Okay so my car had its 3rd year service last Friday at my local ford garage, Chambers Ford in Sutton.

Picked the car up Friday afternoon and since then I have been making my 40 mile round trip to work, on main roads and M5, Tuesday, Wednesday and Today (Thursday :P) so while sitting in traffic caused mainly by the snow and ice I noticed a really strong petrol/oily smell which I put down to the fact that the snow around the windscreen wipers had stopped the fresh air getting to the intake for the cabin, and was sucking air through the engine bay and the car in fronts exhaust.

However I cleared the snow and it was really bad today but still didn't think any more of it until I just got back from the gym this evening. I noticed when I put the 'guide me home' lights on and walking past the bonnet a cloud of smoke came out from the bonnet.

So I open it up and everything is covered in oil and there's no cap on the oil filler hole!!! The cap was sitting on the plastic bit around the windscreen wipers so had not been replaced after the service!!!!

So the plan is to take it back in the morning and get them to sort it out as there is hot oil over all the engine bay and the heat shield around the exhaust manifold has collected a lot of the oil which is very dangerous as the manifold obvs gets really hot!!!!!

Also it had just started to run down the bonnet and down the front bumper which I managed to get off before it stained <_<

Just got so angry

Pics but I had screwed the cap on before I took them

you need to check your oil leave that looks like you have lost a lot

There is going to be stern words said at your dealership i imagine!!

you need to check your oil leave that looks like you have lost a lot

Yeah I checked it when I took the pics, was just about covering the ball bit right at the end of the dipstick :/

There is going to be stern words said at your dealership i imagine!!

There is indeed, really can't believe someone can make such a stupid mistake when its there job to do it right :/ think I should get my £219 that I paid for the service at least.

Haz,

That's terrible. this happened to a mate of mine where they forgot to replace oil cap after service, it ended up seizing engine and he got a new motor out of them in the end.

Is it still under warranty?

Give them hell. Hope you get it sorted.

As your engine, ancillaries and possibly the exhaust are now covered in oil i would insist they recover the car or cover the costs to have it recovered.

tell them you are not driving the car as you dont want it to go on fire

If I know ford they will try everything to wriggle out of it, but good luck let us know how you get on .

Idiots!

Insist on a full engine bay valet and a check to make sure they haven't starved your engine of oil.

Edited January 25, 201313 yr by Stoney871
edited self for obscured swear words

For a small fee you can send me round with a chainsaw..

Ah hell, I'll do it for free ;)

You bring the chainsaw and I'll bring the hot poker. :P

As posted above by others, you should be demanding they sort this out - play all the cards such as you don't want to drive it for fear of damage etc.

Be careful how you play it and don't go in all guns blazing though, at the end of the day though, their guys have messed up. Its a pretty poor show that they can't even do the basics like fill it back up with oil though.

i hope you get it sorted Haz, &#33;Removed&#33; monkeys!

Now im scared im sat in garage as my car is serviced haha I have shown the ford guy at the desk haha.

Back to point. Disgraceful you must be mad they need to do more than just clean and check it. They sjould refund the service charge

Look on the good side. At least your not likely to have a rust problem under the bonnet for a very long time.

Shame it'll smell like an old oil lamp though.

correct me if im wrong but likely the aux belt will be contaminated with oil and possibly the timing belt i was always taught if these were contaminated with oil then they should as a matter of course be changed as the oil will damage and weaken the rubber belts i doubt it will do much good to the plugs or the ancillary hoses either

ide be sitting at there door before they open ready to go mad if i was you very unproffessional

Agreed.

I'd insist on belts being changed too.

Don't let them get away with a degreaser and rag job.

Have a quiet word with the service manager and explain the facts of life to him then demand a: reimbursement of service charge, b: full engine steam clean c: written guarantee that any failure of ancillary belts within a reasonable time scale will be replaced FOC, if he or she is not compliant contact trading standards from thei garage and then see if that prods them into action. The simple fact of the matter is that you were lucky not to have been travelling at speed and suffer a siezed engine, that would have really sent the bill sky high. Perhaps manufacturers (or owners) should attach a string or something to the filler cap so its plainly obvious to replace it.

Okay so took it in when they opened and got them to steam clean it and drain and refill the oil. They checked that nothing else had been affected and the technician who did the service apologised and admitted he was stupid to do what he did. Money back and got a few cups of tea out of it too :)

Glad you got it sorted and your money back , did you mention about the belts and what Arthur said regarding them being contaminated.

Agreed it should be considered, but at least you got something back from it!

christ quite lucky here tbh could of done some major damage!

got a freind that works as a tech for ford he often leaves the sump plug out while refilling oil

christ quite lucky here tbh could of done some major damage!

got a freind that works as a tech for ford he often leaves the sump plug out while refilling oil

defo not taking my car where he works.