Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Oil change screw up.....

Hi,

I normally use my friends garage to do my oil changes but he's been booked with tire change overs. So I used one of those quickie lube places. First they fought with me over the weight oil to use...but it hasnt ended there. This morning I noticed a puddle of oil. Its also all over the A arms...CV boot and even got into the rim of the right front tire. It looks like its pouring off the filter. I bring it back and they say the filters had a bad gasket. Two of them????

I just took if for a ride and its still leaking. My big worry is if they somehow messed the filter seat up! Can that be repaired if its somehow ruined???

As soon as my wife returns with her car I'm going to go to the auto parts store to see what size filter is supposed to be on the car...just to be sure they got the right one on there.

Car has been a great car for us and has gotten great care until now.

1995 Merc Mystique...2L with auto tranny...113K.

THanks!
Cirrus

Just post the make and model of filter and someone will be able to tell you if it's for your car.

are you sure the filter is leaking? if you don't change the oil carfully on a zetec it will get all over the control arm and cv joint, etc ...


A FL-200 or 300 will fit, PH-16 also

those are the motorcraft and fram filters ...

>>are you sure the filter is leaking?<<

Yes...we wiped it off and then I drove it...its dripping badly off the filter. I have seen what you are describing as it was like that when I brought the car home last night. So I jacked it up and cleaned it all off with a rag. Even my buddy got caught by that when he first did the car back in 1995.

I cant see what type of filter it is...there is no print on it where I can see it either from below or above. The one they removed was a Valvoline and the new one looked just like that one. I just saw a Fram one and at least the Valv one is the right size.

To and insult to injury...they took the air filter out to show me it was okay...but now I notice all but two of the clamps for the air filter box are missing which were there when they showed me the filter. This just aint my day.

I'm just praying the surface the filter is mounted to is not ruined.

Cirrus

Make sure the old p-ringfrom the previous oil filter isn't still attached (stuck)to the motor. I've heard that can happen. That means you'd be stacking two o-rings - not good. If you drive it like that you risk blowing the motor by starving the main bearings of oil pressure.

gotta love the "quick lube" places. I used to take mine to one for the past few years as I had no place to work on a vehicle. After they put the wrong grade of oil in I had enough. The filter I took off a week ago when i did my oil change was a rrreeeeaaallly small filter compared to the Motorcraft FL2005 that I put on, and considering its got the right grade of oil in it now, guess what??----no more tick tick ticking from the lifters. What year/model is the vehicle?? Have you tried running the car and breaking out the shop-light or flashlight and looking where the leak may be coming from? Check around the oil filter and drain plug and work your way up from there. I agree that it may be possible to have the ring left on from the old filter...has happened to me before, and was the result from a quick lube oil change as well Good luck and please let us know the model/make/year of your vehicle.

Man what a stressful day this has been! I was supposed to covering alot of miles today but instead its been trying to resolve this issue.

I think...I hope...we got it. I cleaned everything under the car to be sure it wasnt something else leaking that maybe they messed up. That whole area was dry before this so something happened there. After cleaning the whole area I took it up on the highway and around town. This time there was still some dripping off the filter BUT this time it wasnt coming from the front of the filter like the other one. So I once again cleaned it all up(including inside the rim)and drove it again...still abit but now I believe this was coming from the CV throwing it all over everything. The ribs of the CV boot was probably holding some oil still.

Everything seems okay but I'll find out for sure tomorrow when I have to run 50 miles away.

Thanks for the idea!
cirrus

don't forget to check your oil level before you venture out...just in case it was still leaking.

maybe the best thing you can do now is wait until you get it in a shop and have another oil change. an oil change is gonna run you...tops 30 bucks and thats a hellof a lot better than a couple thousand for a new engine...