Had an oil and filter change today at a trusted independent. Supplied my own 507 oil and skoda filter and was charged £ 24 for labour and £ 1.28 for a sump plug. All good so far.

Drove home all good. Went to dip oil after 2 hours (to check for any overfill), oil is just below the lower blob and there is OIL ON THE DRIVE.

 

I'm guessing oil filter or sump plug not fitted correctly.

 

RAC quoted 3 hours to come out!  I've booked a tow truck for tomorrow.

 

ARRGGHHH.

 

So

1) Am I correct in assuming something is loose?

2) What's the best method to get oil off a tarmac drive?

Edited 17 September, 201312 yr by Web Ferret

As you've guessed it is likely to be the sump plug.

 

The oil filter is up high in the engine bay and sits in a sealed container so its less likely to be this.

 

One less obvious cause - have they remembered to refit the oil filler cap!?

 

I wouldn't worry about the drive, the garage should pay for this to be professionally steam cleaned at the same time as reimbursing you for the costs in recovering the car back to them!

Edited 17 September, 201312 yr by silver1011

Idiots. This happened to me a few years ago on a previous car when the garage forgot to tighten the canister oil filter. Leaked all over the drive.

 

As mentioned it'll probably be the sump plug. If you take the top engine cover off, you can see if it is the oil filter leaking.....it's a black plastic canister at the front of the engine and it will be obvious if it is leaking.

 

As for my block paved drive.....it only had drops of oil all over it, so I used a bucket or two of hot soapy water and poured this on the drops. That got rid of the worst, although there was slight black staining where the drips had been. After 6 months of weathering the staining disappeared. I'm sure a steam clean would have been more beneficial.  

Oil filler cap is fine. No oil on the top anywhere.

 

Sump plug then.

 

RAC are providing a 3rd party recovery vehicle from 40 miles south to 20 miles north back to servicing garage early tomorrow.  2 hours loss of earnings for me as I'll be late into work and loss of NCB for breakdown cover.

 

Wifey is hopping mad about the drive oil stain.

Changing the oil & filter is straightforward & easy to get right provided that proper care is taken. 

 

A new sump plug and washer, scrupulous cleaning of the area around the plug before refitting, accurate torqueing of the plug and filter cap, a new o-ring carefully fitted on the filter cap, and nothing should go wrong.  Get any of these wrong and it will.

 

Signs of careless here.  Don't trust that garage again to work on your car.

Edited 18 September, 201312 yr by skodacarman

Unless the sump plug is loose, there is a good chance they have crossthreaded the sump. They may have used the wrong sump plug.

You can bill them under your consumer rights for consequential losses. So get a letter typed out detailing your claim for loss of two days pay, steam clean of drive way (take photos) and loss of NCB for recovery (can't they send out a truck). I would also push for a free service on top of that.

RAC agent turned up at 7am but as this was "at home" only 10 miles so no recovery to original garage. Agent wouldn't take payment for extra miles as their contract was with RAC.

So I went to a local garage.

 

Whilst the garage was busy they said they would fit in the car. By 3pm it was done.

 

Found undertray loose (screws)
Oil filter housing cap leaking

Removed + found no oil seal fitted

Supply and fit new oil filter and seal

Refill with 5/30 oil

Clean down all underside of vehicle + engine bay + refit undertray

 

Garage 1 agreed to pay me back.

Sorted in the end but a days faff.

Name and shame.

That's poor, I would expect a trainee to do a better job.

Appauling, what did they say? Name and shame def, I hope they paid out for all the grief you had.

The original garage did me a great service/price when I had the dreaded limp mode turbo failure in February. So 6 months later when I had a judder on braking it went back to them. As they had recommended 10k services rather than variable, as I had done 9k miles, I asked them to change the oil and filter whilst they investigated at the  braking judder.  I supplied my own 507 Quantam oil and a genuine VW filter (with seal!).  The price for new front disks/pads was cost and I paid reasonable labour.
I'm the first to demand compensation but in this case I'm holding back until I speak to then face to face tomorrow to find out who can't fit an oil filter. We all drop the ball occasionally but this could have been a lot worse and written off my engine/caused an accident on the M1.  Had this been a main steeler then yes both barrels and the side arm too.

For the record, the remedial work was done by JB autos of Penistone (TopGear fans read that again). 5 stars to JB. I turned up at opening time on a truck with no appointment they cleaned Octy up and sorted it for sensible money, ready by 3pm.