Oil change mishaps: Do you have any "good stories"?
07-17-2006, 06:55 AM
#1
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Oil change mishaps: Do you have any "good stories"?
<center><img src="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/oilchange3.JPG"></center><p>OK. Some people know that when I did my first oil change on the A8, I accidentally skipped a page of the audipages procedure, and tried to get the oil out through the drain of the filter housing. I -only very briefly- ran the engine to let the oil gush out. I should have known better.
Last Friday another stupid thing happened that caused me to spend more time on cleaning up spilled oil rather than on the oil change itself. Of course I use the BIG oil pan since the A8 holds about 7-8 quarts of oil. What made this oil change very time intensive was that the oil pan was overflowing with a lot of oil. At the time I didn't realize that the drain plug had fallen right on top of the oil pan's drain hole and prevented most of the oil actually going inside the oil pan. How fun is that? Unfortunately I didn't keep a couple of empty litter boxes handy to catch any overflow. Luckily my car was parked over a big sheet of flexible plywood which made clean up -just a little- easier.
Does anybody else have any clumsy mechanic stories like this one?<ul><li><a href="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/oilchange.html">http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/oilchange.html</a</li></ul>
Last Friday another stupid thing happened that caused me to spend more time on cleaning up spilled oil rather than on the oil change itself. Of course I use the BIG oil pan since the A8 holds about 7-8 quarts of oil. What made this oil change very time intensive was that the oil pan was overflowing with a lot of oil. At the time I didn't realize that the drain plug had fallen right on top of the oil pan's drain hole and prevented most of the oil actually going inside the oil pan. How fun is that? Unfortunately I didn't keep a couple of empty litter boxes handy to catch any overflow. Luckily my car was parked over a big sheet of flexible plywood which made clean up -just a little- easier.
Does anybody else have any clumsy mechanic stories like this one?<ul><li><a href="http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/oilchange.html">http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articles/enginemechanical/oilchange.html</a</li></ul>
07-17-2006, 07:53 AM
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father and good friend have both pulled the transmission oil plug on their Audis (A6 and 80)
jack the car up, then for some reason they crawled underneath the car from behind the front wheels (too used to replacing/fixing exhaust system maybe?), then unscrew the first plug they find.
Funny thing is, my friend asked me for advice before attempting the oil change on the 80 and I told him how my father took the wrong plug just a few months earlier, then my friend does the exact same thing.
The 80 was easy to fix, but the A6 turned into a real pain. Thinking the oil change would be a 20 minute job he had jacked it up in the driveway, blocking the other two cars from getting out of the garage. Getting the proper transmission fluid on a saturday afternoon with no car available sure isn't easy, nor is refilling the A6 transmission.
Funny thing is, my friend asked me for advice before attempting the oil change on the 80 and I told him how my father took the wrong plug just a few months earlier, then my friend does the exact same thing.
The 80 was easy to fix, but the A6 turned into a real pain. Thinking the oil change would be a 20 minute job he had jacked it up in the driveway, blocking the other two cars from getting out of the garage. Getting the proper transmission fluid on a saturday afternoon with no car available sure isn't easy, nor is refilling the A6 transmission.
07-17-2006, 08:15 AM
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Re: Oil change mishaps: Do you have any "good stories"?
I did the EXACT same thing! What a mess. Now I keep a bag of oil dri in the garage.
Here's 1 of my most embarrassing moments: I was changing the oil on my daughter's Volvo 940 last weekend when I realized that I didnt have the correct filter. After a quick trip to the parts store, I proceeded to replace the filter and add 4 qts of Mobil 1 to the garage floor. I had forgotten to replace the drain plug...
Phil C.
Here's 1 of my most embarrassing moments: I was changing the oil on my daughter's Volvo 940 last weekend when I realized that I didnt have the correct filter. After a quick trip to the parts store, I proceeded to replace the filter and add 4 qts of Mobil 1 to the garage floor. I had forgotten to replace the drain plug...
Phil C.
07-17-2006, 08:54 AM
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Go Fumoto
<img src="https://ssl2.adhost.com/fumotovalve/graphics/valve2.JPG">
I have this on the S6 where it makes draining a snap and purchased one for the A8 also.
It sits on my shelf because so far I have always told the dealer to do the oil whilst doing some other repair..
Given the time and $$ to outsource this, I think it can be had at the dealer for about $50 and save clean up time.
Some how, some way, I always spill some oil somewhere when changing it:/ doh!<ul><li><a href="http://www.fumotovalve.com/">Fumoto</a></li></ul>
I have this on the S6 where it makes draining a snap and purchased one for the A8 also.
It sits on my shelf because so far I have always told the dealer to do the oil whilst doing some other repair..
Given the time and $$ to outsource this, I think it can be had at the dealer for about $50 and save clean up time.
Some how, some way, I always spill some oil somewhere when changing it:/ doh!<ul><li><a href="http://www.fumotovalve.com/">Fumoto</a></li></ul>
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07-17-2006, 11:37 AM
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Can't own an A8 w/o a sense of humor
And a garage, tools, healthy bank account, some knowledge and ability, and an appreciation for fine engineering(most of the time).. Without this forum, I'd be up sh*t creek!