Oil change disaster

[dja4260]

Last night I was changing the fluids in my Hyundai as I'm selling it. I have a stash of oil and oil filters boxes that are labeled for each vehicle. Our old Toyota highlander (I recently sold) had a oil filter that looked identical to my Hyundal Elantras. I didn't label one oil filter box figuring it must be for the Hyundai as we no longer have the Highlander. I eye balled the one in the box to the one I took off the Hyundai. Looked identical....

Started the car and after 4 seconds of chatter and the oil pressure light remaining on, I turned the car off.

The oil filter didn't tighten flush to the mount, and 3.5 quarts of synthetic 5w-20 covered the garage floor...

A very messy lesson learned. I went to the store and got the correct oil filter and 10lbs of kitty litter....

I did manage to swap the trans fluid without issue. Super simple!

 

[Aredeeem]

You’re a brave man sharing that story here.

 

[zzyzzx]

When I saw the thread title, I assumed double gasket. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[dja4260]

When I saw the thread title, I assumed double gasket. I was pleasantly surprised.

I aim to please.

 

[gregk24]

You’re a brave man sharing that story here.

We are all human. Mistakes happen. No damage done I'm sure.

 

[JC1]

Good thing you caught it right away. Watch the guy who will buy the car from you will dump the fresh oil change that you just did.

 

[Cujet]

Well, consider it an engine flush! It won’t be a problem, there was plenty of residual oil there to protect the parts.

 

[WylieCoyote]

You won't feel truly stupid until you pour the oil in, return to the workbench and see the drain plug laying there. "Excrement occurs" is about all you can say.

 

[MacManus99]

If you change oil over a long enough period of time, something goofy is bound to happen. I suspect the mishap caused more damage to your ego than anything else. Thanks for being a good sport and posting it here for us to either poke fun, and/or relate to.

 

[hemitom]

happens !

For me the worse part of that is cleaning up the dam greasy mess oil leaves behind.

 

[WylieCoyote]

happens !

For me the worse part of that is cleaning up the dam greasy mess oil leaves behind.

Aww, come on, it leaves such a nice sheen! Looks like freshly polished concrete.

 

[hemitom]

Aww, come on, it leaves such a nice sheen! Looks like freshly polished concrete.

Lol that it does, at least with new oil he won't have that lovely lingering odour of used oil that the wife compliments him on for the next month

 

[dja4260]

Lol that it does, at least with new oil he won't have that lovely lingering odour of used oil that the wife compliments him on for the next month

The oil spill is basically just inside the overhead door of my workshop. It's unavoidable, and will serve as a constant remainder to not be in a rush.

 

[BigGeo]

Thanks for sharing, sorry for the trouble. We‘ve all been there.
When I was a kid my Dad did the same thing as you and I couldn’t believe the rate of oil shooting out of the gap. Quite a mess, even for a few seconds.

 

[4WD]

I aim to please.

Just did the Jeep xfer case with a too much to remove skid plate … will for sure grab my largest pan next time.
Purple Power to the rescue …

 

[AutoMechanic]

Haha it happens man. Once a new guy at my dealership didn’t put the cover on one of the cartridge filters straight and the thing shot oil everywhere when he started it up it was pretty funny. Luckily for me for all of my personal vehicles I have the numbers memorized for each of the oil filters for each one so hopefully that would never happen to me.

 

[Propflux01]

You won't feel truly stupid until you pour the oil in, return to the workbench and see the drain plug laying there. "Excrement occurs" is about all you can say.

This exact thing happened to me. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice it till I put the last quart in, and backed up and saw the ever growing puddle surrounding my shoes. Cleaned up the mess, No car, and no stash. Had to walk a couple miles to the nearest gas station and pay double per quart for the oil. So I got slapped even harder with that. Then walk back, reinstall drain plug, pour oil in. start car, stop to check for leaks and oil level, realise the drain plug gasket that fell off the plug laying on the ground. Remove plug, stuff finger in drain hole, oil runs down my arm, use the other hand to wiggle and finagle the washer on, then pull finger, try to stuff plug back into pan, cross thread plug, remove it again, finally get it reinstalled. Drive back down to the gas station and pay for another quart of Overpriced oil that I lost reinstalling the drain plug. Let’s just say I was much more careful the next oil change.

 

[supton]

That sucks. I did similar recently, only I started and immediately drove outside, as I didn't want a running car in the garage. Would have been better inside, I've cleaned engine oil off concrete, and it came out ok. But now I have a stain on asphalt that I haven't been able to clean up.

 

[mrsilv04]

You won't feel truly stupid until you pour the oil in, return to the workbench and see the drain plug laying there. "Excrement occurs" is about all you can say.

I'm sorry, but why would anyone take the drain plug from underneath the car, to the workbench?

 

[supton]

I'm sorry, but why would anyone take the drain plug from underneath the car, to the workbench?

To clean it? I mean, it comes out and immediately gets soaked in oil. Meanwhile, for most of us, on our backs, have nothing else to do while the oil drains. Stand up, get a rag, clean stuff off... I could see it happening. I usually get up and wipe off the bolt, and put on the engine, which is probably no better than the bench.