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      03-21-2011, 04:53 PM   #1
woner
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Angry Oil Change Fail

Last weekend I let my dad and brother change the oil in my car while I was at church. Everything seemed fine and and I drove the 100 miles back to Knoxville. Shortly before I arrived the low oil warning light came on. I figured it was mistaken like the last time I got a false low oil light that went away in a few minutes. Unfortunately, when I got out of the car I noticed a film of oil covering the side panels and the engine bay was soaked in oil. I noticed the o-ring in the oil filter housing was poking out from under the cap and breaking the seal.

The car ended up being 2 quarts low..I took off the underbody panels and hosed everything down as much as I could.

Is there anything else I should do or check for? I'm worried about possible damage.

How tight is the oil filter cap supposed to be? It was tightened by hand to a 1/4 past the green mark when the oil leaked out. I retightened it to 1/2 turn past the green mark but that was the limit of the oil filter wrench I used. So far no more leaks. I didn't think it was this difficult to line the green marks up which makes me question whether it is 1/2 turn too tight or 1/2 turn too loose.
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      03-21-2011, 04:59 PM   #2
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The oil filter cap does not need to be really tight. 25Nm I think. It is written on the cap!

I know on my car - when I tighten the oil filter cap... the green marks almost line up. They are off by 15mm's or so - past when they aligned up new.

Normally you want to hand tighten the oil filter cap and then turn it with a cap socket/wrench another 1/4 turn. But I go more by feel then anything else. It really does not need to be too tight. You might want to remove the cap and use a floresent light to check for any cracks in the oil cap.

I think I would also check the oil drain plug for tightness. You might as well - re-due thier oil change. That will be the ONLY way to sleep at night! I know that is what I would do! Did they remember to put the oil fill cap back on (on the valve cover) as well?

Good Luck,
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      03-21-2011, 05:17 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by maxnix View Post
If you want the job done right.........

+1!!

OP - what kind of warning light did you get? Yellow or Red?

IF it was just a yellow low oil level light... I'd say you are probably ok. A red warning light usually means no oil pressure. That is BAD! I guess in time we shall see - what the damage has been.

IF you do go ahead and change your own oil... I would be looking at the old oil very closely for any metal shavings. You don't want to see any gold/silver metalic parts in the oil.


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      03-21-2011, 05:41 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dackelone View Post
+1!!

OP - what kind of warning light did you get? Yellow or Red?

IF it was just a yellow low oil level light... I'd say you are probably ok. A red warning light usually means no oil pressure. That is BAD! I guess in time we shall see - what the damage has been.

IF you do go ahead and change your own oil... I would be looking at the old oil very closely for any metal shavings. You don't want to see any gold/silver metalic parts in the oil.


Dackel
Thanks for the replies. The warning light was yellow and that makes me feel better.. The drain plug feels tight and I watched it while the car was running to make sure it's not leaking. Also, I have a magnetic drain plug. I'm not sure what went wrong but hopefully it's fixed now..I will definitely be checking the drain plug and oil filter everyday for the next year thanks to this.. The weird thing is that they are generally more qualified than I am for car related tasks. Dad changed the oil on his GT-R last week before a track event with no ill effect and my brother is in the process of swapping the engine in his e36 m3 by himself. I still felt uneasy letting people work on my car without me around, similar to how I feel about leaving it with the dealer. For some reason the o-ring just didn't seal correctly.
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      03-22-2011, 01:01 PM   #5
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The o-ring may not have been seated in the groove before the cap was tightened. I don't use a torque wrench for any other car but I torque the drain plug and oil filter housing cap with a torque wrench on my bimmer. I got a cheap click type from Harbor Freight for about $20 (3/8 drive) that I use. It isn't a great torque wrench but is a step above "tight enough".

Jim
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      03-22-2011, 02:31 PM   #6
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If the light was yellow, and you found only 2 qts low you should be fine.. dont worry about it any further. the warning lights did there job.

If they got the filter kit from BMW, then the prob replaced the oring on the filter cap with the new one supplied. Odds are they didnt lube it and it got caught on the tight plastic housing threads and squished up..

in all honesty they should have noticed as they were resecuring the cap.

dont feel bad... have seen and heard it happen dozens of times..
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      03-22-2011, 07:16 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DriveHard View Post
If the light was yellow, and you found only 2 qts low you should be fine.. dont worry about it any further. the warning lights did there job.

If they got the filter kit from BMW, then the prob replaced the oring on the filter cap with the new one supplied. Odds are they didnt lube it and it got caught on the tight plastic housing threads and squished up..

in all honesty they should have noticed as they were resecuring the cap.

dont feel bad... have seen and heard it happen dozens of times..
+ 1

It's important to lube the new o-rings so they are seated properly.
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      03-22-2011, 08:31 PM   #8
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Lube could be the problem. Cartridge filters are still fairly new although GM uses a lot of them now. You should lube the rubber gasket on the end of old style filters too, however, so it seems pretty natural to me to lube the oil rings. It is terribly easy to do on the bimmer. You should really use fresh oil but I normally just dip my finger in the left over oil in the filter housing. Takes a few seconds.

Jim
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