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How NOT to top off your oil.

3K views 16 replies 16 participants last post by  iamsmiling 
#1 ·
Last week I checked my oil and found it to be at the lower "add" mark. So I proceeded to add oil. I removed the filler cap and poured. It took about 8 ounces. I set the cap back on, gave it a turn and let the oil settle to see if I had to add more. Good news, I didn't have to add any more oil. I went for a spin. About 2 miles from home I noticed a puffing on my pants leg. It felt like an exhaust leak but it sounded fine. Looking down I saw a black hole where the cap was supposed to be. I forgot to screw it down after adding oil. Now my pants were covered with engine oil, as was the muffler, frame and seat.. I was 2 miles from home and had no idea how much oil I'd lost but the sight glass still showed oil. I rode home slowly. The only damage was a pair of pants and a couple of lost riding days waiting for a new plug to arrive. Ebay has an incredible selection of very cool caps. I opted for a nice aluminum one with a hole in the top for a security wire in case it should ever come loose. I seriously doubt I'll ever forget to tighten the cap after this lesson. They were nice pants too!
 
#15 ·
Did it to my Goldwing. What a mess. Who knew how much oil gets sprayed around in a crankcase!

I'm hoping to avoid it happening again. Once was funny, twice would just be aggravating.
 
#6 ·
did that once with my trusty old Dodge Omni a hundred years ago. I still remember well what a smokey, stinking mess that was. And the lesson learned.
guy at the service station forgot to replace it on my Golf and a few miles down the slab lots of smoke ....open the hood and a nice little flame burning on the lower part of the manifold ( this when they got red hot from the pollution controls )

Luckily just burned out once no more oil dripping on it. Could have been nasty tho.
 
#8 ·
Triumph 650 in the early seventies, had the oil tank on right side of bike. Placed exactly where your leg would be.
The oil breather would always put out a nice layer of oil on bike, leg and boot. No need to water proof on that side.
The rocker covers would leak constantly as well.
Really miss the good old days.
 
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#9 ·
I forgot to tighten mine down in the garage once before I started it up and blipped the throttle a couple of times. It was an amazing atomized spray of oil...went halfway across the garage onto my other bike, and even 8' up onto the ceiling. And that was in only about 5 seconds before I quickly shut it off. I think I might have used some adult words.
 
#10 ·
I had the same thing happen when I had my bike serviced at a favorite shop. They were so embarrassed, the owner gave me the shiny chrome cap from his own V, and paid to have my riding gear professionally cleaned. Shtuff happens. With the owner's shiny oil cap on my bike now, I'm pretty sure it will never happen again. ;o)
 
#11 · (Edited)
Hola, Willy. had a similar event on my Ariel 650. The oil tank on the right side backed up and pissed a stream on my Levi's.
Motorbikes have a funny way of messing with us (literally) occasionally!

Some of the oil heads BMW's were known to blow out the site glass. It was only pressed in. A friend had that happen twice on his RS.
Yah loose oil fast when that happens.
 
#12 ·
I didn't leave the cap off, but I did suffer a catastrophic oil leak on my Honda 350. I was riding down the freeway and suddenly my leg got hot. I looked down and there was a stream of hot oil squirting from the camshaft bearing right onto my calf. Fortunately I was pulling off at my exit at that instant so I could safely get off the freeway. I guess the good part of the deal was that I learned to completely rebuild the engine top end.
 
#13 ·
I had a buddy change the oil on my CBR F3 once, and he forgot to tighten the filter down. A few miles down the highway, I started to feel like the backend was loose. I look back and see a plume of smoke. The oil was running all over the engine then down and all over my back tire. I stopped and had to have someone pick me up in a truck since I lost a significant amount of oil. It took a LONG time to get the slickness off that tire
 
#14 ·
Went to my first Rally last year with my vintage BMW. In the parking lot with hundreds of modern BMW's, there is me checking oil on my airhead, which caught the attention of several other folks. Let's all watch the crazy vintage dude service his bike at the rally....Now I have an audience. Added my oil, finished up and started the bike. One of the "audience" members let me know I didn't put the cap back on. A bit of oil sprayed out, but no damage except a bruised ego. I prefer screwing up in private.
 
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