motor oil mishap - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

minime3 · 02-20-2006, 05:01 PM

I was in a such a rush to change my motor oil I forgot to screw the cap back on after I topped off. I drove on the freeway came back. I noticed that the starting noise wasn't normal when I started my car a couple of times, so I decided to pop the hood and check to see if I added too much engine oil. Then I saw the big mess. Oil splashed under the hood, on the valve cover , on the throttle body, and also on the tubings and wires and electrical connections or what seem to be electronic sensors between the firewall and engine. I screwed the cap back on and then it finally started with the usual ignition sound. I wiped off as much oil as I could off the tubings and wires because I was afraid the oil could short out the wires and the oil might make the tubings become dry and brittle as it dries out. I dont know if this helps but I was using the type of motor oil for higher mileage which usually help condition seals and keep them from being brittle. So I hope my tubings wont suffer as much. Got under the car and wiped off as much of the oil on tubings and wires. Checked oil level still fine. Not really sure how much oil spewed up. Drove it the next day and pay careful attention to how it started and for any check engine lights but all is fine and no check lights came on. But starting with a different ignition sound again, instead of the usual crisp sound, it sounds muffled as its drowned in liquid or something. Has anyone ever experienced the same mishaps? accidently got oil all over tubings and wirings or drove with motor oil cap unscrewed on the freeway for 5 miles? Did anyone experience any later problems or did the oil just dry and burn up in time. This is what I'm hoping for. Its a 95 camry le , 4 cylinders if anyone wants to know.

white3ch0c0late · 02-20-2006, 05:10 PM

Check your spark plugs. If oil got down in there, it might be drowning the plugs.

newbie212 · 02-20-2006, 05:37 PM

I'd pressure wash that engine clean with some degreaser....

Cyorke · 02-20-2006, 05:43 PM

Youprobably did not loose enought oil to be overly concerned about. with the baffles that are in valve covers and things like that you are moslty jsut getting oil that is blow by type stuff. It does make a big mess, but when oil comes out like it does withthe cap off it doesnt take much to make a big mess. Pressure wash it to clean it up and you should be fine. More than likely the noise you were hearing was backpressure escaping out of the oil cap filler. NOw you are probably jsut paranoid since it happened and thinking that youa re hearing something. I do the same thing when I do work on my car or change the oil. For the first couple of days I keep listening for different noises jsut because I think something may have happened. Even though I know I did it right. Jsut something about working on your own car. Because I never fell that way when I work on someone elses car or when I was working as a technician anywhere.

minime3 · 02-20-2006, 06:50 PM

I have thought of spraying some engine degreaser then pressure washing the engine or just spraying water down gently with a hose. I know there are some carburerature cleaner or "GUNK" that wont harm sensors or wiring. But I'm still apprehensive of spraying water in the engine bay, afraid water will ruin the wirings and sensors. but I've heard some people who do it with no troubles by covering the distributer. Or if there is, the problem usually goes away when everything dries up. any brave soul who've had experience with pressure washing under the hood? any problems afterwards? Did anyone disconnect their sensors and wrap them up first before spraying or just left them on and sprayed the heck out of everything.

Cyorke · 02-20-2006, 06:59 PM

Yeah jsut try to cover up the distributor and the alternator are the onlythings I would worry about hte most. Used car dealers spraay them all the time, how do you think they get so clean when you go buy them. I have done it several times to my V6 and never have any problems. Of course I dont have a dist. but I cover the alternator. You should be fine. I would recommend not doing it when it is very hot though that is when you can have trouble with cracking and warping parts that go from hot to cold relaly quick. Get some Gunk engine degreaser and jsut do it in your driveway. You dont have to pressure wash it. Just psray that stuff on it then let it sit and hose it off with your garden hose will do jsut fine.

Mike Gerber · 02-21-2006, 12:38 AM

I wash down my engines once or twice a year with a garden hose. I do as Cyorke said and only do it when the engine is cold. I like to do it once or twice during the Winter and in the Spring to get the salt off of everything in there. I have never covered anything and my 94 4 cylinder does have a distributor. I have never had a problem. What do you think is happening to your engine when you are driving at 70 MPH on an expressway and it's raining out? Do you think your engine is staying dry?

I have to admit I once did forget to put the oil cap back on my 86 Camry after an oil change. Not one of my best days. I drove about 10 miles that way and said to my wife that I smelled something funny. She said I am always smelling things. I pulled over and checked under the hood and realized there was no oil cap anywhere to be found and oil was all over everything. I left the car and called a friend to pick us up. When I got home I found the oil cap in my driveway. I felt like a complete idiot. I took my other car back to our old Camry, put the oil cap back on and drove it home. After letting it cool off for about 20 minutes I got several buckts of HOT water and poored them over the engine. That alone seemed to wash everything off pretty well. I never had any problems with anything after that. The only thing I would be concerned about is how much oil got in to your hood pad. You might consider replacing that if it is too badly soaked. You might price them at the dealer or try a wrecking yard. My 86 Camry was a DX model and didn't have a hood pad.

