Hot Rods Mistakes you’ve made…caution oil ahead

So wanted to change the oil in my Falcon today..simple enough…pull the filter off…drain the oil…new filter on…fill…fire it up…easy enough…

fire up the car…have oil pressure…suddenly starts dropping…quickly shut it off..walk around the front….to find a lot of my oil on the floor…1 side of the oil pan…and all over the filter..

I knew the filter was on tight….why was it leaking…well apparently the seal stayed in the block when I pulled to old filter off..didn’t notice it…and it blew out the new one when I fired the car up..when I pulled it off…2 seals fell off with it…Motorcraft FL1A…seriously never had that happen before…

That was a $70.00 lesson..killed me throwing oil dry on that brand new $10.00 a quart VR1…

anyone else have any “doh” moments…

 

That has been mentioned more than once on here!
Don't feel bad. I had something similar happen with the 283 I just bought. And afternoon moving just around to get my engine stand clear and get the 283 mounted. I pulled the plug and drained a Quart of oil out then nothing. Lets it set while I drank a beer and make sure it drained all the way, flipped the engine over and about 3 qts. of fairly clean oil ran out the top of the now upside down engine! DOH! 20 pounds of kitty litter later and the Valdez was stopped only for it to happen again when we turned it back over! I think someone filled the entire crankcase for storage. I did find a piece of paper towel that had stopped it from draining on the first try!

 

^^^^^ This!

I always let the filter mounting point finish dripping and then inspect and clean the mounting surface and interior bits before installing new filter. Never do it without looking.

 

I had a costumer that had his oil changed by the local chevy dealer from there he drove to the grocery store by then tne engine in his new Chevy was junk, In truth I don’t remember if it was him or his wife but he told me the story so it was him that drove the car as far as I’m concerned, one new engine later and he’s back on the road. All because of of a gasket.

 

I get the oil changed in my daily at a shop, by the time I use my coupon and the free car wash I get with it I end up $10 cheaper than just buying the oil and filter myself! But, I ALWAYS look in the mirror as I pull away to make sure I am not leaving a snail trail@!

 

My father drove 30 to 40K for his job during the first gas crisis, so he bought a diesel VW. He kept the car imaculate,
including under the hood, so he picked up on a diesel leak. Brought it into the dealer for repair under warrantee. Service Manager refused to replace the bottom radiator hose that had gotten dripped on. Hose blew on the Long Island Expressway during rush hour, by the time he got to the breakdown lane the motor was toast. VW ate the cost of a 75 mile tow and a new motor and a new hose.

 

I been fortunate, that I always clean off the gasket surface and this has kept me one step ahead of getting a major headache , but I know I could get a boot in the butt at anytime.

 

Yep, I have had the exact same experience before. Don't remember which car but the old seal stayed in the block, even though I wiped it clean, I didn't notice the seal still in there. Then after cranking it, leaks galore. You are not alone.

 

Happened to me long ago, old filter gasket stuck on, starting filling up the garage floor.
Bright side is we only make that mistake once!

 

Then there was the time I changed the rear end oil in my pickup while over the pit. Didn’t have the fancy new suction things, man it was taking a long time. So I rigged up a funnel and sat the oil bottle in it. Left. Came back, pit was slippery than ice. Yep, forgot to put the plug in.

 

Takes me back to my first job as a "lube tech" right out of high school. I learned to check this right away! (the hard way too)

ironandsteele.com​

 

Not quite the same...but similar as far as the mess. I recently put a new tail shaft and pinion seal in my sons Edsel and got it all put back together. I had it on the lift and left the drain pan in the tray like I always do. However, it was at the back of the lift and when I went to back off, I heard a crunch. Seems his car sits low enough that the crossmember caught the drain pan and broke it into lots of pieces. Between the likely 5 quarts of transmission fluid and rearend grease, it made a nice mess... And, I broke my favorite drain pan.

 

How the hell was I to know that one needs to pull the torque converter away from the crank. I mean I removed the 3 bolts like I was suppose to 42 years ago.

 

Similar story, when I was an apprentice I did an oil change in a fairly new Chevy FWD appliance where the oil filter was on the “front” of the engine by the radiator , relatively easy to get to.

anyways I do this oil change on a Monday , the following Monday the car comes in as a “no start”

go out “ clank, clank “ ooooo that does not sound good …………. Push it into the shop , the filter is gone ! Not there and not a drop of oil in the engine .

female customer looses her mind yelling and screaming that “ this dumb kid cost her a car “ ( meaning me) and simply loosing it .

she left , me and my boss and Peter all look at each other weird and say “ not possible you did not put on a filter or oil and it lasted a week and no oil to be seen anywhere .


