That's how I feel. The whole thing started on a gorgeous sunny Saturday morning. Went to pick up my girlfriend for a trip to Great Adventure (NJ). I was within about 75 miles of a required oil change and decided to get one before the long trip.

On the way back I noticed that the car's engine sounded kinda funny (deep instead of perky), pulled at a gas station and I found that the oil cap was missing and nowhere in sight , and there was oil all over the underside of the hood, and the engine. I covered the opening as best I could and drove at about 35mph the rest of the way. WHAT A LONG TRIP THAT ENDED UP BEING.

The next day I went out and replaced the oil cap and ran into the owner of the station who told me to bring the car in for a cleanup.

Fast forward to about a moth ago. The car started to rattle a bit, sporadically, the rattle got progressively worse. I believed the problem was an faulty H/U installation (I thought a wire was loose). I put it off. I could not find "the wire".

All of a sudden the noise stopped and the car started to vibrate in a weird fashion, I immediately brought it in for service. After many days of going back and forth with Honda and not finding the problem, the guys at the dealership decided to take down the transmission. VOILA the oil cap was wedged between the frame and the tranny.

Of course this is no longer warranty work so I must come up with the 8.8 hours worth of work that the book says it takes to drop the tranny.


I have spoken to the service station's owner and he's very skeptical, I have put him in contact with the Service Manager at the dealership and await the outcome of that conversation. I just needed to vent. Meanwhile I have been 9 days without my car.

(Thanks for listening)

 

skeptical of what? didn't the station owner clean up the car thereby at least tacitly admitting they left the oil cap off?

That's complete b.s. you've gotta to watch out for these 10 minute oil change places. I've noticed a lot of sloppy work from them. In fact, the same s*#@ happened to me w/my Camry. the moron forgot to replace the cap or tighten it properly and oil splattered all over the place. However, I didn't discover it until a few weeks later, so pretty much nothing I could do. I would stay on top of the station owner b/c that's ridiculous.

 

First off, its completely the service station's fault. I wouldn't stop until they paid for everything. jjanari is right about them admitting to it by cleaning your car. Second, why did you drive the car after it spewed all that oil out? Your oil level is low, and the oil that spewed out will only cook on your engine parts.

 

You are not the first person to have this happen to. To be fair, we have seen that a oil cap that is not tightened enough can "unscrew" itself. I doubt this is the case for you since it happened to quickly, but younever know. Regardless, I feel it is still the garage's responsibility. If the cap was placed on the head, it falls above the tranny, and as you noted, it is very expensive to fish it out. See this older thread

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by asmx
[B]

 

Interesting. I though your engine wouldn't run with no oil cap. Cause it would create a vacum leak. I know my M3 will not hold idle without the oil cap in place.

 

This has happened dozens of times including to me (yes the engine still runs fine). Usually you don't have to drop the transmission to get it out, but even if you do need to it is only an hour to disconnect enough stuff to lower the engine a bit (the beginning of the remove transmission procedure) and an hour to put it back. The eight hours is a book estimate by someone who has no idea how to work on this car.. maybe you need to find someone else.

 

Isn't this board great!
Print out all the threads and take them to the local service station. Let the owner know YOU KNOW his oil change resulted in your expense. Ask him to make it right. Give him a chance, but don't back down. I knew what had happened before I finished the first paragraph of your top post, just from reading this board for two years.

Keep us posted.

Oh yes. Listen to cdelena. He knows what he's talking about.

 

Thanks again guys. The service manager at the dealership explained the problem to the Service Station owner. I have to head out there tomorrow to show him pictures of what happened, and the wrecked oil cap, as well as the price I'm paying for the shindig.

cdelena, I would bring the car to another dealership, but they already took it apart and that's what they are charging me. Unfortunately when I spoke to the service manager I took what he said (the 8 hour estimate) at face value. I will nonetheless let him know that it should have only taken a couple of hours to do the work.

Barry W. You are right, this board IS GREAT!!!


The engine ran but I did notice a loss of performance.


[QUOTE][I]Originally posted by Thoe99

 

From a dealership point of view, when you took the car in for service did you explain that an oil cap was missing from a previous service and that you replaced it? If the answer is YES then it is a misdiagnosis from the dealer and the transmission should of never have been pulled. If NO then you have a fine line of who should pay for the transmission being pulled out. This is a pretty common problem and we have seen a few of these situations before with missing oil caps.