Post your Dumbest oil change, lets hear the truth.

[defektes]

changing oil on my driveway on a perfect sunny 70 degree day with no wind 5 years ago on my pontiac. Just finished removing the drain plug and BAM heavy winds pick up and spray used valvoline 10 feet across my driveway and all over my good pants and shirt and hair.

 

[AdRock]

When I was a teenager I grabbed the wrong bottles and filled my car up with 6 qts of tranny fluid. After a few days it started to smoke a little. Changed the filter, drained everything out, and filled back up with oil. Everything was ok. The inside of that engine was nice and clean after that though, LOL.




The dumb change below WAS NOT done by me.

I worked for a very short time at a Wal Mart changing oil, doing alignments, and mounting tires. So I'm sitting there one day watching this idiot (that I told them not to hire) change the oil in a customers car.

1. He puts the drain plug in but gets it crossthreaded. So what to do??? He drove it the rest of the way in with a 3/8 impact.

2. He fills the coolant overflow with washer fluid.

3. He then tops off the washer fluid bottle with antifreeze.

4. then puts about 1/2 qt of oil in the tranny before he realizes what he did. Just looked around and acted like it never happened.

5. Then puts 9 qts of oil in the car.

Parks the car outside like everything is cool. I went over and informed the customer of exactly what was done and told him to have it towed to a shop immediately and don't drive it. I then took the customer to our manager and told him what the moron did. After all of that, I got a reaming from the manager for telling the customer.

 

[Popinski]

My biggest dumbest oil change?

When I was a Teen, I went to Jiffy Lube. They didn't have an oil filter for my car so they had to find an "alternate". well, the "alternate" leaked oil all over the place and I was running so low on oil.

 

[mcrn]

Well I hope the customer was at least appreciative of your honesty AdRock. I had a 83 Mercedes 240 Diesel that had a canister oil filter in a huge metal canister that sat right on top of the engine. It came with a O ring gasket for around the top of the metal housing. I pinched that when I tightened the top down. I started the car to see if there was any leaks and sure enough oil was spraying all over the engine bay from the canister.

2. Same car. I forgot to put the drain plug back in and dumped a half a quart on my parents driveway of Mobil 1. A half a quart does not sound like much but man! It sure looks like a lot on the ground!

 

[ls1mike]

I had just changed the oil in my 89 Sierra 1 ton BBC, 8 Qts. I pulled out of the Garage to drive it around the block and look for leaks. I left the pan sitting on the floor. My wife came back in our Cadillac CTS at time pulled into the garage very quick and hit the pan. 8 Qts of oil everywhere and I had to the front brakes on the Cadillac, because the pads had oil all over them.

 

[mcrn]

I would hate to see that much oil on the ground! The half quart I spilled looked like a TON! Can't imagine 8 or 7 quarts!

 

[gregester]

double oil filter gasket a few times over the years, and being dumb enough to use fram filters LOL

 

[Roger]

My Toyota Sienna uses a cartridge instead of a conventional spin-on filter. Once I dropped it and it landed on the center tube, which extends beyond the cartridge housing. Had to take it to the dealer for straightening or buy a new one.

Best reason I know to buy a Honda.

 

[JustinC25]

I have 2 stories.

1. When I worked for VIP as a teenager I had to do an oil change on an Accord. Up until working for the store I had only done oil changes on Toyota's with Toyota filters. The "Square cut" o ring on the filter base was totally foreign to me. I had only seen the regular o ring that never gets stuck to the engine.
So I bring the car in drain the oil, change the filter, and refill, then park it outside. 1 week later the car comes in on the hook. The filter was double gasketed, and as a result it needed a new head. I didn't see the old gasket on the filter base due to the location of the filter on the rear of the engine block up near the head. Got fired for that one, but it NEVER happened again.

2. I was doing a waiter oil change on a Avalon at the dealer, and forgot to put on the filter. Started the engine, and the oil light stayed on for about 15 seconds, then I shut it down.
I went to go check, and almost 2 quarts on the floor.
Cleaned it up, installed the filter, topped off the oil, then All was good.

Justin

 

[NHHEMI]

When I worked at the dealer I could use the shop at lunch. My truck( 88 Ram 50 )needed an OC badly so I ran down and grabbed some oil and a filter at the parts store and hurried back to do the OC. Because I forgot to order the oil and filter earlier in the day and had to go get it I was late getting started.

I hurried to get it done on time so I wouldn't tie up the lift and so I would not be late getting back from lunch. In my haste I forgot to put the oil fill cap back on. Left after work to go home and started smelling oil after a few minutes. Pulled over and looked and found the cap off( luckily the cap was still there ). OIL EVERYWHERE( OHC 4cyl )though. What a mess that made. OY!

