Took my 8 in for an oil change yesterday at the dealer. About five minutes into my trip home I begin to notice the smell of burning CLEAN oil. I have in the past spilled oil on a hot motor while topping off and know the smell. Soon the smell gets worse and when I stop at a light a large cloud of smoke begins to emerge from under the front passenger side and also is coming in through the AC vents. Besides from the “un-coolness” of sitting at a light, in a new car spewing smoke I began to freak “what did this dealer do”, “Did they really f-up an oil change”, “did they forget the drain plug and oil is hitting the exhaust”. It was a busy road when I was able to pull over it turned out that the “tech” spilled a LARGE amount of oil when filling it up. The dipstick read fine so other than the smell coming into the car and the smoke things seemed “ok”. I have since put on about 60 more miles and still notice the smell, not so much any more smoke but my question is has anyone here done something similar and can you use engine cleaners like Gunk on modern cars? With all the stuff under hoods these days hosing off an engine seems scary. It was near closing so I have not spoke with the service dept yet but besides from the five minutes of anxiety and a dirty motor what should I ask for? At least they should have told me so I would not have freaked when I saw the smoke. By the amount of oil on the motor the “tech” would have also spilled a bunch on the ground and knew what he had done. So many times if they just admitted they did something wrong the problem would not have been as bad as it turned out to be.

 

I always check my oil and look under the hood when I pick up my car from service. Too many bad experiences with the bad mechanics, i.e. left the oil reservoir cap off, the drain plug was not tight, filter was not replaced (yes I mark it with an X before I take it in to make sure they change it).

 

Thats a good idea, I'm going to start doing that to my filter. Also, I don't see how hosing off your engine bay would hurt anything, unless you did it with a pressure washer or something :D

 

Hosing the engine bay should be fine. I would use an engine cleaner though to remove burnt oil deposits and a medium pressure lawn hose.

 

Sure, use a pressure sprayer and Gunk or similar. Do it with the engine good and warm (per Gunk instructions) It will help to evaporate any trapped water. By all means wrap any vulnerable looking components in clingfilm or baggies & rubber bands.
but folks, for the sake of the environment, do it at your local DIY carwash where they have an engine-cleaning bay........

 

I'm paranoid about spraying water or chemicals into an engine. When it comes to oil the parts to worry about are the rubber pieces, like vaccuum and coolant hoses, and belts. If any of those types of parts were doused, I'd try to clean them up with a damp rag and a bit of mild soap, then wipe with a clean damp rag.

 

Have been doing my cars and trucks for 35 years with Gunk and a hose and never had a problem. It is better to go to a Car Wash with the pressure washer it uses less water. You will have to let it cool down to a warm engine temp. Do not spray hard in any places that contain a lot of wires i.e. fuse box. A light spray over the area will not harm it. A trick I learned is after you let the Gunk do its thing is to spray it down with 409 or fantastic or other degreaser right over the Gunk. This cleans up the residue from the Gunk and really leaves a clean engine bay.

 

expo1, I had a 3G Eclipse. Went to the dealer for a oil change then went to work. When I got out of work I looked under my car an see this "spot"? Oh well no big deal my car dont leak. Or so I think?... Well I got home and 30min later I go check on my car. Now its a BIG spot an yea, its oil. Turns out the guy did not put the filter on all the way. I called an was not in a good mode, after all I just got the car. They offerd me free oil change(s) for 6/months. After that I never went to back to the dealer. But I have had my engin light come on the first week of driving my 8. So Mazda now knows who I am and now that I'm with Mazda I go to them for everything an they take good care of me.

 

Bring it back to the dealer, and make them clean it - it was their mistake, and they should be made aware that one of their techs didn't do a good job. If they care at all about customer service, they'll take care of you.

This is why I do my own oil changes.

 

the EXACT same thing happened to me after my second oil change. I'm driving along and white smoke starts coming out from under the hood and through the AC vents, what the hell? I popped the hood when I got home and I could see oil sitting around places it shouldn't be (anywhere visibile). I went back to the dealer and had them clean things up a bit.

 

Also, one thing about Gunking and rinsing is that it leaves a good appearance but doesn't necessarily get the excess spilled oil off of the undersides of hoses, which are shielded from the spray.