Oil drip after service?

I have had some sloppy service where oil was spilled into the lower engine shroud and then dripped out for a couple days on my garage floor. Stopped within 3 days though.

"Facts are stupid things." -- Ronald Reagan, 1988, a misquote of John Adams, "Facts are stubborn things."

Thanks Randle, that's the sort of thing I'm hoping for. I have a feeling the drip slowed down or stopped in the night; after I'd brought it home I noticed the oil on the ground about an hour or so later and went to have a look. The "puddle" didn't seem to have grown overnight so I'm hoping the dripping has already stopped. Good to hear others have had the same problem, so let's hope that's it.

Eric

I had a similar thing happen. They said that with the location of the oil filter sometimes oil gets trapped somewhere up there when it's removed and then it drips out for a day or so.

Funny thing is when I took mine back the next day and said I had a leak they said the same thing. Then I told them I'd have to find another place to have the oil changed. Hah ha! They cleaned it up and no leaks the following five oil changes.

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I found out what the "oil" drip was - the hard way.

I took the car on the motorway, and after 10 miles or so all of a sudden a huge spurt of water came shooting up my windscreen and the temperature started to go up. I pulled over onto the hard shoulder, turned off the engine, opened the hood and had a look. Turns out they hadn't screwed the radiator cap on properly and water was leaking out and running down the length of the radiator and dripping down. Until I took it onto the motorway, that is, when it heated up properly and came shooting out. Called out the RAC who filled it up, screwed the rad cap on properly, and all was fine. No leaks since then. So - the leak wasn't oil, but water, and was caused by human "failure" (though I prefer "idiocy"). All of that happened on Saturday so I've yet to go and have words with them. It looks like it may have damaged the paintwork on the hood - there are marks where the boiling water ran off. I don't know if it's deposit of antifreeze, or whether it's actually damaged the paintwork itself. I'm going to try cleaning it properly first and if that doesn't help they'll have to respray the hood (at least). Very annoying. I'm just glad it didn't cause any damage to the engine.

Eric

Was the service done by a quick-lube/tune-up place like Jiffy Lube?

Pat '96M

Eric,

I find it hard to believe that you were having that much trouble recognizing the difference between oil and coolant! More likely, the same half-assed 'mechanic' that didn't screw your radiator cap on correctly, did a sloppy job on the oil change, as described by the previous posters.

This is the reason, and I KEEP telling people this, that it DOES make sense to do your own oil changes. No, it doesn't make sense for money reasons, but for the safety / longevity of your precious vehicle!

Chris

No, my regular mechanic who's a two-man outfit. He's a bit hit-and-miss - very good on most things, but forgetful (I've brought the car in various times for services etc, and each time he was going to do the tracking on the steering wheel, and each time he's forgotten). He's the best I've been able to find though - there's one KwikFit in the area (I'm in the UK - KwikFit over here is I guess what Jiffy Lube is over in the US) but so far I've refused to go there. They only put in standard parts and don't really care; my mechanic usually does care, and makes sure he puts in the right parts and that sort of thing, but he's a long way off perfect!! The nearest proper Mazda mechanic is about 40 miles away which is a bit far to go for a regular service - that's something any mechanic should be able to do, really.

Eric

I know, me too. The ground it was dripping onto was black tarmac so it was difficult to see there, but I wiped some of it up with a kitchen towel and it looked more like oil than anything else.

Yes, very possible. I've been religiously checking all the fluids now and they're all ok, so if it really was oil, it's likely it was spillage, rather than there being a leakage.

I know, but on the other hand if you can't trust a mechanic to do a regular service, what can you trust them with?! If they can't do an oil change, am I going to trust them to change the brakes for example? I know what you mean, though.

One question: when the RAC guy came to fix the car after I broke down on the motorway, I told him about the drip and he crawled underneath to have a look. My thinking was that if they hadn't screwed the rad cap back on properly, maybe they hadn't screwed the nut on properly on the underside of the rad, to let the water out when flushing it. The RAC guy couldn't find a nut at all, only a hose, and thought that to flush the rad he must have disconnected the hose, then reconnected it again afterwards (he checked to make sure it was connected properly, which it was). I thought there was a nut on the underside of the rad to let of the water? Am I wrong? (1991 Eunos import).

Eric