Anyways later that day the husband comes in and my boss speaks to him and says it’s not possible that the apprentice forgot to put oil in the car , the car should have died before leaving the parking lot.

he say he would go home and speak to his wife and daughter .


The following day the wife shows up with coffee donuts and gift cards and super apologetic.

seems the daughter went to a party Saturday night , got into a fight with a girl who’s boyfriend was a lube tech . He went outside and spun the filter off and tossed it in the bushes !!!!!

father went by the house where the party was , there was a huge oil stain on the road and the filter in the bushes !!!!

kids family had to pay for a new crate engine from Chevy !!!!


Dang ! I was lucky the family found this out and there was no doubt that I did my job correctly .

 

You win!

 

I lost track of the number of Chevy V8 engines with the canister oil filters I pulled more than O ring out of when I was doing an oil change where I worked. Hired as a front end and brake man but did maybe 10 oil changes a week there.

I was taught in high school auto shop to never install a drain plug without the wrench to tighten it in the other hand but a couple of days after I did an oil change on my 48 in Texas in the 70's my lifters started to clatter and my oil gauge was on 0. Shut it off and coasted to the side of the street and looked back at that oil trail behind it. I walked to a parts house a couple of blocks away bought a drain plug and several quarts of pretty high priced for the time oil and went back and put it together and was on my way again slapping my forehead for not following Palmer's exacting instructions.

 

Three times for me. Twice when I changed the filter (Fram) (shame on me) and once at my favorite garage.
Now I always check to insure the gasket is out and let the garage know as well!

 

Years ago changed the oil on a Cat 3208 engine. Had most of the oil in it, but hadn't screwed the new filter on yet. Had to go on a wrecker run before I finished it.
Other guy in the shop decided he had to move that truck while I was gone. Fired it up with no oil filter on it. You know the rest.

 

Yep, winner! You're lucky the boyfriend didn't just loosen it, you might have still been on the hook.

 

First motor I pulled back in HS I didn't even think about those TC bolts. Oil makes a mess but tranny fluid out of a full converter is a mistake you only make once.

 

Lol, that pan did you a lot of good..

 

I thought I was doing a good thing when I bought one of those 11 quart low profile oil drain pans like this

First time my kid used it on a 7 quart V8 in the driveway he dropped the drain plug and it landed inverted directly in the drain hole and 6.5 quarts of used Mobil 1 overflowed over the edges of the pan and ran down the driveway. To the kid's credit, when I arrived home that evening he had cleaned it so thoroughly I had no idea anything had ever happened.
I cut the drain hole open a bit so if it were to ever happen again, the plug would just end up inside the pan.

 

This came to mind,,,,,Clark Griswald and the family truckster .
I remember what the tow truck driver said to him after towing it in .
One of the funniest scenes in the movie !

 

when I was a young teenager, I changed the oil on the family wagon...and didn't remember to put the drain plug in until after several quarts of new oil ran out onto the ground. At least I never did that again.

 

Yeah that’s my “new engine let’s make sure it’s not leaking and if it is I can find it tray…wasn’t my catch tray…

 

Haha, I'm dumber than you.

Installed a Rochester 4-barrel in the dark apartment parking lot.
Mounting bolts tight.
Quick test start.
Poof. Fire.
Now the parking lot wasn't dark and I could clearly see...
I had installed it backward.

 

I've been driven to rage and tears too many times and wonder why I still do anything mechanical, given my track record. Lately in putting together my '77 351W I bought one timing set that didn't fit, so bought a second one for a different year's engine, which again didn't fit and bound up the rotating assembly by jamming on the timing cover. In taking apart the engine to find the jam, I discovered the badly scraped inside of the aluminum cover. I mixed and matched the timing sprockets (first set was correct) with the second chain, which fit perfectly. This month I installed standard pushrods, even though I have opted for Edelbrock E-street heads with guideplates, ignoring the fact they require hardened pushrods. Earlier this week I read a cautionary tale of another HAMBer who did something similar and had to replace the roller rockers and pushrods, and thoroughly clean his newly rebuilt engine of metal filings from the standard pushrods. I'm now trying to figure out just which hardened pushrods I should order and install, but at least I'm learning. I'm just worried about what screw up I'm going to do next, and whether I will catch it in time.

 

Same here. There went my beer $$ for the weekend, all over my boots. Eh.......

Joe

 

The only people that do not make mistakes are the only people that do nothing!!! You're good!! Pete