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Major Oops Moment - Lost the Engine Oil Cap

Oil 
16K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  Adamsnake 
#1 ·
Seems to be the case that I only post the stupidest things on this forum, but here goes again.

This afternoon I was chittering away in Glasgow trying to top myself up a bit as the oil was a wee bit low, after much heaving the cap comes off, great.

10 minutes later having spilt my new 2L Castrol GTX I'm ready to put the cap back on.

The hands are freezing I try to turn it to tighten and POP! off it goes into the darkness down inside the bonnet.

It's not been found yet... So 2 questions.

1. Is a replacement easy to come by at a dealership ??

2. Once I have a replacement and can drive again - is the missing cap a potential hazard ?? could it rattle something it shouldn't or is it all pretty secure down there ??

:oops::oops::oops:
 
#4 ·
Ask for a replacement part "710 cap" [smilie=cheeky-grin:

If you can't see it anyway, I would advise that you have your car on a lift and try to get to the part from below, if it is still there. If it has fallen down, then you'll be sure that it is no longer there.. But you may have to unscrew some plastic panels below.
Good luck!
 
#5 ·
I once dropped my brake fluid cap and it fell into the engine bay, to top things off it started to rain. It took me almost an hour to find it and it was resting on the suspension arm. Its not just finding it, its getting the bloody thing, I was using wire, sticks and sellotape. You may never find it if it gets lodged somewhere. If its away from any moving parts like the drive belts then I'd just leave it, it may just drop out as you are driving any how! It can be a pain when these things happen.
 
#6 ·
You're not the only one .... Same happend to me the 23rd of December ! I replace the missing oil cap by an "home made cap" until I was back home. My dealer recieved the replacement oil cap the day after and everything was fine after havin driven more than 1 500 km with this "DIY" oil cap...

No rattles or damage have been noticed up to now :rolleyes:
 
#7 ·
I'm sure everyone will be relieved to know I retrieved the cap just after Christmas, at one stage I thought I was being swallowed into the engine area, managed to go up and over the engine with my arms and grab it off the very bottom of the car.

If it happens to you, be patient get a good torch and have a good look.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Thanks :) Stay calm, have patience, a long piece of wire and a torch

I'm sure everyone will be relieved to know I retrieved the cap just after Christmas, at one stage I thought I was being swallowed into the engine area, managed to go up and over the engine with my arms and grab it off the very bottom of the car.

If it happens to you, be patient get a good torch and have a good look.

I saw a young apprentice mechanic drop the oil cap of my Civic into the engine bay a few years ago; it took him half an hour to recover the cap and he had a ramp. He ended up removing the plastic cover underneath.

So, I was mortified when I dropped my oil cap into the engine bay of the same Civic this morning :(. I found this thread and it helped me focus :) The key advice for me was to "have patience" and a good torch [thanks @nelster ]. I put down a big piece of corrugated cardboard to lay on, scanned around with my "emergency" LED torch (not easy as I wear varifocals these days and the the Civic is very low) and eventually spotted the oil-wet cap glistening :) I used a very long, fairly thick, piece of wire to hook the cap back. There is a hole in the bottom plate which I couldn't see, and was unaware of, but the cap fell onto the ground earlier and more easily that I expected. It took me maybe 15 minutes - quite a relief. Thanks guys :)
 
#8 ·
Hi there,
been there.

On a petrol station on a way home from work, toped some oil, and in a moment, cap slips through my fingers and dissapears in the darkness.

Usually when you drop something in the engine bay it comes out under the car. Well.. not on our spaceships. There is some sort of plastic cover that covers most of the cars underside.

After like a half an hour of desperation, i got an idea.
I started knocking on the plastic cover, and managed to knock the cap out through a hole approx 10x10cm.

/D
 
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