I recently dropped off my 2500 4x4 Mega Cab Cummins for an oil change at the dealer and the yahoo that did the work forgot to put the oil filler cap back on. I drove almost 100 miles and the only reason I checked was because I started hearing a funny noise coming from the motor while at idle. I opened the hood and OMG..........oil everywhere. I found the cap wedged between the intake and the block. Put the cap back on and the noise is still there. I thought maybe with the cap off I could here more of the engine or something. I called the dealer and they said to bring it in tomorrow and the'll take care of it. I expect them to do another oil change, wash out the engine compartment, and make sure they didn't really screw up the motor somehow. Does this sound reasonable? Does anyone know of any problems that would be caused by leaving the oil filler cap off? I can't think of any except dirt in the oil.

 

if it most alot of oil... that may have done some pretty good amount of damage... if thats the case... dodge just gave you a new CTD... i remember when my mom brough her car into service at a dodge dealer.. to check the fuel pump... god damn idiots look at the air filter... never put the thing back on.. close the hood.. cracked the mounts for the air box lid... next day, went out of business.... ********

 

With all that oil in the engine bay, you probably ran low on oil. I would tell them to document exactly what happened and keep your original copy somewhere safe. IF there are any problems down the road that are oil related you'll have the evidence.

 

DEZRACER - did you check the oil level to see just how much oil you lost? That's going to tell a lot - less than a quart low and likely no long term damage, but more and I'd be concerned. NEEKBEEK has the right idea regardless - make sure the service order states that customer complained oil cap not installed after oil change and oil escaped (and ran low if so) or something similar. Even if they're as helpful and ingratiating as can be, you want to have this documented in case you have problems 100,000 miles down the road that stem from a lack of oil...

 

I checked the oil and it looks like about a quart was thrown all over the engine. I'm concerned because I drove my truck to a private airport and parked it in the dirt for three days when I flew out of town. Who knows what go up in there. There is a loud ticking noise coming from the valve cover that wasn't there before so I am concerned. It was loud enough that I lifted the hood to check the engine noise and bamm.............what a mess. I will definetely have them write that stuff down on my invoice. Good advice. The thing that really pisses me off is that I paid for the oil changes from the dealer thinking it would be better quality service and so far I've been wrong. Maybe that's why they were so cheap.

I think I'm going to ask for the high idle feature to be anabled to ease the pain. My wife is going to be getting a Charger SRT8 within the next year or so and I think I will take my business elsewhere.

[sm=rant.gif]

 

..make them replace the hood insulator pad too...an oil soaked pad will attract dirt like a magnet...

those oil change places drive you back to doing it yourself..lol a friend of mine had a new nissan van..brought it to a quick lube place for the first oil change ... when they told him it was done, he got in the van & drove it home, smelling somthing like oil burning..turns out the two techs... I mean workers both filled the crankcase with oil...hinking the other one didn't...my friend had oil seals & gaskets blown out...they paid for it...lol

 

id just like the add my 2 cents.... im a VW tech at a dealership have been for quite some time now.. Im ASE cert. VW cert. every possible cert in the world.. ive been working on cars since i was 12 years old.. not only is it a job but its a passion of mine.... now this oil cap being left off could have been caused by seveal diffrent reasons... one the guy was an idiot... easy enough not every one in a dealership is a master tech there are apprentice's there are people they pay minimum wage to sling oil... but they figure changing oil all day they shouldent **** up all that much... not justifying it but there there... TWO they were in a rush .. as we all know dealer techs are payed flat rate.. so we get paid by the job not the clock.. so if a certain job pays 100 time units '1 hour' and if we take 5 minutes or 5 hours we still ge paid 1 hour... so the guy was in a rush 1 to book hours.. 2 the customer came in expecting the car to be done NOW and not expecting any less.. people think there the only ones in the world that need there car fixed.. many a time a cust. has come in i get the ticket and it states... cust states air bag lamp on cust state check light on.. oil change a laundry list of conserns then the ticket says WAITER... NEEDS TO HAVE CAR BY NOON.... look at my watch its 11 go to the adviser sorry bro better get on your high horse.... now im not bragging but im a really good tech i know my **** and i have pretty fast and rarley screw up... but i do i have lft oil caps off but when the adviser is on your *** " The cust just tore me a new one come on hurry your **** up" thats where i screw up... now i know being the professional i should do the job right but it doest always work that way..when you have cust.. managers and advisers on u all the time.. and about not fixing cars right the first time..... some people dont understand how complicated vehicles are these days and how sometimes its pretty hard to diag a car right the fist time EVERY TIME were human and even the best humans **** up...pardon my french.... then customers are quick to call me or the tech an idiot or incompetent... we also have to deal with politics of working in a dealership warrenty indexs and all the bs we have to do to fix cars... manufacters are hard headed and never belive they make a broke *** pos of a car but they do... so for instance vw 2.8 v6 and 1.8T motors the gaskets dont "leak" they seap... seapings OK if there arent drops on the floor its ok... so it can leak (seap) all over the motor but as long s it dont touch the ground your OK stuff like that... once again not saying its ok the dealer did that but **** happens were human just like you we make mistakes. so all im asking is give us a break... if you were in our shoes what would you think? i highly doubt leaving a 1 inch hole open for 3 days did much plus when your running there crankcase pressure so nothign got in there and being 1 2 3 4 5 id say even 6 quarts low in a 12 quart system wouldent do any damage... ud be suprised how many cars( 2.0 jettas golfs beetles) are rolling around with 1 quart in a 4 quart system... well thats my 2 cents complain if you like but thats my side of the story...

 

You know what dude, you've opened my eyes and reminded me of just how hard some people actually DO work at the dealership. Aside from the customer's complaints, I never took into account just how bad and how much the dealer themselves and not the mechanic want to screw you. I thank you for taking the time to remind me. Props to you !!! Don't let some hard heads get you down and out bro. Keep doing what you love and love what you're doing.

 

I still think the mechanic needs to be sure he doesn't do things like leaving an oil cap off if he calls himself a professional, regardless of what his mgmt does or how he feels about mgmt. or anything else. It's a matter of personal pride I say - and I spent thirty years in the service industry both as a tech, and later as a manager.
If you're a consumer and you get that level of quality, you own part of what happens to your truck if you go back there again - patronize the businesses that do right!

That being said, DIXIEDODGE makes a good point indirectly - don't take your vehicle to somewhere and expect quality work at the same time you're insisting on a rush job. Give a professional the time to do professional work, and that's what you'll get. I have to drive twenty some miles for service on my CTD, so I am usually a waiter - but I don't once ask them how much longer or even look at the advisor to let them think I'm getting impatient. In fact, I try to go outside and wander around, and if I am near any of the techs I never let them know I have any concerns about the time. (and remember the point DIXIE made about the code units - sometimes the tech is going to "mix" jobs to come out even - give him the time to do so)

And one more thing - I just had a warranty issue conversation with the mfr of my motorhome, and they made a good point - only and always go to a shop YOU trust or have gotten personal references for. Even if a shop is a such-and-such certified or authorized by the mfr - you gotta trust them or don't go there. (when I lived in SoCal I would drive 90 miles one way to a dealer I trusted for my CTD, even though I drove past about three on the way! But I never got burned by that far-away dealer...)