Oil covered engine due to garage not refitting oil filler cap – advice pls!

My wife’s car (2004 BMW 120d) was in for a service with a local independent garage last Friday (writing this the following Wednesday). It appears that the oil filler cap was not secured properly after the service and now, having been driven for a couple of days, we have a car with an engine that’s liberally coated in oil. My wife first noticed that something was wrong as the oil light ‘flickered’ a couple of times on her drive to work yesterday and then she noticed a lot of oil under the car before she got in it to drive home last night (car was not driven home). There’s also amounts of oil on the ground where the car was parked outside our house over the weekend and Monday night, as well as where she parked at work on Monday.

Good news is that we’ve been onto the garage this morning and they are being very cooperative and are willing to do everything necessary to sort this out. They are recovering the car this morning.

What should I be checking that they do? Is it simply a case of them topping up the oil and cleaning the engine bay, or could there be other things that could have been damaged due to the oil mess (air filter contaminated for instance)? My wife swears the oil light only flickered once on the drive to work yesterday, though it came on solidly when she checked last night – do you think there is a chance of long-term damage? There seems to be lots of oil on the ground (in various locations!), but the oil light only came on very briefly while the car was being driven.

Any advice much appreciated.

At the very least they should be replacing the engine oil and filter again and cleaning the engine bay thoroughly. Anything over and above that is a goodwill gesture.
It doesn’t take a lot of oil to make a royal mess.

Is it simply a case of them topping up the oil and cleaning the engine bay

That’s all I’d be thinking. If you get a chance have a quick look at the air filter yourself to see if it needs changing, would be surprised though

[tannoy] Simonlovesrocks to the forum [/tannoy]
Not that he’s ever been so stupid :-p

I’d drain and re-fill the oil, give the engine bay a good clean and drive it. If something was damaged by low oil pressure (which is what the sensor/light is looking at, not level) then it’ll beocme apparent fairly quickly, the turbo bearings would disintegrate in no time at all.

Get it in writing that the poor service led to a loss of oil and the tell-tale coming on. Sod’s law says it falls apart after you’ve agreed to just have a clean/top up.

Having made the same ‘hilarious’ mistake myself (still have a dent in the bonnet where it closed on the cap still sitting on top of the engine cover) I would say that beyond cleaning it up and doing another fill there isn’t much that would need doing. If it hasn’t been running long with a low level I can’t see any damage being done. If there is damage then you’ll find out quickly enough and you’ll have total comeback.

Just one of those things, stupid mistake to make but everyone does something similar at one point or another. It’s not one you tend to repeat!

It depends how long it’s been driven for really. If it chucked out 4 litres of oil (doubtful) driving home on Friday, and then was driven all weekend, then there could be serious damage. Have you checked the oil level to see how much you’ve lost?

Thanks for the advice everyone.

To be clear, I’m not looking to go at the garage with pitchforks, I’m just seeking advice, as a mechanical incompetent, whether they’s anything in particular I should be paying attention to.

So far the garage have behaved impeccably, they are recovering the car as I write, have offered to cover travel costs incurred by my wife, ‘will sort everything’ and have offered the next service free of charge. Not that it’s any of my business, but they also said the mechanic would be getting a written warning (we’re getting the impression it was a new guy who did the work).

It depends how long it’s been driven for really.

About 120 miles since she picked it up from the service, so quite a way. She swears the oil pressure light only ‘flickered a couple of times’ though.

No pudding for the mechanic today then!

Glad they are recovering it, hopefully they won’t start it to get it on the low loader.

Fresh oil change, steam clean engine bay, if the driveway is bad possibly arrange for someone to jet wash the drive (or get at it yourself with a stiff brush and some detergent) and cover and supply a courtesy car. Get a record of the incident in writing but I doubt you will need it. Doesnt take much oil to make a mess or set off the low pressure warning so there should still be plenty in there.

If you are worried then ask them to check the air filter and measure the oil that they drain out and get this on record.

Or if they just top up the oil then get them to record how much it needs to fill.

Check oil level yourself using the dipstick before they take it away.

No pudding for the mechanic today then!

😆

No pudding dessert for the mechanic today then!

FTFY

😀

If the oil light has come on; that means there’s been insufficient pressure/flow to keep the light off. The effects of this can be serious depending on the engine load & conditions at the time. Personally I’d let them rectify this to your own satisfaction but make sure you get everything down in writing just in case two months down the line the engine goes belly up.

Check oil level yourself using the dipstick before they take it away.

I’ve been nowhere near the car unfortunately. I’m trying to establish if my wife (or any of her colleagues who were helping her out) checked the dipstick last night.

The auxillary belt is likely to need replacing as a liberal coating of oil will result in it slipping, meaning the water pump and alternator won’t be turning.

Update from the garage via the wife re. the oil level;
“…they’ve replenished the oil, it had lost about half, they got 2.5L of oil in to it…”

EDIT: Googling suggests oil capacity is 5.2-5.5L, so it does seem to be about half that it lost.

ouch! That is a lot to lose.

Or the mechanical hadn’t finished filling it and hence didn’t replace the cap.

Being that low it would not even touch the dip stick. Ask em for a 6 month complementary warranty on the engine?

edit: contact BMW and ask for their advice on the consequences?

Have done the same thing myself, check under car as the oil will have run under the chasis and covered it it in slimy oil which will attract mud and crap and be horrible for mechanics to change anything later in life

Or the mechanical hadn’t finished filling it and hence didn’t replace the cap

Slightly odd thing is that the ‘service’ it had was just a lame ‘inspection service’ as requested by the stupid variable service indicator, so the oil wasn’t actually changed. I can only guess the mechanic was checking under the filler cap for coolant leak or something.

