dealership left oil fill cap off, now this..

I just had my 30k mile synthetic oil change at big Toyota dealer 3-4 weeks ago. Truck has 31,500 now.

Popped hood today to mess with headlights. Oil splattered all over engine bay, hood insulator, over the plastics, basically everywhere. No oil fill cap installed, it is found sitting on my battery.

Here is my question. Aside from the obvious engine cleaning and presumed free oil change coming, what else should I be concerned with? Belts should be replaced? Any other needs I should address? Pictures are not great, but oil is all over the freaking place. Awesome.

thanks

 

I hate to admit it, but when I was younger i did the same thing to my Honda i never had any issues with the engine. I drove my Honda for 14 years and about 300k miles. Your right thought, they need to steam clean the engine and some extras for the hassle.

 

I'd ask for an extended warranty

 

Stuff like this is why I change my own oil, I would make them clean the engine bay like you specified and then go from there. Did any get on the belt?

 

Good luck with that for an oil cap left off, Toyota wouldn't honor one for my cam tower leak. Definitely get they to reimburse you something for the time you have to spend taking it back to fix the dealers mistake.

 

Similar to @Marty McFly, I did this twice on my 85 22r when I was a kid. It had over 100,000 miles and kept on ticking. However, the quality check at a dealership should be better than what I did as a 17 year old kid in my parent's driveway.

 

You should always do a quick check over of your vehicle after any work under the hood. Rags, tools, caps can be left behind, and check all fluid levels. Most likely the age of the person doing oil changes will be a young buck and mistakes can happen. Few years back my girlfriend at the time had her oil changed at a toyota dealership, i did a check over and the oil was overfilled by about 2 quartz.

 

DAMN! Good catch

 

Happens all the time. They have kids changing your oil at shops because there's no money in doing oil changes so real techs don't do them. I try to minimize it by teaching the kids at my shop to put oil cap right in the hood latch that way you can't close hood. That's been working

 

I agree with all of the above and I would definitely let the dealership know about it. BUT,,,,,, I would clean it up myself with my own detail skills and my own personal care for my truck. The lowest kid in the shop will be detailed to clean your engine and that is the last person I would ever want with a power washer in his hand under my hood. Like the others said, mistakes happen and I would ask for another oil change and filter but you have to ask yourself a couple of questions.
Is this enough to damage my relationship with the dealer you will be going to for work.
Was there REALLY any damage done.

Just my opinion

 

Midas did this to a car if mine years ago. Never had an issue with it years after. Just super annoying.

 

Had this exact same thing happen about 2 months ago. Just sucked it up, cleaned it myself and have had no issues.

 

looks like a really bad cam tower leak. the dealer pulled off the oil cap to cover it up the dirty dogs...be sure to take the poll...https://www.tundras.com/threads/ple...does-not-have-a-leaking-cam-tower-seal.21843/

 

looks like nothing reached the belt..

 

I have a camera in my truck and watched the video from the dealership. The tech was probably 55 and my service manager said he has been with Toyota for 20+ years.

 

I think maybe we all had some sort of a mishap with oil I clearly remember when I'm still down in Camp Lejeune was changing the oil to my buddies Camry took out the oil plug drain the oil. Took off the oil fill cap start feeling the oil one quart, 2 quarts 3 probably about then I realized the oil was running downhill because I never put the plug back in. I still do change all my own oil and only use AMS Oil with Toyota filters...

(No I don't use 5 W 30 that's for my girlfriend's car the only one I had)

 

yup good lesson. Always checking. I only have them do the oil changes so that if a major issue arises I can show that they are the only ones that have changed oil out since new.

 

Ya that sucks, I hope they offer to clean up the mess and comp you a couple oil changes.

I once had a dodge dealership over fill the oil on a 94 dodge ram, 10 quarts of oil. I left the dealership that day and thought man this thing is not running right. Next day keep thinking what the hell, finally popped the hood and pulled the dipstick, checked it twice, then again. Than called the dealership, the answer I got was well drain some of it out..

Oh hell no was my response, they ended up changing the oil again with me supervising the idiot the entire time. One of the mechanics said damn I surprised that engine did not blow any seals and that the rings held..

Then dealership I currently use is pretty good, had a couple small issues service wise but I don't think they will happen again.

 

Tangent:

You have a hood liner? I didn't think our trucks came with those. There was a thread on this some years ago and if I'm remembering correctly no one had one, but this was probably pre 3rd gen.

 

yep, liner on my hood

 

After reading all the horror stories on here and once at a dealer the tech left the oil cap off car of my girlfriend's (at the time) car. The dealer did another oil change for free obviously but their cleaning job was sub par at best. I cleaned it for her and now i check everything before I leave the dealer.

