Collected my 02 Focus 1.6 from a local garage tonight, after it had been in for a service
Drove home about 3 miles and decided to have a look under the bonnet, just to see that they had done the filter changes etc etc
I found the engine oil cap completely removed, lying on the battery and slightly messy engine bay. Not oil everywhere, just on the surrounding area
Now it was obviously dark so I couldn?t really see that well, but I?ve cleaned up as best I can, and topped up a little bit. Again because it?s dark can?t really get a decent dipstick indication. Will have a look again tomorrow.
Other than cleaning up and getting the oil level right are there other issues I need to consider here?
Obviously I will speak to the garage about this but wondered if there could be any serious effects from this mistake.
|
no you found it in time but a nice smelly for the cabin and a bit of grovelling is in order i think
|
|
hehe I did this on my old MK3 Festa once, the dip stick was always a pain to get into fully (and on that car you had to check it daily :p:) and once I never put it in propely. It made such a huge mess of the engine bay. I actually first noticed the smell of fuel and then opened the bonnet and realised what had happened.
|
You are really lucky. I did it once and the mess was APPALING. The damn car smoked and stank of oil for the rest of its life.
------
< Ulla>
|
|
On a positive note, I did have a Vauxhall Viva whose engine emitted so much oil 'mist' that the engine bay was the only bit that hadn't been almost entirely consumed by rust!
|
and i had an escort that puffed so much i hammered a lump of wood in the oil filler hole,it worked fine till i revved the car and it came out like a bullet.
Suppose its a good time to admit i once took the rocker cover off an old opel and welded the filler cap to the rocker on the inside so it couldnt be puff tested at the sales
|
My garage did that on my 2002 Focus, oil everywhere and the filler car jammed on top of the exhaust manifold. Took it back and made them clean it up and pay the £5 for a replacement cap.
The filler caps seem notorious for not staying on - you have to turn them until they audibly click before they're properly on. Then they don't want to come off again!
|
.............. you have to turn them until they audibly click before they're properly on. Then they don't want to come off again!
I had that problem with a '99T Focus. The ratchet mechanism was a modified design to ensure that you tightened the cap to a suitable torque. (There were instances of the cap of some early cars coming undone and Ford did a recall to fit the new design of cap.) In the end I had about 4 new caps under either recall or warranty. It seemed to me that the problem was caused by fact that the O-ring on the cap sealed onto a machined chamfer at the top of the filler neck of the alloy cover. I reckon the O-ring embedded itself into the machining marks of the chamfer and became stuck. I've had no such problems with my current 03/03 Focus which has a plastic cam cover and an O-ring on the cap which seals into a smooth moulded bore in the filler neck.
--
L\'escargot.
|
|
|
|
|
Didn't the buyers just walk away when they realised they could not get the filler cap off?
|
no rattle ,they just thought it needed a stilson on it probably.
|
Called them and they were very sorry etc etc. Am taking it in tommorrow to clean it. (big deal!)
car seems fine, oil level seems fine, will monitor closely for the next little while
Edited by nick1975 on 07/11/2007 at 20:13
|
|
|
|
|
