I'm a freakin idiot

Billabong089

Registered User
I really am a ****ing moron, I'll admit it, I changed my oil and started the car and drove off, why didn't I just check to make sure it wasn't leaking...:mad: :mad:

I spilled all the oil out of the car and drove without knowing it, I got a check guage, and I shut off the engine asap. It ran for 5minutes not even, but smoke came out of the hood when I opened it, not a lot but a little bit, checked the dipstick almost freakin empty, look under the car and drip drip drip drip... I'm such an idiot, I had no idea about the rubber gasket on the old oil filter, it must have got stuck and put the new one over it, thus creating a nice leak. I hope no serious damage was done...:mad:

The car had a tiny bit, the engine wasn't that hot, I'm going back in 30minutes to put a new filter on and refill the oil... I just hope it starts and runs good. For the little amount of time it ran I dont think any serious damage if any occured but if it did, there is no way I could afford to rebuild.

Any advice, comments ,opinions , feel free, go ahead and bash me, I deserve it
 
and on another note, any idea how to clean five quarts of oil off the driveway? I put down kitty litter, cleaned it up and dumped a gallon of degreaser down and hosed it down. Any advice on that?
 
Hi, Bill.

Don't beat yourself up too bad. Your situation happens more often than you might think. I'm lazy so I just go to a quick change place. Besides I don't want to mess with the old oil. I change mine too often. I don't think you will have done any damage to the engine especially if it didn't get way overheated. Go buy a daily newspaper and spread it out over the oil as many layers as you can. Then go get some old shoes and walk around on it for a while. That helped me a long time back when I spilled a large amount of oil. Then do the kitty litter trick and rub it into the driveway with your shoes until the driveway gets a fairly light color to it. After that, tide and water did well for me.

Have a great weekend.
 
That happened to me with my old family truckster over ten years ago. (1981 LTD Crown Victoria). Still driving it . Yes it is a lesson that I learned too. wipe down the filter mating surface to make sure the gasket is off. That way you feel the metal before attaching the new filter if you can't see the base.

It took a while driving before mine started to leak. lucky for me I was not at home. Not lucky for the shopping center where I stopped....

Anyway I would say use the speedy dry to mop most of it up. Then you would use parts cleaning solvent. (I don't think you can buy it anymore can you?). I would then scrub it with Tide and the shop broom. It should clean it pretty good. Then a powerwasher would take most of the rest off.

Hopefully you got it shut down before damage occurred.

Good Luck
 
Any time I spilled oil in my parent's garage I'd put kitty litter/other brand litter stuff down. Instead of sweeping it back and forth forever I grind it into the oil with my shoes, and the end result is no oil on the ground what-so-ever.

Shoes were full of kitty litter later, but hey, you win some you lose some.

-Chris
 
join the club

there is a whole lot of us who have done this or dumber things, I for one was cleanning my tb unit had it on bench, went and had lunch then thought damn I need more cleaner ill go get some and went to start car with out tb !!!! man does this car rev fast!!!!!! so dont feel bad.. if you cant get the stain out of driveway try a old trick get some reg cement mix and mix up a watery paste and mop on driveway let dry, then broom it and rinse lightly will make cement look new but you have to do whole section of cement or it will look spoted.Ive worked construction for yrs and our oil leaking truck has made us do this many times
 
well thanks guys , I feel better now, my dad and I went up to where I left the car, took the new filter off and yup two gaskets, filled it up with oil and the car ran like a champ. I'm just so glad its ok, the first startup made a click - click noise, but hasn't done it since so I figure it was the oil pump or something.

At least I learned from this and when I have children I will ring this into thier head, CHECK FOR THE DAMN GASKET!

:)
 
STP silver bullet filters were notorious

for that. They had a gasket which was 2 single gaskets glued together.. after a few miles of driving, they would separate (surprise surprise) and your oil would leave the engine with a hissss.. They stopped making that filter.

Don't sweat it for those few minutes.. If you'd kept driving the car after the light came on, then you'd hve a problem. But a few seconds shouldn't do anything bad. But be aware of this.. If you restart it with refilled oil and the pressure doesn't come back within about 5 seconds, shut the engine off. You'll need to prime the oil pump as it will be too dry to pull oil up. You have to remove it and either fill it with oil (tricky to reinstall without making a mess but doable :D ), or vaseline.
 
well, the pressure came back and it ran fine, I'm just so happy now :)

At first when I was driving, i thought the check gauge was for the fuel, because I always see that light because my fuel is always low, but I was like what the hell, I have gas this time, The VMM didnt tell me LOW OIL!!! what a piece of crap, but anyway it wasn't driven for more than 5minutes, and its all good, what really alerted me was an odd noise (maybe from the heat or something )and of course the check guage, but it didnt get too hot, just a lil smoke which was a relief.

