Dealership left cap off after oil change

Bad Karma. I'd hate to see some poor bastard wind up with the pos just to have it fail shortly.

 

If that can get done under warranty, do it.

If they won't warranty it & OP has no other honest option (selling it on to some poor schmuck without full disclosure is not an honest option..) then, here's what I would try. (If I had the skills & equipment to remove entire engine & break it down to clean/inspect every part indiviudally, that would be best -- but I & many others don't have the kind of capabilty, so this is a next-best effort):

• Pull the sparkplugs & use a good camera with side-view capability (like the DEPSTECH BR580) to inspect all the cylinders & see how good or bad they may look. Save the photos & video for later comparison use.

• Drain the engine oil, remove & replace the oil filter. (Drain out the old oil filter, then cut it open carefully & inspect the filter media to see how much dirt/sand is in it.)

• Flood the crank case with copious amounts of diesel fuel, like 5 gallons of it, to help flush out contaminants (In through filler neck, out through open oil pan drain, engine OFF.)

• Then drop the oil pan & thoroughy clean both it & the accessible parts of the bottom of the crank case with lots of brake cleaner. Special focus on the oil pickup screen/neck.

• Reinstall the oil pan. If you haven't done an oil pan before, consult TW tutorials &/or youtube for pointers, paying special attention to the re-sealing and re-torquing procedures. Refill with new 10W-30 motor oil.

• Start & the engine at idle for 1 minute, then drain out the oil through the pan drain. Filter the oil through a coffee filter in a funnel to remove fine sand/grit. Put this same externally-hand-filtered oil back in the engine. Repeat this cycle with a fresh coffee filter each time until no more grit comes out. If no more grit appears, great. If grit keeps appearing after 6 or more external filtration cycles, not sure what to suggest. Maybe just keep repeating..?

• Assuming no more grit comes out, drain one last time, replace engine oil filter again, refill with brand new oil.

• Pull spark plugs again & run a cold compression test (using a remote starter switch direct from battery to starter motor, ignition OFF / key OUT.) Record results for future comparison at +1K, 5K, 10K, 20K, 50K+ mile intervals.

 

I would not, for different reasons. I've seen too many people pitch too close to the campfire and rollem up wet and/or sandy.

 

im sorry this happened hopefully they make it right. i wish you would have been in tacomaworld before this happened, this forum has made me paranoid and my ocd has gotten worse , but in a good way

 

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This! If I screw it up myself, I deserve it lol.

 

@olesmoky - any updates?

one post, me thinks we are getting played. Overall, thanks for the entertainment.

 

Sorry, I have read about this on here before. I just went out and checked my cap. I need to get into the habit once I pick up the truck. I no longer go to the stealer since I had to fight for them to cover rusted transmission lines. Good luck

 

Raising hell will get you no where good here. I would bring it up, have them do another oil change to flush the system and install a new filter, since they are free right? Your truck is under warranty, so drive it as usual, and take this as a learning opportunity for yourself. Mechanics are people, and people make mistakes, we all do, we all forget things from time to time. So, you can only do one thing, look the truck over, open the hood, look under the vehicle at the plug, oil filter, look for obvious leaks the moment you pick the truck up from having work done. It is also your responsibility, to verify that your truck is in good running and driving order, when you go somewhere, especially a long road trip. Always check the fluids, caps, and all that before you hit the road. It takes 5 minutes, and that part is your responsibility as a vehicle owner. It is not the dealerships fault you drove all those miles without an oil cap, but they may replace the cap for free, and do some work to make it right, and they will only do this if you are calm, collected, and polite.

 

I’d suspect they’d be right there watching and learning if they’d like.

 

I mean, what are his options? Eat the cost of an engine due to their screwup?

 

Ok I’m not saying this guy is a liar one way or the other but how plausible do you guys actually think this is? I mean it’s been 3 months since his oil change? That’s a long time to go without noticing the problem especially after taking long road trips and how liable should the shop actually be three months later for an oil change.

 

If I were the service writer I’d offer that man a cookie and coffee, thats about it.

 

I swear this exact same thing happened to me! Went for a "free" oil change. Drove it back to work and checked the level myself, immediately saw there was no cap! I called them right away and the service advisor who answered told me they would schedule an appointment to have it ADJUSTED. Long story short, they came to my work and installed a new one. And I never ever ever will ever go to them for anything ever again. Ever. Bastards.

 

It really sounds like they went out of their way to correct the issue, expecting perfection out of every experience with any human being, is really a lose/lose situation. The techs at a dealership are human, they make mistakes sometimes, luckily it was just an oil cap, but in the end, they did fix the issue, so I would not write them off all together, or call them names. It's a really low move here. You can get a lot more accomplished by treating people with respect, than by throwing a huge tantrum.

 

Tw account probably was opened by the same dude that was missing a filter. Typical sink and hook...

 

Free oil cap! That's what I call making it right...

 

After 3 months, thousands of miles driven, the owner not following the instructions listed in the manual to check the oil every fill up, that's all on the owner at this point in time. The world cannot revolved around demanding everything, for every little thing done wrong. We really need to learn to be responsible for our own actions, as we all make mistakes.

 

I am still curious how sand entered the engine through the oil cap didn't get filtered and showed up on the dipstick.