Poor decisions during an oil change, part 2

Duke said:

In reply to Will :

Leaving the oil cap on top of the valve cover and slamming the hood.

 

 

Sorry, Curtis.

I tell people its a hump for the intercooler plumbing.

forgetting to put the oil fill cap back on resulting in a smokey drive as the entire topside of the engine recieves a nice, oily shine.

M2Pilot said:

I always maintained our fleet & when the last ex-wife remarried, she sorta implied to her new husband that he should also maintain their fleet.   I may have experienced a tiny bit of schadenfreude when our son told us she had to have her car towed to the shop after new husbands 1st oil change attempt.  He had added the oil to the transmission.

In a similar vein, guy I knew in college had a 1.8t Passat and we used to rib him pretty hard for being an enthusiast and not doing his own oil changes (knowing full well he wasn't the least bit mechanically inclined and had no business being anywhere near the underside of a car.) So being the rather prideful person that he was, he eventually decides that he's a manly man who knows what he's doing, and with the help of a step by step DIY, successfully performs an oil change on his Passat. 

So now that he's a certified VW Master Mechanic, when his girlfriend's 1.8t Jetta comes due for an oil change he tells her not to waste her money at the shop, he'll take care of it, because his car has the exact same engine and he knows exactly what he's doing. Neglecting of course that the Passat has a longitudinally oriented engine and the Jetta's is transverse, thus the packaging is apparently totally different. I happen to come walking up right about the time her Jetta is getting winched on to the back of a flat bed and ask whats going on.

"Well I drained the oil and filled it back up, then when I started the car and put it in drive it wouldn't move."

"That's because you drained the transmission fluid."

"Huh, I was kinda wondering why her oil came out red." 

Cooper_Tired said:

maschinenbau said:

Being extra careful and taking extra time to not spill any oil, and as soon as the job is done you yank that pan from under the car just quick enough to slosh a quart all over the concrete driveway.

I’m ashamed at the amount of times I’ve done this exact thing 

Same

Changing the oil on a car with the filter right next to/behind the exhaust immediately after a drive. "Better to change when warm" not still hundreds of degrees. There's a difference.

Hair still won't grow back on that part of my arm.

I think my worst oil change mistake was when I was in high school in the mid-70's working at my grandpa's tire and mechanic shop.

I was in "the pit" draining the oil  from a school bus into a large pan we used for this.   This pit was about 4 feet deep and we let the oil fall all they way to this pan sitting on the bottom. 

So after I was done and the bus was moved I went back to get my tools.  

I was getting ready to climb out the pit and forgot about the pan of oil and stepped into.     

This not only got my shoe and sock full of oil but the pan overflowed into the pit.     Which I had to clean up, my dad insisted upon it.    

This was one of those "look before you leap" learning moments for my young self.

edizzle89 said:

forgetting to put the oil fill cap back on resulting in a smokey drive as the entire topside of the engine recieves a nice, oily shine.

I did that once. It was after topping off the oil during a Chumpcar pit stop. I didn’t realize my mistake until the end of the stint, 2 hours later. Oops.

Friend's girlfriend was driving his Porshe 914-6 and pulled into a full serve service station. They opened the wrong cap and pumped the dry dump tank full of gasoline.....

edizzle89 said:

forgetting to put the oil fill cap back on resulting in a smokey drive as the entire topside of the engine recieves a nice, oily shine.

I always put the oil cap in or on the hood latch (depending on style) to make sure this never happens

Watch, and learn.

I use one of those all-in-one plastic drain containers that includes a low-profile funnel that screws on in place of the container's cap when draining oil. Conveniently the funnel stores on the side of the same container in a snap-in recess.

I hadn't used it in a while and carefully set it in place, then unscrewed the drain plug on the oil pan and watched the oil as it filled the funnel. About the time it was getting near the top, the white-hot brilliant flash of brilliance hit me, that I hadn't removed the funnel from its storage recess and that, with the oil drain plug having sank to the bottom of the funnel, I wasn't going to fish it out and stop the flow before all 5 quarts of oil dumped onto the garage floor.

I found it oddly easy to make sure that hasn't happened since.

In reply to kb58 :

Thats the same pan I use. I havent seen a better design. I guess as long as you hook it up properly. 

My story is similar to above where I drained the trans fluid instead of the oil. luckily enough I realized that oil isn't red and ended up buying trans fluid as well as oil that day. 

although on another car I did leave the 710 cap on the washer fluid reservoir and crushed that with my hood. so that was fun.

I have a funnel that has a shut off valve at the bottom. I bought it from a marine supply for one of my boats. I'll get it in place, begin filling it up, and the valve will be shut off. Hopefully, I notice before the funnel overflows. 

And, oh yeah, I've sloshed oil out of the pan more times than I can count. My current pan has a lip that turns inward to avoid that, but doesn't make it impossible to spill. 

And too, I've shut the hood on the filler cap and put a dent in the hood.

And... I've left the cap off and driven the car. And, oh yes, I've poured oil in while the plug was still out. Luckily I could hear it running out the bottom so I only lost about 1/4 of a quart.