scottyd540

So, I normally change the oil on my '09 civic myself. But I was running short on time and I needed to get the oil changed ASAP.
I took it to a place (which I will omit...for now) and they changed it, but THEY FORGOT TO PUT THE OIL CAP BACK ON!!!!

Needless to say when I got home after driving it around for an hour oil has now managed to be spilled all over a good portion of the engine, up on the hood and some other places.

My question is what is the best way to get it cleaned up? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

ezone

Degreaser and garden hose.
No, wait....Take it back to your oil changer and make THEM clean up THEIR MESS.

Did you notice the unusual noise the engine made while the cap was off?
Note that for the future, the lube kids will probably do it again.

Get the oil off of the rubber weatherstrip on the edge of the wiper cowl, it will swell up and get all deformed and funky.
Make your lube place buy it and replace it.

scottyd540

You know what...it was making a funny noise when the cap was off. Next time, I'll know.

Jeez...what a mess. I would take it back to them, but I am afraid if they made this much of a mess so far that they would just mess it up even more.

as far as a degreaser, is simple green ok to use on the rubber weather strip?

I think I am gonna start by soaking up most of with some paper towels. My biggest fear it having the oil damage something. I know very little about cars so any tips would be helpful!

ezone

Rubber is what gets damaged. Mostly the weatherstrip, and the serpentine belt if it got wet. The rest will probably be fine, just get the oil off.

Simple green is probably ok, read the directions to dilute it. It is mean stuff undiluted, it strips paint off of the shop floor.
A squirt/spray bottle is great.

I would probably use gobs of Brake cleaner, since we have it by the bucketfull at the shop.

lowlife9

http://www.autogeek.net/engine-guide.html

scottyd540

Awesome, thanks everyone!

I sopped up most of it with some shop rags. I diluted the little amount of simple green with water and sprayed that on the plastic in the front and where the oil got to the weather stripping area.

I am going to call them tomorrow and let them know what happened and see if they will clean the engine free of charge. If they give me guff then I'll just DIMS and see how it goes.

scottyd540

Here's what it looked liked

ezone

I got a big blank.

scottyd540

sorry, should be working now...

ezone

Yup, that's what they look like. The timing chain slings oil all over the place.

Hope you didn't forget to put the lid on before you started LOL

Might want to check the oil though.

scottyd540

I got lucky. I was about to drive downtown which is about 45 minutes to an hour away. I don't know how much oil get spilled out when the cap is off like that, but I really would have been screwed the next day for sure.

lowlife9

holy **** i would be rite down there screaming at these f**kers. there trying to catch your car on fire not to mention blow your engine im willing to bet the over tightening your oil filter which will make it almost impossible to remove next time or didn't tighten it enough id get under there and make sure everything is good. ow and learn to change the oil yourself so you don't have to deal with this kind of thing.

hawkijustin

I have had this happen before on another car I had also. As I got home smoke was coming out of my hood and when I opened it I had oil everywhere!

Now I ALWAYS change the oil myself. Even if your in a hurry the oil can wait a day longer and a few miles more. Do it yourself and make sure its done right!