That is honestly the only oops I have made doing oil changes. It was a pain though. Took me forever to clean that oil off. It was on everything.

 

[Big_Kat]

Originally Posted By: NHHEMI
When I worked at the dealer I could use the shop at lunch. My truck( 88 Ram 50 )needed an OC badly so I ran down and grabbed some oil and a filter at the parts store and hurried back to do the OC. Because I forgot to order the oil and filter earlier in the day and had to go get it I was late getting started.

I hurried to get it done on time so I wouldn't tie up the lift and so I would not be late getting back from lunch. In my haste I forgot to put the oil fill cap back on. Left after work to go home and started smelling oil after a few minutes. Pulled over and looked and found the cap off( luckily the cap was still there ). OIL EVERYWHERE( OHC 4cyl )though. What a mess that made. OY!

That is honestly the only oops I have made doing oil changes. It was a pain though. Took me forever to clean that oil off. It was on everything.


I've done this on my Dakota. The truck has a 6 inch tube running from the valve cover. I found the cap on my air cleaner a week later when i was checking the oil level...

 

[EagleFTE]

I took my personal car on a multi-month out of town work assignment. Rushed home one night to change the oil in the apartment parking lot before it got dark and apparently got in too much of a hurry and forgot to lube the gasket. Next oil change I could not get the filter off. Had to use the screw driver through the filter approach.


One other time when we were kids my buddy and I changed oil in his sisters Vega GT. He liked to leave the drain plug loose until fresh oil came out when filling. Since there were 10 inches of fresh snow on the ground we decided to take the car out for a little play time in the snow. Oil light came on after 15 minutes of driving. Yep, forgot to tighten the drain plug the restof the way. Didn't lose it though.

 

[x97labelle]

Forgot to put the oil fill cap back on our Pontiac Vibe. Didnt notice til driving and smelling oil burning. Opened the hood and oil spewing out all over the engine bay. Cost me another 4.5 quarts of Mobil 1 and a filter to do a fresh change.

 

[Jakegday]

i was changing the oil on my moms mustang. i was aware that her car had a problem and her MPG and been literally cut in half. i was not aware of what the problem was though. (im thinking injector problem, now) i took out the drain plug and stuff just started shooting out to the side, completely over shot my drain pan. made a big ol mess in her apartment parking lot. after the uncontrollable stream calmed down i did manage to capture the final 3 gallons of gasoline/oil mixture with the drain pan.

i did learn that its always a good idea to check the dipstick before pulling the plug on someone elses car. it doesnt really apply to my cars since they get checked like twice a week

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: Jakegday
i did learn that its always a good idea to check the dipstick before pulling the plug on someone elses car. it doesnt really apply to my cars since they get checked like twice a week
Obsessive-compulsive behavior, or are your cars that needy?

 

[Jakegday]

obsessive-complusive mixed with loving to take a couple minute break from the kids every once in a while. and boredom i guess, getting laid off gives a person ALOT of free time

 

[CErnst]

when I was a teen, I was doing an oil change on my '77 Blazer with the 350ci. I had the oil drained and filter off and decided that I needed to get that last bit out. So in that state, I started the motor for about 15 seconds. Filled her up and went on my way. Luckily, no immediate damage.

Same vehicle, i was being cheap, I changed the oil, but skipped changing my FRAM.

 

[exranger06]

I double-gasketed the oil filter on my Explorer once. Discovered it immediately, shut it down, and fixed it.

Another time, after removing the old filter, I put it in the box that the new filter came in. I picked it up and the bottom of the box split open, making the old filter fall 5 feet into the drain pan full of oil, splashing everywhere.

And I did a tranny pan drop/refill on my Ranger. I filled the trans, took it for a test drive and got the trans warmed up. I stopped in a commuter lot to check the fluid. Added some, stuffed a rag in the funnel so it wouldn't drip all over the interior, and went home. Checked it again in the driveway, added some more, and removed the funnel. As I removed the funnel, it splashed tranny fluid all over the front of the truck and the driveway. I forgot to remove the rag from the funnel. I spent the next 1/2 hr cleaning that up.

 

[PeteTheFarmer]

I was putting the first quart of new oil in the car at the end of a change when I allowed myself to be distracted by a phone call from my brother. Getting back to work some time later, I had a brainfart and thought I was on the last quart instead of the first. I started the car and was beginning to think "Gee I don't remember the oil light staying on this long ever before" when I noticed the three other quarts of oil unopened on the workbench. Fortunately, no damage resulted.

 

[ryan2022]

Lowered the car after the oil change, and forgot to remove the drain pan.

I didnt notice, until I heard the pan scaping the pavement when I drove away!!!!!

No harm done, just a bruised ego, and beat up drain pan.