Post your oil changing mishaps

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The first time I changed the oil on my 1800ES I neglected to notice that the oil filter gasket from the old filter had stuck to the block. All was well for the first mile or so of driving, then boom! Oil and smoke everywhere. It caused me quite a panic. Luckily I shut down soon enough that no damage was done to anything except my pride :).

I'm sure I've done well over a hundred oil changes, and that was the only time something went that wrong.

Another tale: Recently I drained the tranny fluid from my daughter's Volvo 240. Then I refilled it by way of the motor oil dip stick instead of the tranny dipstick. Duh, stupid me. Luckily I noticed the problem while I was pouring the second quart in, and I hadn't started the thing up yet. The car needed an oil change anyway, so it got a bit of an ATF flush :).
 
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Once before I was an oil nut...ok a long time ago....had a dealer change the oil in a new car. Dude buttoned it all up and started the car right in front of me, before I could stop him to tell him he forgot to put the oil in.........I turned into a maniac...made them put it in writing....
 
Well I don't have an oil change mishap, BUT, today was my brothers first time doing an oil change by himself. He was working on a 93 Lexus ES300. He took the drain plug out, then reinstalled it, unscrewed the old oil filter and then screwed on the new oil filter. Well when he went to start up the car he said that oil was shooting all over the place. He looked and the filter was only screwed on halfway haha. Well we have a nice oily garage/driveway now :)
 
On my first car, a rusted-out 89 Olds Cutlass Ciera wagon that regularly saw all 8 seats used since my friends and I were younger and dumber, I over-tightened the filter cap on the underside of the block so it was impossible to get off. That blasted cartridge filter went another 15k miles before the car blew a major internal gasket hours before I was scheduled to pick up a new-to-me car.
 
Hahaha. When I was going to a automotive class at school, we had about a week or so where we could bring in our cars and do simple stuff. Change oil, fuel filter, rotate tires. One guy brought in his S10 Blazer and put it on the lift. Drained the oil and changed the filter. Then lowered it and promptly started it. Since everyone was busy forming social circles at the time it was about 20-30 seconds before any one noticed. It was completely normal sounding engine too. After he shut it off and installed 5 quarts of oil did it make nasty rod knock for about 3 seconds on restart.
 
back in 1986 i didnt put filter on my stang quite right and i lost some oil, but i noticed after 60 miles or so the next day...car was new doy...but engine always ran great
 
the friggin filter was hard to get to and i didnt have car lifted up...still mad at myself about the stang
 
Originally Posted By: bustednutz
Pulled the plug and drained out 6 quarts of old mobil 1. Changed filter and proceeded to refill with 6 quarts of new mobil 1. Forgot to put the drain plug back in. Wasted 6 quarts and $$$ right down the drain.
Not only have I done that, but I also forgot to check to see if the gasket came off the engine with the filter. Put the new filter on and what a freakin' mess!
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Worst oil changing episode was the first oil change on my second car. I didn't remove the plug from the catch basin before draining the oil. ALL of the contents of the oil pan were released onto my father's driveway- about 5 quarts.

I've gotten pretty good now. I can usally complete the job in less than 20 minutes with no spillage and minimal oil on my hands.

How often do y'all drop the plug into the catch pan after draining has commenced?
 
I put the wrong filter on my pickup once. We have an old refrigerator where we stash our oil and filters, and I grabbed the filter for my Pontiac 455 instead of the Chevy 350. The gasket didn't match up, and it poured oil everywhere.
 
My mishap went the opposite of most people's. This seems illogical and stupid, and it was. But it honestly happened.

