DuneRunr

TL;DR: I think my dealer overfilled my engine oil, what should I have them check and fix??

Story:

My truck is technically a company truck, so I have to use our dealer for pretty much everything. I have boatloads of miles because of how much I drive for work and have never had any problems. I recently had some work done, and had them do an oil change at the same time. I went to pick up my truck and all looked fine. It started, ran and drove great.

I drove 60 miles at ~74 MPH on the interstate to my work, with no stops or even slowdowns the whole way. All gauges, pressure, and temp were fine. No warning lights, no problems. It was ~35 degrees F out, but dry.

When I took the off ramp and came to a stop, I noticed a burning smell, and F'n WHITE SMOKE BILLOWING out from under all cracks of my hood, the front grille area, and especially the passenger side wheel well. WTF!! I pulled off the road immediately, frantically grabbed my fire extinguisher, popped the hood latch and jumped out. Bright white smoke everywhere. I hesitated on opening the hood and feeding the demon beast that was surly under it with more oxygen, but decided to go for it anyway. Hood came up with a plume of smoke...... NO FLAMES.

After just a minute or two, the smoke pretty much went away and the drama was all over. Standing over the engine bay from above all looked fine?? I Looked underneath and noticed a puddle of oil on the ground, and could see it dripping. I was only minutes from work so I called my guys and they came and strapped me back to the shop.

After further inspections, without removing any plastic covers or anything, we noticed everything was coated in fresh engine oil. Nice clean oil. It was coming from way up high on the passenger side and dripping down all over everything and landing directly on my exhaust which was the cause for all the smoke. I pulled the dip stick which was coated in fresh oil way up the stick. I cleaned it off and put it back in like 5 times. After letting the truck sit for 30 minutes while I got some work done, I checked it one last time also pulling and cleaning the stick 2 more times. The below picture was the result. This picture is AFTER it leaked a BUNCH of oil.

I didn't have much time to start pulling plastic covers and diving in. It was getting late so I grabbed another truck and went home. My truck is still at the shop, and we plan on tossing it on a trailer and taking it to the dealer on Monday.

Not at any point did I ever see oil that appeared to be frothy, or bubbly. It was just dripping all over my motor mount, frame etc and it was a nice gold new oil color. The whole passenger side of the block and the back was coated. It was coming from up high, just under the plastic cover, on the mid, to back side of the passenger side. The oil filter and whole drivers side area was dry.

What do you guys think happened? What do you guys think finally gave out allowing the oil to spew? What do you guys think I should demand that the dealer change or fix? Truck details below in sig.

Thanks guys.

MNgopher

What should you do?

Call the dealer that did the service, require them to tow it back to their dealership, and fix the problem they created.

Odds are it was grossly overfilled.

idrive

iTrader: (3)

First thought was they didn't put the filler cap back on but obviously that's not the problem.

Second was they forgot to drain it and added to the existing oil. Looking at the color of the oil on the dipstick I'm not sure that's the case as the oil looks too clean.

Really not sure it could be much else other than they did indeed over fill it and not just a quart or two.

Have you been able to tell where the oil leaked from?

BareBonesXL

If the problem happened immediately after picking it up at the dealer then the answer seems obvious. Can't tell if there's time between picking it up and driving it to work. You should have called the dealer right away instead of your guys.

What was "some work" that the dealer did? That might be a clue. But still leaves it to the dealer to check put.

DuneRunr

Filler cap was on and tight.

I could not tell exactly where it was coming from, but definitely passenger side way up high on the engine. I'm not much of an engine guy, but if there is a PCV up there maybe it came out of that? Or valve covers? I have no idea.

Obviously I will be taking it back to the dealer to have them make it right....

Thanks guys.

DuneRunr

I picked it up from the dealer, and promptly jumped on the interstate and drove 60 miles with no problems at all until I stopped at my destination. I did call the dealer, they told me to get it back to them ASAP but otherwise there was nothing they could do over the phone. We could not get it back to them that day. It will go back tomorrow.

andrewdod

Pretty sure the dealers have an automated flow system that is programmed by the tech that does the oil change. Willing to bet the system malfunctioned or the tech inputted the info wrong.

DuneRunr

andrewdod

Good question. You wouldn't know until they get into it. Hopefully nothing happened and it all overflowed out of the fill cap.

DuneRunr