I forgot to put oil cap back on last night and just found out. - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

BeatupRolla · 10-12-2011, 02:00 AM

Yup i am a dummy. i was topping off the oil last night(or was it 2 days ago? i forget) and must of forgotten to put the oil cap back on... i did not find out till now, i saw smoke coming from the engine, i didnt think it was anything to worry about since i drove in a small puddle right befor it started smoking.. then i realised after driving another 10 kms the smoke didnt stop.. i reached my destination, turned off car and smelled a little funny, i then poped the hood and BAM oil everywhere... i then checked the oil level and there was just a tiny bit of oil at the bottom of the dipstick, luckily i found the oil cap and put it back on and drove back home..

funny thing is 6 months ago my mom was selling her old sewing macine to a couple that had an ae92 sedan, he arrived and we were loading it up and there an oil trail, soon we found out he forgot to put his oil cap back on..

now im just wondering if i should rinse the engine off with the water hose or just wipe it off.. im geussing there is no damage to the car?

SuperRA · 10-12-2011, 03:13 AM

I've done it also on both my corollas. Sigh... I cleaned what i could with degreaser like castrol super clean or simple green for the light stuff. Just wiped it off with a rag. I don't think straight water will do much in cleaning oil off.

BeatupRolla · 10-12-2011, 03:52 AM

so i just went to clean up, i just wiped some of the oil off.. it looks like most of the oil just drips off to the bottom slowly, i think i will just drive it as is and let the oil burn off or whatever... pretty sure no serious damage will happen because of the oil.. it looks like about a litre of oil was missing, i just toped it off.. yeah i think no damage was done, there was oil still on the dipstick but just at the very bottom..

***SCT*** · 10-12-2011, 04:32 AM

I did that before one time when I did an oil change. I forgot to place the cap and started the engine to circulate the new oil. Then I realized my cap was off and got about half a quart everywhere. I wiped what I could. The rest I just let burn off. Not like it was from a leak or anything. Best yet, probably lubricated other parts and/or prevent corrosion to some areas