Things not to do when changing oil.

That's absolutely fine if you know you can trust them not to c*ck up an extrordinarily simple job, and use the same quality/grade oil that you would have used if you'd done it yourself (i.e. the correct stuff).

Bloke I've delivered to several times bought a new 53-plate Renault Master (new when he bought it), and other than the schedules services, took it to the dealer ever 5-6k for an oil + filter change. Despite them telling him "it ain't due for another 12,000 miles, mate", he insisted on having it done, as that was how he chose to maintain his van, and the minimal extra cost (in the grand scheme of things) didn't bother him.

Then on a local journey (about 5-6 miles) he noticed an oil leak - coming from the oil filter - next time he drove on that road (later on that day) he noticed a small trail of oil along pretty much most of that journey. They hadn't tightened the oil filter up properly. Thankfully the oil level hadn't dropped dangerously low (I don't think it had anyway).

So he phoned up the dealer, and they claimed that they hadn't touched the oil filter, and just drained and refilled the oil. Which itself is unacceptable as that was clearly not what he'd paid them to do. He made it very clear that if the engine did suffer any future wear-related problems, he would not be going back there quietly.

So that, Joe, is just one example of why people bother to change the oil themselves. In theory, it's not a difficult job to do without making a big mess of everything, but unfortunately due to human nature, and the fact that used oil's dirty 'orrible stuff, it can happen that way.

In message , Ian Stirling writes

Topping up the oil in your Alfasud, which has a high air filter box above the carb, and leaving the filler cap on said box when you close the bonnet (not me, honest, but a colleague). I only left a fuel filler cap on a van roof and drove off.

Or the garage that changed the oil filter on SWMBO's Austin 1100 but didn't put the sealing washer on the bottom of the filter element, thus not forcing the oil to flow through it.

Depresion (blank@128.0.0.1) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Because we do 'em on autopilot.

My favourite, was the great Benny Hill/Charlie Chaplin moment.

When I slid under the car, wrenched the oil bolt off, and my face got covered in hot oil.

Then I tried to put the bolt back, covered in oil.

It was almost funny.

AstraVanMan ( snipped-for-privacy@whataloadofforeskinbollocks.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Ah, yes...

Vauxhall oil filler caps...

Top oil up on dad's A-reg Cavalier estate.

Go with him to assist on a job at a brand new (not yet opened) supermarket. Park right outside doors, in car park freshly laid and lined - they hadn't even finished the lining. Come out. Stare at oil slick underneath car. Open bonnet. See camshaft through hole in rocker cover.

Buy oil. Find local garage who flog him VW oil filler cap.

Endure a year of regular piss-taking from him.

Until he does it himself.

Strangely, he never mentioned it again...

(and the original oil filler cap was discovered a while later, when the starter motor packed up - it was wedged between block and motor)

Or drain oil, change filter, replace sump plug, lean in and start truck........... and wonder why it was making funny noises a wee while later........ Stop truck put oil in! (truck less than a year old!!) phone dealer claiming truck making funny noises... on the way to dealers engine self destructs!! replaced under warranty, the mechanic who did that, was never let forget it!! All I say 'thank god it wasn't me!!'

Des

Went out to a car, oil light on making knocking noises, 'just been serviced yesterday' cries the women, the garage had forgotton to take the old seal out, a mile long oil slick...... worked fine untill the car had warmed up softened the seal, oil pressure did the rest! Sunday morning, and she was on the way to take hubby to the airport, I would love to have been a fly on the wall when the women arrived at the garage on the Monday morning!!

Des

I did that last week but with a diff cover bolt, not a sump plug. (Was changing the perforated diff cover on the Capri - no drain plug)

I've been there and done that. Transit Connect van, standing chatting to another mechanic while I took the old filter off, didn't look at it before dumping it in the oil drainer (I usually check that seal is still attached to old filter). Spun new filter on, filled up with oil. Started engine up, stand looking at oil light and wondering why it's not going out. Stand back and watch pool of fresh oil appearing on floor underneath van.

Surprisingly the boss never said a word about it. But I did find out afterwards he'd done the exact same thing the week before when I was off!