I went down a different road and once over filled my car with oil and that did indeed flood the air filter with oil, not tried the cap off approach yet.

Yes, that’s right I am an idiot, I also once distractedly realised the reason the petrol filler kept cutting out was that I was paying to pour it onto the concrete below as the car was overfull and once again, yes, I am an idiot!

An honest mistake, no need to go postal on them.

Get it in writing that this happened and it was their mistake. Go back to them if you get problems further down the line. I doubt it is lunched and it does not mean they are incompetent.

My experience is that by the time the oil light has come on, there is very little oil left in the system. The sump will have drained quite low, and something will have got very hot indeed. That will accelerate wear.

If you are lucky the turbo has a direct pump feed off the sump, so won’t have lunched itself. BWM crankcase bearings have pretty good tolerances, so they’ll probably be OK. Only time will tell, but in all likelyhood unless something is about to fail now, you will have sold the car on before problems materialize.

Slightly odd thing is that the ‘service’ it had was just a lame ‘inspection service’ as requested by the stupid variable service indicator, so the oil wasn’t actually changed.

Get them to drain all the oil out before putting fresh in. Chance filter. Something will have got hot, and whatever oil was left will be burnt. Diluting it is not best practice, especially in a Diesel.

Get the next oil and filter change at half the recommended interval.

Use decent oil, not garage standard bulk buy stuff.

On the plus side, rustproof engine bay

Get the engine thoroughly cleaned or it will stink for weeks.

Not that I’ve ever done this exact same thing.

Ok if it was my car I wouldn’t want it jet washing at the local petrol station.

I’d want it to be done by someone who really knows what he/she is doing. All parts covered that need to be (electrics etc) thoroughly before gunk is spread and cleaning commences.

I’d want all visible moving parts within the vicinity of the filler replaced and the associated pullies etc cleaned/degreased or also replaced.

I’ve no idea how much oil would be forced out due to heat expansion/pressure but I’d be worried about future wear issues.

Its a 2004 car yes. However it could EASILY last another 4yrs good service.

The garage WILL have insurance if its not a temporary backsteet-job. So don’t feel bad about wanting it done properly or feeling like they are doing you a favour beyond top-up/wipe. They’ll automatically recommend this as only thing needed as it’ll be a case of ‘give it a go it might work/be cheaper’.

I once had oil spill onto the manifold/exhaust area from a failing drive shaft. It STANK oily inside the car etc when the car had been running for a longish run for a longtime after.

i.e. everytime the exhaust warmed up.

Ok if it was my car I wouldn’t want it jet washing at the local petrol station.

😐

I’d want it to be done by someone who really knows what he/she is doing. All parts covered that need to be (electrics etc) thoroughly before gunk is spread and cleaning commences.

🙄

I’d want all visible moving parts within the vicinity of the filler replaced and the associated pullies etc cleaned/degreased or also replaced.

I’ve no idea how much oil would be forced out due to heat expansion/pressure but I’d be worried about future wear issues.

Its a 2004 car yes. However it could EASILY last another 4yrs good service.

I once had oil spill onto the manifold/exhaust area from a failing drive shaft. It STANK oily inside the car etc when the car had been running for a longish run for a longtime after.

This isn’t your wife is it? 🙂

i.e. everytime the exhaust warmed up.

IIRC oil burns and exhausts get hot.
When this happens its smelly as for the rest an analogy for you

you spill your coffee on your desk and the keyboard gets a bit wet

you demand everything is replaced including the desk and the computer and the chair just to be safe well the chair might rust and the desk rot ?

Oily smell, either is was spraying new oil around due to the “failing driveshaft” ( 🙄 I had a driveshaft fail at the weekend, *big* bang, and time to dig out the warm coat for a long wait) or there was oil pooled somewhere which you hadn’t bothered to mop up.

Coffee in a keyboard. My God. The Humanity!

anotherdeadhero you need to get out a bit more.

timmys – Member
Slightly odd thing is that the ‘service’ it had was just a lame ‘inspection service’ as requested by the stupid variable service indicator, so the oil wasn’t actually changed. I can only guess the mechanic was checking under the filler cap for coolant leak or something.

???

All services on BMW’s that are called due to the service indicator require an oil change, be it an Oil service, Inspection 1 or Inspection 2.

If they didn’t change the oil they were doing it wrong anyway!

Hey, it is 10 years since I’ve allowed myself to be baited by you, there is something a bit 2005 about all this.

I mean you don’t have to take it as a joke if you don’t want to, I’m not the boss of you.

Some people hold blood-grudges but then forgive.

Someone, somewhere is holding a grudge for a decade because of a forum poster on a bicycle forum..

One day hora, I will hunt you down and hack you limb from limb with an axe.

Or, one day you’ll chill out and join in with the joke.

You’re comedy gold mate. I wouldn’t miss your input for the world.

One day I will track you down and kiss you on both cheeks (face).

My boss’s wife had a One series that had the oil cap left off (or left loose) after a BMW main dealer service, ruined the recently-laid tarmac at her parking space at work. Fact.

One day I will track you down and kiss you on both cheeks (face).

Just the face? Oh well. I didn’t know you did dharlink.

Greetings from mleh BTW.

Greetings from mleh BTW.

I assumed that died when STW replaced the hamsters.

thisisnotaspoon – Member

Greetings from mleh BTW.

I assumed that died when STW replaced the hamsters.

Posted 1 minute ago #Report-Post

It did,you know the zombie maggots chewk is always going on about…Or is it JHJ’s lizard masters…Not sure