and checked the level. The oil level was up to the "overf...." word on the dipstick warning "Do not overfill".
A close second dumb thing was to add the old original "Slick-50" oil additive, back in the mid '80s.

 

[sully]

Changed the oil in my 67 RS Camaro and backed into my parents new car setting only 6 feet behind me. Yea, it was broad daylight and I came out of the garage at about 3500 rpm headed to the drag strip. It wasn't pretty. I think it was the closest my father ever came to actually shooting me. "Boy, ain't you gotta rear view mirror in that thing"

 

[sully]

I guess it was the dumbest thing I ever did AFTER an oil change.

 

[Gary Allan]

Can we include others stupid adding events?

quote:

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Topped off the power stearing fluid, a pint low, with brake fluid in my 73 4 door impala winter beater. That was the end of that.

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A friend's wife and daughter wanted to show that they cared about the car ..so they added power steering fluid ..to the master cylinder

$1000 later the car was good as new.

 

[huffmuds9320]

I did a many dumb things when doing oil change. Before I used to just use the factory jack and another jack from another car to support it. Then I would put like a plastic milk crate under the car and some piled up wood. I should have used a floor jack and jack stands. For the first oil change on my VW Jetta, the factory oil filter was on super tight. Spent a lot of time trying to get the filter off but its like glued on. So I gave up and brought the car to Jiffy Lube to do a full synthetic oil change for ~60 dollars. I should have bought a oil filter wrench or something.

[ January 18, 2005, 11:17 PM: Message edited by: lpcmidst128 ]

 

[Rick in PA]

I use to work at a service station. One day another guy and I were hammering out an oil change. Put the car up, drop the oil, change the filter, grease the suspension, check the tire pressure, drop the car, pop the hood, check the fluid levels and add the new oil... Then we notice the puddle of oil slooowly flowing out from beneath the car. We both looked at the oil bowser and there sat the drain plug. We looked at each other and pretty much said to each other "I thought you got the drain plug."

 

[EmbarkChief]

More of a funny occurance than a dumb move...

While changing the oil on our old '79 big block farm truck I set the oil cap on the battery so I wouldn't lose it. Well in the process of adding the oil I knocked it off the battery. Where it slid between it and the grill into a space too small to get it out of without removing the battery. So I bit the bullet and pulled the battery only to find THREE other caps down there!

It was nice to see that I was not the first.

 

[DirtyApe]

Not exactly an oil "change", but I needed to replace the oil pressure sending unit on a 97 Nissan Maxima. The oil sending unit is of course always submerged and it screws in to the cast aluminum of the lower block.

Weeeelll, I thought I would drain the oil (just came in from a 30 minute drive. Got a big funnel, drove the car up on the ramps, put the funnel in the top of the 5qt oil container (this was new oil in the engine, about 50 miles on it), then pulled the drain plug.

Problem was, the oil came out MUCH faster than the funnel could direct it into the 5 qt bottle. Took about 3 seconds to overflow the large funnel and from there I was dealing with the hot oil, while on my back, and oh did I mention this was 1am?

Well, realized that I had better get out from under there, let it drain (just dumped about 4.5 qts on the ground. Now, I could not move the car to get back under there without laying in the oil, so down a tarp went. got the old sending unit out, new one installed. Used another car to go to Walmart at 245am to get another 5qt bottle of oil, refilled. Got back to bed at 415am.

Oh, to show I didn't learn as much from it as I should, I thought I could swap a new drain plug into a 2001 Taurus without draining the oil (yes I actually thought this). Problem was, the people at azone sold me the wrong drain plug (I had nothing to compare to since the old leaking gasket one was on the car).

Short story, that involved another dumping of oil, but at least I had a container underneath as I thought I would spill a *little*.

Another whole 5qt refill. Guy at az thought it was funnier than I did.

Yes I've learned from all this , finally.

 

[Matt_S]

I've pulled a couple brilliant maneuvers. I have a covered oil drain pan. The top cover is sloped with a plug in the middle to allow the oil to flow into the bottom section of the pan. I recently forgot to remove that plug before pulling the drain plug. The oil was 98% drained before I realized what happened. I wound up with about 2 qts of oil running down my driveway.

Several years ago I forgot to replace the oil cap on the valve cover. Boy did that stink for a while. No damage done, though.