Oil filter change mishap, what to do next?

I am currently performing my first oil change (on my new to me truck, not first oil change ever) and stupid me didn’t catch the fact that I had a faulty new oil filter. Really it was just missing the rubber seal. I have a new filter in now with seal. My problem is that I turned on the engine to cycle the new oil and it sprayed out all over inside my engine bay. Luckily I saw it immediately and turned it off within 2 seconds. Still a lot of oil. How best to clean my mess? Any things I need to worry about?
Thanks everyone. I’m an idiot.

 

Simple Green. Soak it good and hose it off.

 

You're not an "idiot" ....bad stuff happens to good people!
I would wipe up anything I could and then do an engine bay wash....here is one but there are lots of videos out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRSoRkM8GcM

Just make sure your electrical system(s) are protected...you might want to disconnect the negative side of the battery.

Good Luck and keep us posted....any before and after pictures would be awesome!

Cheers brother!

 

Brake clean

Matt

 

That might be a little harsh.

 

It's not a big deal, just get yourself some engine degreaser, preferably the foaming kind(is there any other kind?) and spray generously. Let it sit for a bit and spray it down with some regular garden hose water (as in not a pressure washer). There are other precautions you should take if you use a pressure washer. I think some have used simple-green diluted to at least 50:50 maybe even less than that.



-J

 

Simple Green like above said. You will NEVER do that again. Old mechanic taught me a trick a long time ago, on every filter and O-ring take your finger and put a film of the oil you are using. It helps seal, and makes it easier to remove the filter, and you see if its missing a gasket.

 

I would get a roll of paper towels and manually wipe and soak up as much oil as you can and then use the simple green.

 

Hey everyone, thanks for all the replies! I really appreciate it. That is one mistake I will certainly never make again. Haha. I’m walking distance from my house to an automotive shop, thankfully. This has saved me more than once in the past. I picked up some degreaser and hit the areas where the oil spill happened. Now that part of my engine bay looks much nicer! I think later this week I’ll pick up some simple green and polish up the rest. Once again thank you! I need to get better about the before and after photos.

 

Thanks for the update .

 

This ^

 

Just don't put high pressure water near anything. Just use a garden hose!!!

 

That's good advice, but I've always hit mine with the car-wash pressure wand about once a year and the only problems I've ever had were a wet distributor (older car obviously) and the occasional wet spark plug which corrects itself in a minute or so. Of course I don't blast the electrical stuff directly or anything..

 

I just got done doing this myself today, I just gingerly use the pressure washer. It seemed to work well but I didn't have any degreaser, it's still better than when I started.

 

Lol, use it all the time. Ain't gonna hurt nothing

Matt

 

at least it wasn't the transmission fluid accidentally drained

 

Ha, reminds me of the time I changed the oil on my old Fox Body mustang. The filters are below the engine off the side and I did it in a parking garage with little light (changed the oil hundreds of times on that car). Well this one time I did not see (since it was dark) that the old filter o-ring stuck to the engine block. I put the new filter on and started her up... all of a sudden my low oil pressure light comes on so I shut down the car... THEN I see oil oozing everywhere from out underneath the car. Lesson learned!

 

Yeah, no reason to judge. Like @gkomo, I once put on a new filter and didn't notice the o-ring from the old filter was still stuck to the engine block. Same thing happened with oil spraying out. If you notice quick enough you really don't lose much oil volume and won't hurt anything other than your pride. Sure does make a mess.

 

My first thought was obviously, "Crap I hope I didn't F up the engine"... second thought, "well sh*t, how am I gonna clean this up!?!" I had to ride my bike to a grocery store nearby and carry kitty litter back since I didn't have another vehicle. What a pain that ordeal was.

 

Make sure you dilute the simple green and don't let it sit for long before rinsing. It will stain and etch plastic.