Oil Change from Hell!

[MooseKnuckle]

I had the oil changed in my car today, drove a mile home no problem. Later, I took the car to the grocery store and it started hestitating and rough idling. I'm thinking bad gas or wet wires cuz it's raining buckets, so I take it for a fast ride on the highway. Still running like sh*t, I pull into my driveway and the car dies. I open the hood and just what I didn't want to see...no f*cking oil cap. Oil all over the engine. Me's pissed, looks like Goodyear might be buying me a new Nissan SE-R engine. Lesson learned, go to Goodyear for tires and nothing more.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Thats why I change my own. I don't trust punks making $5 an hour to care if they do it right.

 

[Lore]

MooseKnuckle: Let me know how the complaint process goes; sometimes those places have liability waivers saying that they aren't responsible for things like that. Blah, I know...

 

[gittyup]

That is not good. :Q

 

[ObiDon]

I personally know at least two people that had oil changes done by Jiffy Lube type places and within a couple of weeks had siezed engines I do my own if I'm too lazy to drive out to the shop/dealership.

 

[Aves]

A friend of mine says that this happens all the time at Wal-Mart Auto Centers. He says Wal-Mart is even considering closing them because of all the problems. Of course he could be full of s**t, but he does work there so that adds a little credibility to his story. I'd be pissed if it happened to me though. :|

 

[Tominator]

A missing oil cap would NOT cause the problems you describe...oil all over sure...but nothing else...now, if there is no oil...:|

 

[yakko]

Your car had serious problems already if leaving the oil cap off did that. You usually only get that when you have worn piston rings which cause blow by or you have a cracked head.

 

[MooseKnuckle]

Tominator,
Yup I'm lying made the whole story up...WTF.
Who died and left you chief mechanic? You're welcome to come over clean my engine.

 

[Paulson]

Happened to our car once.

1996 lumina I believe.

My dad was really pissed

 

[1cito]

<< Thats why I change my own. I don't trust punks making $5 an hour to care if they do it right. >>



Its so true!

 

[Tominator]

MooseKnuckle
I did not mean to rain on your parade, but leaving the cap off will not cause anything but a mess....at least in my experience which is considerable with older cars.

 

[crab]

umm tominator, What if that oil being splashed around was also being sucked in the intake?

 

[MooseKnuckle]

Tominator,
The car stalled as soon as I pulled in my driveway, go figure. It was dark out and pouring rain, so I'll have to see in the am. Now, who's to say that there is no internal engine damage. All and all, I'm very pissed.

 

[Phunktion]

I wouldn't trust anyone but myself.. who's to say they didn't put in the wrong oil type for the engine..

 

[Tominator]

crab453
A relevent question, but that can't happen on a modern car. The intake of air is ducted to the grill in most cars.


MooseKnuckle
I wonder if because of a decrease in crankcase pressure some sensor might be getting a wrong signal that might make an engine run rough, but again this is a question for a pro experienced in modeern engines preferably with your model of car.

I have a '82 Plymouth and a '90 Mitisubishi. The Plymouth is a Mitsubishi motor as well. If you leave the oil filler cap off, they spew quite a bit of oil out if the cap is not replaced, but that condition will not damage the engine.

 

[Linux23]

yep, i told my oil change story here a few weeks ago. those morons put 5 quarts in a car that takes 4 quarts. needless to say, i had to jack the car up and drain a quart out! it was not easy draining that oil! :|

 

[Pacfanweb]

<<but leaving the cap off will not cause anything but a mess....>>

There are quite a few cars that leaving the oil cap off will cause them to run badly, even stall.
This has been the case for quite some time. I remember a '78 280Z that belonged to an ex-girlfriend back in the day that would cut right off if you took the oil cap loose.

TOM: this is caused by closed (sealed) PCV systems. On some cars, taking the PCV valve out is like pulling a main vacuum line off. Taking the oil filler cap off or dipstick out does the same thing to these cars. They're so finely tuned that any little thing makes a difference.

Goodyear will probably make things right with you if you go back and not be an a@@hole to them, just be firm and calm. Remember, there are people behind that desk, and if you bow up at them, their natural reaction will be to bow back up at you. Basically all they owe you is topping the oil off and cleaning the engine. Maybe they'll throw a free oil change in the future for good measure.

 

[Tominator]

There you go MooseKnuckle a person in the know has verified my unexperienced theory.

Thanks Pacfanweb!

 

[Bignate603]

I had mine done at jiffy lube today, made a point of walking out and checking what they were doing twice while they were working. The guys paid alot more attention to my car compared to the others when they got somebody looking over their shoulder. All in all, oil change, topping off the fluids, lubing the joints and replacing two filters, 42 bucks. The car really has more pickup now, i owe that to replacing the putrid air filter, that thing was disgusting, i noticed that like a week after i got the car but hadn't had time to change it so it waited like a month.