I've been driving around noticing a faint strange rattling for about a week now. The last three days I've noticed an burned oil smell. Thinking that the smell belonged to the trucks out here in Vegas I didn't pay it much mind. Yesterday I started noticing the inability to V-TEC and decided to check the oil which I usually do anyway at a regular basis. Eventhough, I just had an oil change at the Honda dealer a couple of weeks ago. Needless to say, the oil cap was gone and there was oil sprayed all over the engine. I was also down three - four quarts and I found the cap lodged down below.
The question I have is since Honda is liable, and I'm sure that they will try to minimize anything that could possibly be wrong. What specifically should I have adressed for damage assessment ?

I also remember seeing this problem on the site before.

Thanks George

 

Discuss this calmly and cooly with your service advisor. Chances are, there is no damage; however, they should be willing to check the car out, clean it up as needed and replace the oil. Tell them that you're sure it's an honest mistake, and you're equally sure that they will want to make it right.

 

AHM Spies ... Are you reading this? Do make sure this gets to the dealership with top priority and addressed appropriately. There is so much negligence around that I can believe only maximum liability be placed on the dealership that did this.

 

This is absolutely absurd. A dealer forgets to put the oil cap back on ????

I would definitely take this up with AHM.

 

I've heard of several people on this board that have "lost" their oil cap. One person had it lodge on top of the transmission and the techs had to lower the tranny to get it out!

By all means, discuss this with your service advisor in a calm and reasonable manner. Allow them to make this right, but I would insist that they (or you) make a written record of what happened just in case there are future problems.

When some Honda dealers initially refuse to honor engine warrantees because oil levels are down 1/2 - 1 quart, I'd make sure that the incident is documented.

 

It is not that hard to loose one down there, I did. If the cap is not tightened or if the gasket comes off, it will vibrate loose and lodge against the firewall. There is enough vibration with this engine that the pressure against the gasket is very important.. more so than with other engines.. this is common, it probably should have a cap with a locking feature of some sort.

 

A couple thoughts:

1. I'm a bit surprised the engine would run even halfway decently with the cap off. My 325i sure doesn't -- it stumbles so badly that it makes it impossible not to notice. I just assumed all modern engines were the same way, not that I make a point of checking this with all my cars.

2. Things could be worse. They might have left the cap on top of the valve cover and slammed the hood on it, like 01s2k did. Check out this thread: https://www.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.php?...?threadid=28661

 

Let this serve as a warning to all of us- No matter who works on your car, don't assume they did it right, always check under the hood before driving away! Even the most careful and experienced technician might be distracted by a phone call and forget to do something like put the oil cap back on, fill the oil, put the drain plug back in, etc.