Makes me want to purchase a oil pressure gauge... I got an extra pillar open, I wonder if its hard to install.

Also how do you reset the VMM because it still blinks change oil.

Thanks guys.
 
There's a small hole at the very left side of the VMM display. Take something like a paperclip and push it in there while the car is on. The display should blink a couple times and then reset.

-Chris
 
My oil change light wouldn't reset while running, I had to turn it off and turn it to the on position without starting the car.
On the stupid oil change subject, a friend of mine told me about a guy that was going to put a whole case of oil in his car. Apparently he thought because it was sold by the case that's how much the car needed. I just changed my oil tonight and checked for leaks, but I will double check before I drive it tomorrow.
 
Ohhh the stories I have.....

I used to work at one of those quick oil change places and have seen everything. During my first week there, I didn't tighten an oil filter down on a Cavalier, and the guy drove it home, came by the next day and cried about the mess on the driveway and that he wanted another oil change. The car screamed like a banshee even after we added oil, but he didn't notice, he left, still crying over the stained driveway.

I had an LTD come in, and the oil came out of the oil pan in chunks. Crushed the filter and nothing but oily dirt came out.

I've also drained a couple GALLONS of oil out of a Subaru. A Marine got deployed and his wife had heard of adding oil but never changing it. She brought it in because it was smoking.

Anyhow, you're not dumb or an idiot, we all learn things one way or the other, and sometimes it gets expensive. I've paid a mechanic to tell me that I crossed a couple of spark plug wires. I haven't crossed wires since, trust me. Same as you will always check for the old gasket now when you change your oil:)
 
Hel when I first got my 91 Base, it had a cracked oil pan (and the cheap-*** ****er knew about it) and it ran for about 3-4 days before I realized it was down to almost nothing. Thta was almost 2 yrs ago and it still runs strong. I confronted the guy about it. He sent it to his mechanic and 15 mins later it was leaking again. About 6 months later, when my father and I pulled the motor, we found the oil pan cracked in several places as well as a couple different colors of JB weld type stuff on the outside. The mounts were bad and the cheap *** had his mechainc try to patch it. I hate rednecks like that.
 
Funny Story

I worked for a Quick Oil Change place for about a year.. as a weekend job.. anyway.. This does happen quite abit...


Story::

Just got done changing the oil on this gals vehicle.. sent her on her way..

was busy.. but we looked on the floor only to see this trail of fresh oil going out the door.. hahha... Opps....

just followed the trail of oil about 3 blocks away... waited for the gal to come out of Target.. and asked her to come back to the shop as we made a mistake...

Imagine the embarassment of that... but had we not tracked her down.. or found her.. she shop would have paid for a new engine I am sure...

Oh Well... Chalk up as a learning experience...

Good Day!! and Good Luck!!

Karl
 
You think that was a mistake! I've made one worse! I admit, your actions weren't good, but it's an easy error to committ. With my situation, I was asking for trouble!

I had my car in the shop, you see, getting an oil leak fixed. At the time I had blown motor mounts and not enough money to fix them (I know it's not much, but come on! I just had my SC in the shop!). So of course the oil filter did not fit well (I believe we are all aware of the oil filter/hashed motor mount conflict). So my mechanic asked if it would be okay to put a dinky oil filter off a Ford Festiva on my car. I told him okay, what ever will save me money.

So that was working fine, until my first trip on the highway. I went to pass two cars infront of me. You know, full throttle and all.... then BAM! Off went the downsized oil filter. Sputter sputter went the oil on the highway, and cough cough as I breathed in the smokey atmosphere! Luckily for me, I put the thing in nuetral and turned it off before any damage was done. Only bad thing was the embarrising tow home behind my father's Ranger!

...and the moral of the story: no matter how dumb you are, there is always someone MORE DUMB!
 
well the car seems to be running good so i'm quite happy, I hope i didn't do any slow acting damage or something.

My VMM had a push button so I didn't have to use a paperclip.
 
I wouldn't feel bad about being towed by a ranger. We used my frineds Chevy C1500 to haul mine. I doubt I will ever hear the end of it. But then again, we have had to pull him out of a few ditches with our explorer so maybe were even.
 
You mean Chevy's can actually pull that much weight?!?! haha It must have been a Ford motor in that truck!
 
My '89 leaks like a sieve. So when the oil light came on it was no surprise, but I figured it was only down a quart. I drove to work which is an hour and 15 minutes away at 75 to 80 mph,. When I checked it, it was down 4 quarts. Ooops. Put more oil in it and it's fine. This has happened before. Once I drove for half an hour on the turnpike with no oil. (had a hole in the oil filter). Filled it up, and no problems. So I wouldn't be too concerned.
 
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