Did Something Stupid When Changing My Oil...

I changed the oil on my 2014 4cyl. Tacoma (102.5k miles) today and made a mistake and am now trying to figure out my next steps.

Once I had drained the old oil and replaced with a little over five quarts of new, I went in my truck and turned it on to move the oil through the engine before checking the level and to reset the maintenance light.

When I did then and went back to the hood, I saw a sprinkling of oil all over my engine (not a lot, but droplets everywhere). I had forgot to put the filler cap lid on...

I ended up putting some more oil in--was hard to read the dipstick but I had spilled some & with the splatter figured some was needed.

As I was cleaning up I saw that there was a pool of oil below my exhaust, and some in it. Drove a 100 yards or so, stopped, more oil pooled. All said and done I put a little under 6qts in the engine (more than my usual 5.5 as I was (over)compensating for splatter.

Did I float my rings? What could be the issue/does anyone know the solution?

Thanks!

 

Is the filter on tight? Did you maybe double gasket it?

If that's not the issue, maybe clean it up and let it sit overnight, then check the oil level again and see if it still leaks while running.

 

you soaked the bay with 5 qts! It will puddle, burn off ...go somewhere. Your best off to check the level, confirm no more leaks and steam the bay out

 

I’m confused.
How did you see oil IN your exhaust.

Are you sure it was oil and not condensation?

For oil to be in the exhaust pipe, it would have to go through the converter.
And through the muffler. And the muffler is “deep”.
And that’s not likely to have happened.

Maybe you are overthinking it.
Overthinking things is easy to do after making a mistake.
You start to notice stuff that was always there.
You just never looked for it.

 

First off check the oil when cold in the morning before start up.
Check over fill or under fill
Make sure the filler cap is tight
Check around the oil filter to make sure no drooling down the sides
Check the drain plug for same .
If all good there
Start engine , and look at all the same places SAFELY … just look Don’t touch anything while engine is running. See if anything is spitting out mostly from your oil filter or drain plug . if it’s your oil filter odds are you left the old gasket on the housing and put the new one

 

Sometimes Jiffy Lube makes sense

 

Thats sad. But in this case, yeah

 

Nahh…

OP made a simple mistake.
He left the oil cap off. And now he is overthinking the whole thing.

1/2 a quart of oil too much won’t cause any issues.
Especially not the issues he says he has.

I’m not convinced he has oil IN his exhaust.

The only way you can make any of this come close to making sense is if he drain the transmission and now has close to 12 quarts of oil in the engine. But even I don’t see oil dripping out the exhaust.
It might smoke….yeah.

 

If it takes 5.5 qts and you ended up at just under 6 seems that wouldn't be enough to cause an issue. Like mentioned are you sure you were dripping oil and not condensation from the exaust? I'd drain some out to be on the safe side... 5 - 5.5 would be best.
ps... jiffy lube never makes sense.

 

I would normally agree but the diagnosis of "oil coming out of the tail pipe" means the op probably should pay someone to do this kind of work, he's out of his element. Not knocking the op, he's probably a rocket scientist and never worked on his vehicles, there's no shame in that.

 

Keep Calm and Start Over..

Pop the filter off, make sure there is a gasket; and not two. Should be perfectly fine to re-use.

Next, pop the drain plug and see what drains out; probably most of it. Even half a quart of oil can make a yuuuuge mess Your drain pan may have some sort of accurate graduations on it to see how much came out but probably not very accurate. Depending on your comfort level and cleanliness of pan, you might be ok to re-use the oil, but I'd just call it tuition to the school of oil change and put in new oil (and you also know how much went in - and that nothing fell in during all these shenanigans).

If all else fails, say no to Jiffy Lube. Find an independent who isn't just cycling through minimum wage kooks with impact guns..

 

Good on the op for doing his own oil changes... bet the next one will be right on the money!

 

I agree with moon22. Just perform another oil change to gain peace of mind with the 2nd try done right. Measure the oil coming out. I switched to 10 quart paint bucket as catch pan long ago that easily allows you to measure.

 

It is possible to have to old filter gasket stay on the engine block - when you put the new filter on you then have two gaskets - this is not good an will leak. Just remove the filter and check.

 

I'm on my phone visiting family at the moment but maybe we can source a top notch youtube how-to for OP? We can talk all day but a video would be a great supplement to help put them at ease with things..

 

Don't panic or beat yourself up, but if you don't settle this once and for all in your own mind, it's going to haunt you with that nagging feeling until the next oil change. (It would give me a sick feeling too.)

So: Drain the oil again and refill it with 5.5 qts to start or whatever the owners manual says. I wouldn't change the filter again. Run it until it's warmed up and check the oil. If you didn't change the filter you shouldn't have to worry about the 0.5 qt or whatever it might call for.

Spray anything that has an oil-film on it with Windex and wipe it off with an old t-shirt. Go for a nice ride and re-check the oil. Add/adjust to full dot if required. Have a cold drink from a bottle pulled from a cooler filled with ice and water and ree-lax. And remember: Don't drink and drive and don't go to Jiffy Lube.

 

Hard to decipher exactly what happened but the fact that he had oil pooling, drove it 100 yards and it pooled again suggests there is a major leak.
On the other hand, it’s possible he drained the transmission and grossly over-filled the engine with oil.

 

Did I float my rings?

OP, phone a friend. Have them take a look. That's the best advice I can give. Everybody's giving all of this advise without seeing what's going on. Sure, you can take a pretty good guess, but when it comes down to oil loss, it would be best to have someone that knows take an actual look.

 

A couple things in the op's 1st thread don't make sense with itself.

* If you drain 5.5 qts, add 6, did your last statement mean you had NO oil, you could not tell or simply it was over your skill set?

If in fact you had NO oil in the engine and filled 6 qts in the transmission... thas no bueno

If in fact you cant read the dipstick with clean oil on it (which is probably the case) your o.k.

Unless you left the old filter gasket on and "double stacked" it with the new filter you should be leak free. The oil cap may spray some but minimal and over time.

Here is the most incomplete statement ever;

* there was a pool of oil below my exhaust, and some in it

* in it? In the exhaust pipe? That isnt possible...
O.k. if you filled the intake with new oil...

I'm trying to be gental as this must be young inexperience going ons. If thats not the case...

Float the rings?
Maybe crystallized the secondary muffler bearing. Maybe too much acrylic in the washer fluid, either way a can of compression will fix it.

 

I keep thinking he drained the transmission. Doesn't say anything about what type of tranny he has.