Boy do I feel like an idiot. Anyone else do this before?

**Jngrbrdman** · 07-13-2002, 11:05 PM

I did a car today for a friend and told him I`d do his engine too. Here are the before and after pics. I thought it was pretty impressive. He wasn`t even aware that his valve cover wasn`t supposed to be black. lol

<img src="http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0OwBpZQwVfmscjBa18C1jD3u6RJxM7ITUBRWI5ynoIEpJCLHL8 9r0S0qmN38WYeaT4njzBBUhNeN*lh7gXmiF4W75vzLbMxwj/EnigneBefore.JPG"

<img src="http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0OgBXDKsUV1XOD5AKQE2QV31arYujS9J*lhQSlOve8ho7uXy6v jFEVuka!1DdG9J*2EH954U5oaZ61mfnDmhsEwIZCc7fJ9Ch/EngineAfter.JPG"

Notice anything out of place on that second pic? I had to take the oil cap off in order to clean around it. Silly me forgot to put it back on before I closed the hood. Wes started up the car and started to back it out and I remembered that the cap was off. I ran up to the hood and waved for him to pop the hood. I totally forgot that the engine was running and what that would mean. Maybe it was the heat. It was 105* in the shade today. Anyway, I opened the hood and got sprayed in the face with oil! I hurried and put the cap on and just shook my head. I was covered with oil now. Why, oh why do I detail in a white shirt??? Oh well. Aside from ruining my nice clean engine, nothing bad happened. It was only 10 seconds before I figured out the cap was off. I guess its a good thing I realized that it was off when I did. lol I feel dumb though. Please tell me I`m not the only one that has done that.

**GP Infinity** · 07-13-2002, 11:10 PM

Now mind you, I havent done that... but you arent the only one...

Now what did you use to get your white shirt clean?

:scared

**KCPreki11** · 07-13-2002, 11:11 PM

I know what you mean, I also had a bad day today. :shocked I totally bombed my first cutomers car, I feel so bad.:nixweiss

**VetteToVair** · 07-13-2002, 11:16 PM

KCPreki11,

Out of curiousity, what exactly did you do??

**Redcar GUY** · 07-13-2002, 11:17 PM

Originally posted by KCPreki11

I know what you mean, I also had a bad day today. :shocked I totally bombed my first cutomers car, I feel so bad.:nixweiss

And how do you do this>?

Jingr, no I havent done that....

**imported_Intel486** · 07-13-2002, 11:33 PM

Originally posted by Redcar GUY

And how do you do this>?

Yes, tell us that story.

Well... the engine looks great. I also detailed my engine compartement today... Well dressing it atleast.

**louissc** · 07-14-2002, 04:07 AM

did you forget to blow out all of the leaves and debri from the vent gills???????:doh

**Pats300zx** · 07-14-2002, 05:56 AM

Wow...engine looks great :up Hopefully the oil didn`t ruin all of your nice work..

**imported_seres** · 07-14-2002, 08:30 AM

The engine looks super! :up Great before/after!! Don`t feel too bad -- we all do stuff like that all of the time!!

If you get the oil out of your shirt, I want to know how you do it!! I`ve never been able to get it or splashes from dirty tires off mine - so off to the garbage they go!!

Maybe we need an Autopia Laundry forum...........

**Bobby G** · 07-14-2002, 08:53 AM

Holy Bark, Bark! That`s a great before and after, Jngr. But, what a bone head move with the oil cap

Been there, kinda done that... forgot to tighten the drain plug on an MBZ 240 sedan... $6,500 later, my brother-in-law had it back. Never did like him much

**buldog** · 07-14-2002, 10:04 AM

What products did you use to clean the engine with?

**Jngrbrdman** · 07-14-2002, 03:32 PM

I picked all that stuff out of the vent things by hand. It was full of those lousy pine needles and crap. They just stuck in there when I was trying to wash em out. Oh well...

I used sort of a combo of a couple things. I mixed up my own kind of degreaser. I used ValuGuard`s degreaser concentrate and Advanage concentrate. I went a little heavier than usual on both mixtures because there was some serious grease. It just cut right through it all. The ValuGuard stuff is availible at autoint.com and the advanage is at advanage.com. Both are amazing products. I highly recommend the advanage stuff. It can be diluted into a hundred different things. It also make some of the best glass cleaner I`ve ever used. better than Invisible glass even.

I had to do a quick touch up again after that little problem. It sprayed oil all over the underside of the hood and the valve cover. I fixed it up again. I should have taken a before and after of the underside of the hood too. My little degreaser formula worked amazing on that. It was practicly black before but it all came out pretty dandy. Maybe I`ll try to throw some of this stuff in my laundry when I try to clean my shirt. I think its pretty FUBAR. lol

**dengelson** · 07-14-2002, 09:41 PM

I`ve done that on a motorcycle before but luckily, like you, I realized my mistake in a hurry and shut it down. However I did get some nice stains too except mine were on a nice riding suit.

**tpetpe** · 07-15-2002, 06:42 PM

Nice job on the crusty Corolla motor!

I see in the after photo that the oil cap is off.

NEVER start the motor with the oil cap off.

The cam gears will spray oil EVERYWHERE.

Don`t ask how I know this.

fat biker

**Jngrbrdman** · 07-15-2002, 06:48 PM

Originally posted by fat biker

Nice job on the crusty Corolla motor!

I see in the after photo that the oil cap is off.

NEVER start the motor with the oil cap off.

The cam gears will spray oil EVERYWHERE.

Don`t ask how I know this.

fat biker