So I picked up my car from its second service yesterday. Got home and decided to check the oil level. On opening the bonnet I discover the oil cap not on, but luckily still in the engine bay. I drove around 15 miles with no oil cap.

 

The engine bay is obviously a bit of mess. I have checked the oil level, it doesn't seem to have lost much. The garage are coming to my work today to pick up the car and sort it.

 

So my question is, what problems can driving without the oil cap cause and what remedies should I be expecting from the garage?

 

Does the oil and oil filter need to be changed again? The garage tell me this is not required.

 

I'm obviously not happy having forked out a lot to have it serviced at a Skoda garage. I have had pleasant dealings with the garage in the past, so will wait to see the outcome of this issue before naming and shaming.

 

Welcome to hear peoples thoughts.

 

Thanks

Andrew

No real dangers apart from the mess.

pretty poor service from them.... doubt it would have done your engine any damage... but it could be full of crap from the engine bay, I would demand an engine flush, then another oil change (& filter) to be safe.

Engine clean yes, but done professionally as if screwed up can cause real damage! They will not be changing oil filter and oil, no justification for it really. 

I'd expect a bottle of oil as a good will gesture

pretty poor service from them.... doubt it would have done your engine any damage... but it could be full of crap from the engine bay, I would demand an engine flush, then another oil change (& filter) to be safe.

Me too and a voucher for discount next time they let their monkeys work on it. 

Absolutely inexcusable

 

As it happens, I believe that someone reported something fairly similar yesterday - following DSG oil change?  I would certainly insist on a full professional engine bay spring clean and a 1 litre bottle of appropriate oil.

 

Name & shame.

Problem is more "oil getting out" than "dust getting in".

 

I'd expect a professional engine bay clean, a free litre, and maybe a discount on the next service for the hassle.

It's always worth lifting the bonnet up, and taking a walk around the car, to identify potential problems before you leave - too easy for the dealer to say "It wasn't us" if you don't pick up something straight away.

It's always worth lifting the bonnet up, and taking a walk around the car, to identify potential problems before you leave - too easy for the dealer to say "It wasn't us" if you don't pick up something straight away.

Well yes, but only if you know what you are looking at - we are in this privileged position of knowing what's what (more or less I can tell where the oil cap is ). Majority of Skoda drivers would have no clue and no customer can be expected to be checking if highly trained (!) Skoda technicians did they job correctly. Otherwise we would end up with handover sheets akin to the ones we fill in at car rental places etc. and need to employ a checking engineer each time it goes to the dealers for service or repair. It must be a mutual trust arrangement unfortunately...

Edited 18 June, 201412 yr by Jabozuma

True enough on the required expertise to pick up on every possibility. But an oil cap left off or a fresh paint scratch don't require an expert, do they?

True enough on the required expertise to pick up on every possibility. But an oil cap left off or a fresh paint scratch don't require an expert, do they?

 

Nope, they don't Call me naive but I never checked the car coming back from a garage until some years back...

I'd be more worried abot the steam cleaning of the engine bay than the loss of oil.

 

If the monkey's can't screw an oil cap on properly then what chance is there of them avoiding the sensitive areas of the engine bay with their diesel powered industrial steam cleaner!?

^^^ This

As I wrote, needs to be done by somebody who is insured and who knows how to do it properly!

Thanks for the replies guys. So the garage have been out and cleaned the engine bay. They did not take the car anyway, but cleaned it at my work with some sort of degreaser. Not exactly an immaculate job.

 

I've been on the phone to the garage since to complain. No offer of any sort of compensation yet but they are supposedly calling me back.

 

Disappointed and pretty annoyed at the outcome so far.

If oil has soaked into the underbonnet soundproofing at all, you'd be wanting that replaced....otherwise it's a possible fire hazard IMHO.  Consider it's made from a fire retardant material and it's just been soaked in a hydrocarbon..

Just heard back from the garage again with some better news.

 

I have an MOT and brake fluid change due in October which they will perform free of charge.

 

Bit of a crappy situation to be in in the first place, but pleased with the outcome now. Even though I did have to make a fuss.

As long as your happy

But what if you'd have been one of those owners who rarely check oil - in particular after a service

That could have gone unnoticed for weeks

Any more hassle from the dealer and I would be onto Skoda uk about them

As long as your happy

But what if you'd have been one of those owners who rarely check oil - in particular after a service

That could have gone unnoticed for weeks

Any more hassle from the dealer and I would be onto Skoda uk about them

Exactly this, oil cap rolling around in engine bay, oil squirting out of the top of the engine and the first thing you know about ti is the warning light come on. Not good.

Maybe no Warning light in this case being a 1.4 TSI, until half the oil has gone, and then maybe not even then.

 

& it being a Skoda Dealership, you are not even sure the car left the Workshop with only 3.6 litres in,

so it could have taken longer to get a Warning.

 

£39 MOT & £45 Brake Fluid change free gratis is quite good,

Maybe ask if you can go to some place with Competent Technicians to get the Brakes Done.

 

??

Was the car in for a Service where it went on the Diagnostics to be checked and any Skoda Update or Software Hensement gets done.?

Is there a full Written Report?

 

& Did your car require a Service Campaign Field Action on the DSG?

 

george

believe me you would not get to an oil warning light before you notice 

 

I once left the oil cap off my old citroen bx diesel many years ago,

 

I got about 100 mile from home on a trip to devon and notice a lovely smoke screen behind me where the oil was dripping down the back of the engine onto the exhaust

 

it was quite impressive on the m3, and I only lost about 1 pint of oil, wasn't even below minimum

Edited 18 June, 201412 yr by bluecar1

I think its frightening to know what some of the dealers do.

 

I won't name and shame, I had a dealer work on my car and they managed to completley stuff up the brake pipe around a shock absorber, resulting in the brake pipe rubbing the wheel when on full lock. It took me ages (and another garage) to work out what the noise and the problem was. Needless to say the garage got the car back quickly and I had it sorted free of charge. The courtesy car was free and my car was completely valeted. However it is a concern at the lack of knowledge / workmanship in some Skoda dealers. This topic only highlights this further.

Sad thing is that real mechanics are a dying breed. There's too many Diagnostic Computer Slaves - "Computer Says NO Faults" so we are doing nothing. If computer says to change sth we change it, do not think why and what caused the failure, under warranty so change it.

Ho often a bore scope case is cracked open in a garage these days???

 

Ho often a bore scope case is cracked open in a garage these days???

Well, there's a garage in Belgium that has one - hence they found my engine failure was an incomplete valve...

*off to buy Eurotunnel ticket*

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

I totally agree that this could have been much worse had I not checked under the bonnet when I did. I know many people who would not even open their bonnet between services!

 

The funny thing is that I considered having a look when I was at the garage, but thought, no, I'll just have a look when I get home. Won't be making that mistake again. Life lessons I guess.

 

??

Was the car in for a Service where it went on the Diagnostics to be checked and any Skoda Update or Software Hensement gets done.?

Is there a full Written Report?

 

& Did your car require a Service Campaign Field Action on the DSG?

 

george

 

I don't know George. I did get a report of what they checked, but it was more of a checklist, not that detailed. I assumed a software update would have been included if required, but didn't enquire.

 

Re the 'Service Campaign Field Action on the DSG' - Don't know anything about this, so I guessing no.