Oil Change disaster... Currently Confused and Embarrassed

[Juantrickpony]

Devil's advocate here - I had a "hand tightened" filter come loose and start to drip. The Coyote tends to vibrate a bit and my theory is was it wasn't tightened quite enough, and the vibrations of the motor loosened it up. "hand tightened" probably should mean "hand tightened" like Popeye would.

Yes I agree. Probably could‘ve clarified better. I have large hands and pretty solid grip strength. Popeye would be proud.

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[XS]

However, he said the car was far off level when he drained it, he realized later that only took 6 quarts out, and he put 8 quarts in without checking the dipstick. If he left 2 quarts in the pan because of the tilt (seems a lot), he would have been at 10 quarts total in an 8 quart sump. In that case, foaming is quite possible, which could blow a gasket or push oil past the rings into the cylinders (leading to smoking).

Right, this is kind of what I am leaning towards happened. I don't think it starved the engine enough to cause damage - in 3 miles - but I think it blew a seal. I mean KNOCK ON WOOD it's just a filter issue, but just sayin.

 

[kz]

Few things to add - you will be fine most likely. Smoke was oil burning on hot exhaust / cats - if I had to guess.

I personally tighten filters more than just hand tight, even though i can tighten them pretty damn tight. Hand tightened filters dripped oil on few occasions. There are only two places it could come out of - drain plug or filter. Unless you didn't put the dipstick or oil cap back on...

 

[ORRadtech]

I only had the front of the car jacked up so obviously the car was not level. But it seemed like it would make sense as it was leaning in the direction where the most oil would come out of the oil pan.

However, he said the car was far off level when he drained it, he realized later that only took 6 quarts out, and he put 8 quarts in without checking the dipstick. If he left 2 quarts in the pan because of the tilt (seems a lot), he would have been at 10 quarts total in an 8 quart sump. In that case, foaming is quite possible, which could blow a gasket or push oil past the rings into the cylinders (leading to smoking).

He said the front of the car was jacked up. Every car I've ever changed the oil on has the drain plug towards the rear of the car. I change mine on ramps that put the front up about 8" to make the oil drain more completely. I don't see how he could not have drained all the oil out. Now if it was pointing downhill, like with the rear jacked up I could see it. Or even just one corner but not from what he described.
I'm still leaning towards a double gasket or he punctured the filter can with the chain wrench.

 

[ice445]

This.

I've seen a couple of factory installed filters that were so loose that they seeped a bit, and took very little effort to loosen.

When I do a change, I always tighten the filter as tight as I can get it with dry, bare hands. Never an issue.

Same, i always give er the ol' full squeeze of the arm cannon until It doesn't turn anymore.

 

[msalvoni]

Here is the verdict... I punctured the oil filter with the pipe wrench. Today was one hell of a clean up day.... For the rest of my days I will only tighten by hand, lesson learned. The car had 2.5 quarts left in..... spent hours soaping and gently pressure washing the underside of the car, and the driveway. Im not worried about the engine anymore at all, like I said it was only driven 8 ish miles and at the very worst point had 2.5 quarts in it (no check engine or oil lights came on). The smoke must have been from oil getting on the hot exhaust. Wow I was really freaking out yesterday.... but anyways I live and I learn. Got fresh oil and new filter on (tightened by hand....)

By the way, the dipstick is ridiculously hard to read in my opnion...

thanks for the support.

 

[axios]

Here is the verdict... I punctured the oil filter with the pipe wrench. Today was one hell of a clean up day.... For the rest of my days I will only tighten by hand, lesson learned. The car had 2.5 quarts left in..... spent hours soaping and gently pressure washing the underside of the car, and the driveway. Im not worried about the engine anymore at all, like I said it was only driven 8 ish miles and at the very worst point had 2.5 quarts in it (no check engine or oil lights came on). The smoke must have been from oil getting on the hot exhaust. Wow I was really freaking out yesterday.... but anyways I live and I learn. Got fresh oil and new filter on (tightened by hand....)

By the way, the dipstick is ridiculously hard to read in my opnion...

thanks for the support.

That's great news!

Btw, a strap wrench is a great tool to have, especially when it comes to oil filters.

