Let's Share Our Oil Change Disaster Stories

[BBDartCA]

After building a race engine, left the temp sensor out of the pan accidental and it dumped a ton of oil.

Tried to sample some hot oil from the drain plug on a bike and lost 4 quarts of red hot lube on the garage floor. What an idiot.

Loosened a drain on a big cam cummins and the pan split open, most the oil, and there was a TON of it, dumped all over me and the floor.

I was laughed at in a shop by other mechanics, when I was 17, for filling up the oil filter with oil before installing. They thought it was stupid to give a customer's car "extra care" at the expense of our time and efforts. Not a disaster on my part, just another lesson on why we need to do it ourselves to get it done right.

 

[rraiderr]

6 quarts of oil in to a 4 quart oil pan, needless to say I had a massive oil slick on the garage floor.

 

[RacerE7773]

I've done the pan under the car deal; I'm glad my car didn't hold as much oil as my dad's '04 Dually.

 

[Lethal1ty17]

first oil change on our craftsman lawnmower,manual gave the oil capacity in pints (4 pints) guess who put in 4 quarts and made a military grade smokescreen across the neighborhood...

 

[KrisZ]

I was changing oil on my Mazda (a couple OCIs ago) I already drained the oil pan and was unscrewing the oil filter. I got distracted in the middle of the process and did not realize that the filter was on it's last thread, so when I proceeded to unscrew it, it fell, spilling hot oil all over my arm, then it fell into the drain pan and my face got splashed with hot oil as well, plus some spilled in the floor as well.

Other than that I had to fish out oil drain plugs from hot oil a few times, as they fell into the drain pan. I also managed to position the drain pan in the wrong place few times as well, so when I pulled the drain plug, the oil stream missed the pan

, oh...the joys of motoring

 

[Frbl]

Just recently did the old "forgot and left the oil filler cap (710 cap) on the wiper cowling" trick. Drove it five miles the next day before going around a tight corner and watched it fly off into opposing traffic and get run over buy another car.

Up until that point I wondered why my car was sounding so "growly" that day. I wondered if I had an exhaust leak. I even thought that it was ironic that it started the exact same time that I just changed the oil. DUH!!!

What I find so amusing is that we are all oil-changing fanatics here - and this thread has filled up quickly and there was one like it not too long ago. Well, hopefully each of us posts to this kind of thread just ONCE!

 

[Benzadmiral]

I've had two "incidents" and only one disaster.

My first car, a new '75 Ford Maverick, came up on its first oil change. I got a buddy to help me. Everything went fine . . . until we couldn't get the filter off. So I drove the car for a week until I could get to a local service station (they still had those in the Seventies, ya know) and asked them to put the new filter on -- and to please not snug it down too tight. Future oil changes were fine.

When I decided to start DIY again with my '86 Mercedes 420SEL, I found I didn't have the right size socket for the drain plug and oil filter canister. I drove down to a Checker's and got what I needed. When I got home, though, I found I'd left the oil filler cap atop the engine, and it was gone! I walked a half mile back to the store, hoping to see it on the ground, but no luck, and had to buy a replacement. After that, all was okay.

The disaster happened on that car too, the last time I drained oil from below. The black-and-yellow plastic drain pan began to leak, not a drip or two but a steady stream of black oil, from the yellow screw cap on the side. Thank all the gods it did that *before* I put it in the trunk for the trip to recycling! I disposed of that oil and pan, never mind how, and bought a Topsider suction pump the next day.

 

[sxg6]

No recent incidents since I've learned my lessons at a young age, but..

One day I decided to change my oil outside on the driveway on a windy day.. lets just say that a a lot of the oil didn't go in the drain pan.

Forgot to put the oil cap back on one time, didn't remember until I had already driven for 5-10 minutes. oops


Originally Posted By: KrisZ
I got distracted in the middle of the process and did not realize that the filter was on it's last thread, so when I proceeded to unscrew it, it fell, spilling hot oil all over my arm, then it fell into the drain pan and my face got splashed with hot oil as well, plus some spilled in the floor as well.

This is one of my biggest fears when changing my oil, I know it's only a matter of time before I drop the oil filter into the drain pan and get a face full of oil

 

[TomYoung]

In college,a friend of a friend had a Fiat X19. He claimed that his mechanic told him that after draining the oil, he should take the car out for a drive before putting new oil back in. He did so and seized the engine, cracking the block to boot. The engine was replaced and the lesson learned.

 

[steve20]

I guess you do not want to hear from folks without these atrocities.............?

I will use a phrase commonly spoken in these parts (I never heard of this phrase before moving to this area)
"Not for nothing" BUT am I the only one who removes the filter first?

Steve

 

[ekpolk]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Let's use this thread to share our own oil change disaster stories. I'm sure a number of us have stories of all changes that just simply went wrong, damaged our pride and made us look like dummies to our friends or family.