 

When I first started this was what I was told as well. Really simple tool that works well.

I would bet you may get offered a free oil change for the next one and would hope they send it to get detailed for you. Anything else and count that as a good service manager trying to keep a customer. Far to often people try to get all kinds of free stuff for a simple screw up. Those are the people that make it harder for people with real issues to get them resolved. Not saying you are one of those people but I work with one and I want to slap the sh!t out of him every time he bitches enough to get something for free that he shouldn’t have.

 

Yeah sorry to hear OP, but I do my own oil changes just cant trust these young kids at the dealership as for clean up u can use engine cleaner that they sell at any auto store I pressure wash my engine every few weeks

 

I only go to the dealership because of the 2/25 free changes and I even think I’m gambling on that..

 

Agree! I always pop the hood after I take it for oil change just because, and I check the oil too.

 

an oil change and a steam clean is all I expect. I was just wondering if oil being spewed over any other components for a month could be harmful, and if so, I want to have the knowledge before I speak to them tomorrow.

Not looking for handouts, just want it fixed like it never happened.

 

I work at the parts department at my local Toyota Dealer I see almost everything that goes on at the service center. They hire a person who has no experience with cars at all to do all the oil changes only. They just tell him there's the drain plug unscrew it and unscrew oil filter and install new filter and fill that's it. In fact the guy that does the oil changes at my work used to be a line cook. We get so many cars in especially on Saturdays that all the mechanics are struggling to get them done quickly and forgetting to put back a lot of stuff, like clips, screws, oil plugs, and even oil caps. Like what others says check your vehicles before driving off from the dealer.

 

Man, that is sad. I have an appointment for my 10,000 in Friday. I don’t even think I can go to a hack dealership one more time.
I have a great Toyota/Lexus only place but I have to pay for the change. Maybe it’s money well spent.

 

This happened to me with my last car, it was the second oil change - took it to the dealership for included oil change, left it there because the wait was long and it was my nephew's birthday party. After a few hours get a call that it's done, when I pick it up I notice it smells like fresh oil inside the car, but everything is clean so I leave. Nice spring day so I roll down the windows and go back to the party. When I get back in it later it smells even stronger of oil so I popped the hood and noticed the fill cap was missing and there was oil all over. After some digging around I found the fill cap sitting on the bottom valance/splash guard. I called the dealership and they said come back and they would clean everything up and top off the oil.

After returning and them "cleaning" it (it looked like shit when they were done but I decided I'd get home and take care of it myself) and topping off the oil I left the dealership to head home. As I accelerated on the freeway onramp the car lost power and started spitting out huge clouds of white smoke out of the exhaust. I limped it back to the dealership and it turns out the guy who was supposed to top the oil off was a $^#&ing idiot and assumed and filled it as if it were empty.

The dealership emptied and filled the oil and sent me on my way. The next day I go to start it up and the CEL comes on. I get the codes read locally and it's a code about the blow off valve not opening completely or something similar. Turns out there was so much oil that it started recirculating through the intake system, ruined my turbo, intercooler, all the air lines, etc. Even worse the intercooler was not available anywhere in North America so my car sat at the dealership for over 30 days while they sourced parts. I traded that car in for the Tundra not too long after - I had some serious reservations about the longevity of the motor at that point and wanted to move into a truck anyway.

A month later, the same dealership did the same thing to my wife's car, but at that point I had adopted a policy of always looking under the hood after the dealership completed even the most minor of services. They top off my wiper fluid and I'm going to check that they didn't mess something up.

I guess the moral of the story is that dealerships hire entry-level employees for basic service, and these guys are always swamped and in a huge rush to get cars pushed out. I think it's ok to get your included oil changes but it's a good idea to check under the hood after letting those fools touch your car or truck.

I agree with others here that you should insist they pay for a full engine detail from a 3rd party shop who specializes in that sort of thing. They will literally just take a pressure washer to your engine bay - they give zero shits about your car.

 

Talk to your service manager and I am sure they will clean up the engine compartment and maybe give you a complimentary oil change. Stay calm and don't rant and it will go a long way in having a good rapport with the service department. Some suggestions like asking for an extended warranty are just plain ridiculous, looks like you really didn't lose all that much oil, probably mostly vapors that then settled in your engine compartment as a film.

I know you paid for a service and shouldn't have to worry about that but I would always check the oil level and take a quick look around the engine compartment, that is what I do anyways. There are humans working on your truck and they will make a mistake here and there.....just like you and I sometimes make a mistake.