And yeah, that dipstick is a bit hard to read sometimes, it's too smooth and doesn't retain oil well.

 

[fatbillybob]

Not to freak you out, but I'm wondering if overfilling it 2 quarts blew a gasket out somewhere.

Not likely. If you have a good overfill it is more likely to suck oil into the intake. We see this all the time with wet sump guys adding oil to drysump motors. PCV allows oil vapor to be burned closed loop to be burned making less smog. With racers, motors at high RPM blow more blowby and it ends up in the intake manifold. A lot causes tailpipe smoking. That's why people use catchcans. There are even ford performance ford oil separators just to combat this. They are in the performance catalog because this is a problem under high load and high G's not street driving. Sometimes you see this on a high G corner. Street driving can simulate this when you over fill.

 

[cactus_kid]

For the rest of my days I will tighten oil filters by hand, Now that I have thought about it over and over at this point I am thinking I accidentally punctured it when trying to tighten it will a pipe wrench... I have used it before to loosen oil filters and even tighten them on (not aggressively just a bit more snug than a hand tighten, but I will never do again...) I am really thinking I must have damaged it with the pipe wrench...

Pipe wrench ? "Say it ain't so Joe !"

 

[XS]

Here is the verdict... I punctured the oil filter with the pipe wrench. Today was one hell of a clean up day.... For the rest of my days I will only tighten by hand, lesson learned. The car had 2.5 quarts left in..... spent hours soaping and gently pressure washing the underside of the car, and the driveway. Im not worried about the engine anymore at all, like I said it was only driven 8 ish miles and at the very worst point had 2.5 quarts in it (no check engine or oil lights came on). The smoke must have been from oil getting on the hot exhaust. Wow I was really freaking out yesterday.... but anyways I live and I learn. Got fresh oil and new filter on (tightened by hand....)

By the way, the dipstick is ridiculously hard to read in my opnion...

thanks for the support.

That's fantastic news! The cleanup not so much, but a small pittance considering the massive peace of mind you have now, I'm sure.

 

[Oryx]

Hope things are ok and no longer term damage was done to any of the bearings with only 2.5q of oil left.
I can tell you don't need anyone dog piling on the rear view comments so I won't say that the last step in the process is always start it up and check for leaks! Oops ... sorry

 

[ORRadtech]

Here is the verdict... I punctured the oil filter with the pipe wrench.

For the rest of my days I will only tighten by hand, lesson learned.

thanks for the support.

I'm glad no real damage was done.
As far as hand tight only, that's perfectly fine as long as you do get it tight. As myself and others have said, tightening a little past hand tight with a tool is not necessarily a bad thing. It gives me piece-of-mind that it's actually tight.


The issue becomes using the right tool for the job.

A chain wrench can be great for removing a tight/stuck filter. It is, as you've found, a horrible choice to tighten a filter. I probably have 3 or 4 different kinds tools to remove filters but I only tighten them with the cup kind that fit the bottom of the canister. Never use anything, chain, strap, plyers, etc to tighten as they can puncture or deform the filter.

Definitely use this experience as a learning opportunity but don't let it scare you into a rigid mindset.

 

[BimmerDriver]

Glad to read that it was just the filter and nothing else.

I've been changing oil in cars since before I could drive, and it's a real simple rule: after you finish, start the engine, verify oil pressure, then crawl under car (or at least look down there) and check for leaks.

We've all made mistakes. Learn from it and move on.

 

[SSG 5.0]

Like almost everyone said, use your man hand to tighten the oil filter. I’m surprised no one mentioned to wipe the new oil filter gasket with oil before installing it.

 

[kinchy]

I get why some members like to change their oil and filter. I often wonder (while at the dealer) did I really get the synthetic oil I'm paying for or did they use a cheaper alternative? If you have the room and or the lift resources that makes the fluid/filter change plausible. If you don't (given the 10 quart capacity and filter access) it usually ends up being a mess no matter how careful one might be. Not to mention getting rid of the used oil. Given the 5000-7500 mile intervals [and my lift less one car garage] I'll continue using the shop handling my modifications.
No disrespect meant to the hands on crowd...

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