When I left the cap off my Astra (after a thorough checkup before going on hols) only to spot it miles from nowhere about 20 miles down the road by the white cloud we were leaving behind...

..the AA man said it was very very common.

And that vauxhall petrol caps *used* to fit the oil cap hole as well, to get you home. but they don't any more.

When I take the cap off now I make sure to put it covering the bonnet catch hole. Can't shut the bonnet and forget it then!

Or especially if you've disconnected it at the gauge, like on a Riley Elf :-(

Hehe - well mine did have the up-side that the replacement oil filler cap was one of those new fandangled thermsetting plastic type jobbies, compared to the metal one before, so you could at least get it off without having to cover your hand in your coat arm/[insert fabric-based insulatory product here].

Adrian wrote: || AstraVanMan ( snipped-for-privacy@whataloadofforeskinbollocks.co.uk) gurgled || happily, sounding much like they were saying : || ||| Or, not quite as bad, drive home from Guildford to Bracknell pick ||| up a few bits and pieces, clear out a lot of the crap that was in ||| the car (mostly going straight in the bin), check oil/coolant and ||| top up as required, notice dodgy exhaust smell halfway to Bagshot ||| that's probably coming from the s**te old Uno in front, notice ||| dodgy exhaust smell is still there when s**te old Uno isn't, at the ||| M3 junction, pull over quick, realise oil cap isn't on, and must ||| have fallen off wherever it had rested, check oil to reveal it's ||| still a reasonably way above minimum to get to Vauxhall dealer a ||| gentle 2-3 miles drive down the main road, buy new oil cap, go ||| home, oil eventually burns off exhaust manifold etc. Job jobbed.... || || Ah, yes... || || Vauxhall oil filler caps... || || || Top oil up on dad's A-reg Cavalier estate. || || Go with him to assist on a job at a brand new (not yet opened) || supermarket. Park right outside doors, in car park freshly laid and || lined - they hadn't even finished the lining. || Come out. Stare at oil slick underneath car. || Open bonnet. See camshaft through hole in rocker cover. || || Buy oil. Find local garage who flog him VW oil filler cap. || || Endure a year of regular piss-taking from him. || || Until he does it himself. || || Strangely, he never mentioned it again... || || (and the original oil filler cap was discovered a while later, when || the starter motor packed up - it was wedged between block and motor)

A friend of mine (who was a service engineer for a small local TV rental company) noticed the horrible smell of oil fumes coming from the engine compartment of his M2 Astra estate, a few miles after leaving a garage where he had topped it up with oil.

After stopping and looking under the bonnet he realised that he must have forgotten to put the filler cap back on and that it was nowhere to be found.

His get you home solution was to tightly stuff a large piece of rag into the hole.. his boss was a far from happy man after paying the bill for the damage it did after winding itself around the camshaft!

Mine's a Vaux too!

I forgot to mention that the garage I stopped at only happened to have the dearest grade of fully synth... I bet the garage owner saw me coming and hid the rest after I abused his jet wash cleaning loads of oil off the sound deadening stuff and off the engine.

I was more scared about the car catching fire while on the Ferry.

Still the car as never run better than it did with that oil... a bit noisy but quicker.

Or that might have been the oil lubing everything in sight up... (im sure it was all over the brakes too) it was certainly coming out of the back of the car.

Incidentally I changed all the belts (cam belt and Aux drive belt) in case the oil damaged them...

Was that a necessary precaution or are modern belts immune to it?

Tom

oil ingress on timing belts isnt good,makes the rubber go soft, seen a couple break due to oil contamination, wise move to change them.

Fall over carrying bucket of oil slops.

Cycling home from work I noticed a green painted sump plug in the road at the start of an oily trail that led over a mile and into a field where a combine harvester was in bits with mechanics scratching their heads. I'm not sure they were actually pleased to see me holding up the plug.

going back on what i said, i actually took it to a place to have it done for £15 National Autocentre or whatever they are called, cross threaded the sump plug some how. So I paid the £30 for a garage i can trust near by. He had to drill it out.

Whooooops.

ISTR reading about someone doing something similar with some sort of BMW, but uselessly, I can't remember anything else. Think it was some form of