My Dad almost killed my car...

[pmkrsiak]

A long story, but worth the read I'm sure. So I went home for the holidays with just over 9k on the car and figured i might as well change my oil at my dad's shop and save a few bucks.

My dad who is a retired mechanic decided to do it for me, changed the oil, but instead of putting the o-ring inside the housing, put it in between the filter housing and engine...nice job dad.

He test ran the car for 3 minutes, nothing happened he figured all was okay. A few hours later I drove to my buddy's house and 3 miles in...I noticed the slightest, split second, flicker of the oil light and slowed down. It went away instantly.

400 feet later, it flickered again. I immediately pulled over and shut the engine off, vaguely remembering that this light means death is quickly approaching. Just before I was able to shut off I heard a noise akin to someone throwing nails into an old empty bucket...I feared the worse.

Got it towed home and there was oil pouring out the housing, exactly where the o-ring used to be. Ha. My dad was swearing left and right, I feared we seized the engine. We drained about a quarter of a quart of what was left and filled her back up with oil (this time with me looking over his shoulder). Started up, made a funny clank noise, and ran perfect.

Dad says engine is fine, there will be some deposits that were caused by the oil starvation but those would be caught by the filter.

Just sharing my plight of the oil light and my constant fear now of the same thing happening or my engine just going bust now.

[straightclownin35]

ur dad is a moron LMAO

[enapa]

Sounds like it is a good thing he's retired. LOL

[toyomoho]

We all make mistakes, at least you caught the problem in time. Good observation on your part! Perhaps your father taught you to stop the engine quickly when the oil pressure light came on. Many drivers would just keep driving.

Give your Dad a break, one day you too will screw up.

[pmkrsiak]

Oh not blaming my dad, these things happen and I'm glad I caught it in time...if I needed a new engine...then we might have been blaming him haha.

Dunno if I am a huge fan of the new filter design, but that's been over complained about I'm sure.

[pwain]

Originally Posted by pmkrsiak

Dunno if I am a huge fan of the new filter design, but that's been over complained about I'm sure.

I still have yet to understand the issue with the redesign. It takes about 30 seconds longer as compared to a spin on filter. It saves Toyota money and we have less canisters filling landfills.

[Honda city]

I understand that the cartridge filters were very common in the 50s and by the mid 60s they were all gone. I think it is because your dad is use to the spin on filters. You may have dodged a bullet. I was once at a garage and a guy came in with a Dodge Caravan, his oil was down bellow the dipstick and only 2 quarts came out of his engine. He relplaced the oil. Six months later I ran into him at the same garage, and he said that there was no damage to his engine and it ran perfectly.

[bennijai]

good catch. everyone makes mistakes, at least you were able to lessen the damages.