Mike

Cyorke · 02-21-2006, 07:59 AM

Like Mike said you dont have to cover anything. Normally when I am just hosing it down I will not cover anything. I only covered the alternator that one time when I was spraying cleaners on it. Also like he said the water from the rain has to go somehwere.

73sport · 02-21-2006, 10:56 AM

Another 2 Cents.....

About pressure washing - I personally don't do that because it is high enough pressure to blast its way into places it doesn't belong. I do however spray the cold engine with house hold degreaser and sometimes paint thinner/paint brush ect depending on how nasty it is to loosen the chunks and then hose it it with hot water from the water heater. Since Nov 05, the 95 V6 has been cleaned 3 or 4 times such that the sub-frame, trans, rack, engine, cowl and inner fenders are all clean enough to eat from (almost).

When done: Run the engine at normal operating temp for a least a half an hour and leave the hood open to allow air to circulate.
It is ok to get it wet, just don't force water where it doesn't belong (you know like falling backwards on double water ski's, bad idea!)

Do not deliberately blast with high pressure:
Electrical connections, Throttle Position switch, any electromechanical switch with moving parts, they are not sealed well enough to keep water out!
Power steering reservoir
Brake master cyl reservoir
Fan motors
Ball joints
Axels where they meet bearings/seals ect

minime3 · 02-21-2006, 03:18 PM

it is very embarassing to make such a careless mistake. and like u said, you dont make those mistakes unless ur having an offday which was what I felt too. My hood pad in one portion is soaked with oil, I did consider taking it off to clean it but decided just to leave it on and wipe off as much off it as possible, although I know its pretty soaked in that one area. Come to think of it, if it wasnt for the hood pad shielding the motor filler cap hole, the mess would have be even worse. I was very lucky because I left my cap just on top of the exhaust manifold heat shield and it didn't slide off on the freeway while I was driving. I feel much more better about hosing it down now instead of trying your brains out to wipe off hard to reach spots. It sure does save time and energy. I did wonder how the heck those used car dealers got the engine bay so clean in all those hard to reach places, so they just run water through it.

Hajoca · 02-22-2006, 09:20 AM

You can use solvent to clean the hood pad if you wanted.
Take off the liner (pad)
get a can of brake cleaner, and some old rags
put the rags on the ground and the liner ontop of them, a big was of rags under the oil spot and then you gently soak the area, the oil will get soaked in the rags.

I had that happen after asking my wife to get an oil change ($16 CDN) and the punk lost the oil cap.

Punk had to cough up a jug of oil, cap and engine shampoo, but the piss poor attitude of restoring my previous work of cleaning the engine was evident.

Mike Gerber · 02-22-2006, 02:40 PM

"it is very embarassing to make such a careless mistake. and like u said, you dont make those mistakes unless ur having an offday which was what I felt too."

Don't be too down on yourself. There are very few people who have worked on cars who can say they have never done something stupid like this. That includes most professional techs I know. It's like a right of passage.

Mike

Digger1 · 05-14-2006, 02:48 PM

Yep, I'm sure every wrench on this forum (shade-tree AND professional) could tell many stories of idiotic mistakes they've made.

One thing I try to do every time I screw something up is to come up with a technique to prevent the bone-headed stunt from happening again.

Here is what I started doing after forgetting to re-install the oil cap once on my old '81 Mazda GLC:

Whenever I take the oil cap off (for any reason), I put it near the front of the engine bay where the hood rests when shut. If I then lower the hood and can't get it to lower fully, I'll lift it back up to see what the problem is. Then, I'll see the oil cap and put it back where it belongs.

Works for me!

Blackhawk3D · 05-14-2006, 07:30 PM

Hey, last time I changed my oil I broke my door. Go figure. We all scew up sometimes, it keeps us watching what we are doing. If you get too cocky something is bound to go wrong.

thoughthard · 05-14-2006, 08:32 PM

I left the oil cap off my Paseo last summer. Drove around, smelled oil, went back home, and then noticed a slight smoking coming from under the hood. Opened the hood to a nice oil bathing in the compartment. I put the cap back on, used paper towels to soak up some of the excess, and then headed to the local carwash. There, they have a pink degreaser/wheel cleaner. Coated the whole engine bay, switched to regular wash, started washing the rest of the car, hosed out the engine bay, and then did spot free rinse all over.

Worked great. Only had problems with oil seepage from under the hood front seal, and from under the underhood bracing.