Here's mine:

Decided to do the first oil change on my mom's Altima V6. I drove the car for five miles to warm it up-- three miles in town, two on the highway. I went to drain the oil using an oil drain pan with a "hole" in the middle. After removing the oil drain plug, the plug falls right into the middle hole of the pan and fitted perfectly, creating a near "cork" that stopped the oil from draining into "reservoir." The oil starts to quickly fill the "deck" area of the pan. I frantically tried to remove the somewhat stuck drain plug from the "hole" of the drain pan, but the oil was just so darn hot that it took me three tries to finally do it. In the process of retrieving the drain plug, I thoroughly burned my fingertips. . . .


I have had exactly this experience. I watched the drain plug neatly slide down and plunk itself into the hole in the pan, as if it were machine driven to do so. As an added bonus, the plug washer had stayed on the plug this time (sometimes mine adhere to the pan itself), forming a near perfect seal. I tried my fingers, burning them too, and then tried reseating the socket on the plug, but to no avail. Huge mess followed...

I now keep my leatherman handy, smooth blade open, when I change oil. My theory is that in an emergency, I can pierce the top of the pan and stay clean that way. I'd rather buy anther el cheapo drain pan than clean up that mess again.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

I've had the same oil change pan since 1985. I've never replaced it 'cause I never could find another one as convenient.

Early this summer I backed over it while it was full of the dirtiest manual transmission oil I've ever seen in my life. It came out of the 96 F150 I just got for Daughter.

Nasty oil all over the driveway, spreading quickly...Had to run for the OilDry fast as I could to head it off before the spill got bigger. Got oil all over the tire and made five more puddles as I backed up. Broke my plastic pan. (Sob)

Fast forward several months...I have repaired the pan and you can hardly see where the spill occurred.

Now I can start cleaning up the spill from last weekend where the almost-full and mostly-capped jug of oil was blown off the trash can while I was underneath the car and not paying attention.

 

[RF Overlord]

The year: 1973
The car: Girlfriend's '68 Mustang
The place: Garage at her father's house

Drained the old oil, making sure I didn't spill any on the spotless floor. Replaced the filter. Carefully slid the drain pan out from under the car and set it aside. Poured the new oil in, being careful not to slop any on the motor. Congratulated myself for doing a superior job when I saw the oil slick on the floor. Guess what I forgot to reinstall? Not only was there a gallon of oil on the floor, I was alone there and had to walk 2 miles each way to get more oil.

Ich war ein dummkopf...

 

[jon08]

Back in high school....about 1987, I did an oil and filter change in my friend's 1977 Olds Delta 88. We had a lift in the shop which made things easy. Got all the oil drained, new filter on, new oil poured in. Hey! Why is there oil all over the floor? I bought a new Napa oil filter for a Chevrolet 350, not for the Olds 350 the car had. Had to spring for a new filter and oil. Lesson learned.

 

[Geo_Prizm]

After the oil change I started the car to check the oil level in a minute or so.I smelled burning oil, I thought it is because of the spilled old oil from the old filter but the smell (and smoke) was too strong, when I looked under the hood I realized I had forgotten to put the oil cap back on and it was spraying all around...Took some time to clean the mess.

This was less than 2 years ago, must be my second oil change.

 

[Spector]

Cross threaded oil filter housing. The filter did not seat on housing, started up and pumped 4 quarts of synthetic on floor. tried again with new filter, same result. Realized I needed a new housing, multiple tow jobs later all is fine again. I did not cross thread the housing, previous owner did and it worked fine for years (always difficult to get on) until this last one. About a $600 oil change I guess.

 

[charleshickman]

I was living in a fourplex apartment and changing the oil in the parking lot. I carefully drained the oil into an open drain pan, over a large piece of cardboard, to protect the landlords pavement from oil spots. I changed the filter, carefully filling the filter before installing it. I pulled the cardboard, tools and drain pan from under the car. I then poured four quarts of oil through the engine and onto the ground before realizing I had not reinstalled the drain plug. A nice little stream of oil flowing past my feet alerted me. Had the other side been downhill, I might well have gotten in and started the engine. I had to walk the mile or so to the WalMart for more oil.

 

[David S.]

Originally Posted By: sxg6
One day I decided to change my oil outside on the driveway on a windy day.. lets just say that a a lot of the oil didn't go in the drain pan.
I just remembered that once I made this same mistake too.

 

[AlienBug]

Once while running a brake/muffler garage, I put the car up, put the bucket underneath, opened the drain plug and turned to walk away. The phone rang, I sort of flinched, then started toward the wall where the phone was, and kicked the drain bucket over. Bonus- quite a bit of the warm, but thankfully not hot, oil flowed right down the back of my shirt.

 

[chet2]

i had a sleazy mech charge me for oil change in 1986 yet oil hadnt changed color and filter was same....like a nutcase like me would not notice...he said oil gets dirty even when starting engine once, yeah right...any oil change i have ever done i can barely see new oil