Wife's minivan; 1995 Villager. Doing a full serivce at 30k miles including engine oil/filter, tranny fluid, lube hinges, etc, rotating tires; multi-tasking, the works. Saving time everywhere I could; was in a hurry. Draining all I could at once. Was in a BIG hurry. I was working 12-14 hour shifts, seven days a week, and was exhausted. I was outside in the driveway in 90 deg F temps with 90% humidity. Mosquitos were after me. Sweat from brow was unbearable. Brain was in a fog. Coming down the home stretch. Put filter back on engine. Put engine oil in engine. Put plug back in tranny pan. Went to put tranny fluid in; funnel didn't fit. I'm ticked off; why won't this fit? Got a brilliant idea to make a paper funnel by rolling up some heavy card stock (paper). BRILLIANT - it worked. Put tranny fluid in. Double checked the various bolts. Time for a quick test drive.

Went for that drive, just short leap down the road. Got back to check tranny fluid level; left running in "park". Pulled stick - dry as a bone. Hmmmmmmmm. That's odd. Fluid does not register on tranny dipstick. Gosh, I had measured what came out and filled accordingly; should have been "close" on the stick. Thoughtful pause. Shut down engine. More bewilderment. Pulled engine oil dipstick. YIKES! Way too full! WTH? I had put the tranny fluid into the engine through the dipstick tube, by mistaking the engine dipstick for the tranny dipstick!!! (Hey - I told you I was tired ...)
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Had to run to store to get more tranny fluid,
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and another oil/fitler change for the engine as well.
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Moral of story? As my dad told me, "Anything worth doing is worth doing right". And that includes not getting in such a flipping hurry as to make stupid mistakes.

Lesson learned. The hard way.
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Once I forgot to put the oil plug back in the lawnmower, wasted a 20oz bottle of small engine oil. Another time I was changing oil in the lawnmower, lost the drain plug in the grass, after about 30 frustrating minutes I found it. Then when I went to fill it up with fresh oil ,I unscrewed the gas cap and was about to pour in the oil, my brother stopped me just in time.....I was really tired, and it was like 90 degrees out, needless to said I wasnt functioning well that day....
 
Trying to get a UO sample for the very first time. I opened the big black Blacktone Labs jar and stuck it into the draining oil stream. I didn't realize that the actual sample jar was shipped inside the big black jar.
The hot dirty oil hit the sealed top of that sample jar and splashed everywhere. Mildy scalded my hand. What a mess.
Took me an hour to clean up the underside of the truck and the garage floor.
Later I took the little sample jar out and dipped it into the oil catch pan to fill it. The pan was clean before I drained into it, so hopefully the sample is OK. Havent got around to sending it in yet. This was in May or June.
 
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The first time I changed the oil on my 1800ES I neglected to notice that the oil filter gasket from the old filter had stuck to the block. All was well for the first mile or so of driving, then boom! Oil and smoke everywhere. It caused me quite a panic. Luckily I shut down soon enough that no damage was done to anything except my pride :).


Been there done that. Left the cap off on the wife's Rabbit once too.

Never happened to me but on the Diesel truck forums, I remember seeing more than once, "be sure your drain pan holds as much as the oil pan does." Some of those trucks have really big sumps.
 
Changing the oil for the first time on my 1st new truck. Drained the oil, changed the filter, refilled, and started. I heard this loud squealing, looked under the truck and saw oil shooting out between the old gasket I missed and the new one I put on. took oil filter off again, removed the oil gasket and added another quart of oil.

Another time I put about 3 quarts of new oil in before I saw the drain plug on the workbench.

I always wipe the seating surface for the filter and put the drain plug near the oil fill now.
 
Originally Posted By: steve20
this thread should end any future discussions regarding the foibles of quick lube places?



Steve
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Good one!
 
It's not really a mishap, but I had a 91 Nissan truck ("Hardbody") when I was in college. I wanted to change the oil before driving home but I didn't have things like ramps, or a collection pan.

So out in the middle of the big dorm parking lot, I drove up onto a curb, drained the oil onto the pavement, rolled it back into the space across the aisle, and proceeded to finish the oil change. I left the oil there.

The filter was accessible from the top, and the truck was high enough that I didn't need to jack it up to get at the drain plug.

I would never even consider doing something like that now.
 
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