LS-ONE_DAY

The Formula was due for an oil change. This morning I spent $31.xx at Advance Auto on 5 quarts of Castrol Edge Synthetic 5w30 and a Bosch oil filter. Since I dont have a drain pan or ramps or anything I went over a buddys house this afternoon to change it. Now this is where the anger starts...

The car was last serviced at Anderson Auto in Baltimore. The work they did made our job a HELL of a lot harder. Whatever idiot there that did the oil used a damn impact gun on the drain plug so that was a bitch to get off. After some twisting we got the filter off without too much of an issue. We put the new filter on and it seemed tight so we lowered the car and put the 5 quarts of oil in the car. I had to move the car so make room in the driveway so I got in and started the car and the oil pressure gauge doesn't move. Then I hear a splashing noise. Turn the car off and sure enough there was a massive oil leak. The cause? The bastard that put the old filter on didn't oil the sealing gasket for the filter so it had gotten stuck to the block side and caused our filter to not fit on properly. The nearest walmart and advance auto are 12 miles away so we went to the local place to get some more oil....3 quarts of synthetic castrol edge 5w30 = $37.xx!!!!

Complete rip off. I'll never forget to check the damn gasket but spending $68 in oil today really screwed with my plans for the next week considering I need to do the diff, the car needs gas, I was supposed to buy the intake lid tomorrow, and the other car needs an oil change of course at the same time.

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

sucks but at least you didnt lose your motor.

LSCha0s

iTrader: (4)

Always CK the old filter to make sure this doesn't happen. I hate to let anyone else touch my cars.

Element

iTrader: (5)

Reason I never, ever let quick-lube places touch anything I own. Too easy to screw something simple up, and that little screw-up can get expensive quick.

LS-ONE_DAY

Yeah once I saw the oil pressure gauge didn't go up I thought to myself what the hell and then I heard the oil coming out so I promptly shut the engine off. My buddys older brother and his dad were both there too and none of them have ever seen this happen before because really, who doesn't oil the rim of the filter, guess we know now.

OSU Football Fan

iTrader: (23)

When we bought my wife's car it was 1.5 quarts overfilled. When I
bought my camaro the fill plug was practically welded on. (Impact Gun)

That's why I do everything I can myself.
Places like this screw up & cut corner far too often.

OP, you should invest in a good set of ramps.
They really come in handy.

msydow

my old boss took his wife's truck to wal-mart with a case of oil in the back so they didnt put some cheap junk in the engine. looked in the back of the truck when he picked it up...no oil left. pulled the dipstick and the engine was almost completely full of oil. they put the entire CASE of oil in the truck...worthless.

LS-ONE_DAY

WOW that's ridiculous!

I realized that my car now has 2 slightly different oils in it now. That won't bother anything will it? They're both Full Synthetic 5w30, however one of them is Castrol Edge 5W-30 Advanced Full-Synthetic and the other is Castrol Edge with Syntec Technology Full Synthetic 5W-30 Motor Oil. And a friend with a Trans Am said he puts 6 quarts of oil in. I have ~5 in right now, should I add more? The dipstick was reading right on the border for operating range, just touching the bottom of the ridged area on the stick.

projectX

iTrader: (51)

+1

wrencher

iTrader: (2)

See oil filter gaskets stick on the block no matter what you do. You always have to check to make sure the surface is clean....
6 qrts for sure add more. castrol is changing a lot in their syn packaging, but my bet it is the same oil.

myk

iTrader: (4)

The training I got at a Valvoline oil change place helps me avoid problems like these: checking for double gaskets, checking for fluid caps being on tight and even using a torque wrench for drain plugs among other things. First car I ever changed oil on was a Charger whose old filter gasket was stuck on the block; as soon as the car rolled out of the bay oil dropped out everywhere. I remember we had to call those things out to the other techs up top as we worked below and even show old oil filters to the manager up top with the gasket still attached . Hell, air guns weren't even permitted in the pits or on lug nuts (unless there were torque stix, which we didn't have).

Look at it this way 'OP- $63 for oil or $6300 for a rebuild, someone loves you up there...

babbage1109

iTrader: (11)

I spend that much every time I do an oil change. Freaking amsoil is 10 dollars a quart and the wix filter is luckily like 5 lol

senicalj4579

iTrader: (41)

You must have really not been paying attention? I know when I do my oil im always looking up there wiping oil where the filter goes with a rag. Cant imagine missing something like that unless I was in a big hurry or I was being distracted by a wet tee shirt contest with big ***** lol. Just goes to show you cant let anyone work on your car. I feel the same. Glad you didnt end up worse off man.

BAMALS1

iTrader: (16)

Good catch, just do your own work man.

LS-ONE_DAY

Well I was at my friends house and his dad has this thing about no-one being allowed to touch any tools or anything other than family so my friend was actually under the car doing it but he does his own oil and he never thought anyone was that stupid so I guess he didn't check. I know he didn't have much room to work because his brother was using the floor jack so the car wasn't that high off the ground b/c we were using a crappy jack and the gasket on the old filter ended up being black so I guess he missed it or something. And the old filter fell into the drain pan and got soaked with oil so we didn't see it wasn't there until after the new oil got dumped and fished it out.

I'm definitely going to add more oil though since I've heard it takes more than 5qts, but I think a full quart might be too much, I'll try adding half and see where it sits

lt1pwr1

iTrader: (1)

Car service 101: always make sure the old gasket isn't stuck to the filter housing before you screw your new one on. No offense, but that was your fault for not checking. My auto shop teachers as well as my dad always told me to double check that everytime. Luckily it only cost you more oil and not a new motor

djfury05

iTrader: (30)

The GM manual states 5.5 qts of oil.

BLK95-Z

iTrader: (2)

Same here, I was a v.i.o.c. tech about 10 years ago lol. I learned so much un-usefull information working in that place doing those stupid work books.
Rule #1: Always check for a double gasket.

OP, Im glad your engne survived. Lesson learned

LS-ONE_DAY

Yeah thanks. Surprisingly it only dumped about a quart or just over a quart of oil so there was enough for the engine to not die on me. Always going to be checking that from now on.

LSCha0s

iTrader: (4)

Unfortunately a double gasket can sometimes hold for a while. You are lucky it let go right away. I have seen them hold long enough for people to get on the HWY loose oil pressure and ..well You know ..