Agree - it takes patience to fill the engine slowly. It's very easy to fill too quickly and have the neck overfill.

I have learned to go slow + stuff the area around the filler neck with rags just in case.

Cleaning up an overfill once it gets into the engine bay and rips underneath takes a lot of time.

 

This just happened to me and my C4S. Came out one morning to a big puddle, not long after an oil change. Took it to my indy and they agree it was likely valve cover. Turned out I had a crease in new filter. Cleaned up and good to go.

 

Hi Toona,
My question would be how did the crease get there? Possibly by a technician using a filter wrench to tighten it down and squeezing it a little too hard?
Andy

 

That was exactly what happened Andy

 

One would think something as routine and basic as an oil change would without exception be accomplished properly by a professional technician.
To do it properly, all it requires competence, being observant, and very little time & effort.
Unfortunately, the way technicians are generally compensated is by the job, and if they can get it done in less than the book allocated time they can move on to other work and so are rewarded for speed. Also in shops with multiple technicians, basic work is allocated to the least experienced.
These business practices conspire to make the outcomes at times less than desired.
Andy

 

This is my homemade funnel that works great the design not only helps avoid spilling but also splashing and burping. You simply cut a piece of the plastic out of the bottle as shown. Then insert the bottle neck into the filler neck and add oil through the opening. The bottle holds fairly securely in position due to the threads on the bottle neck and the filler neck lip. Last, when filling the car with oil consider jacking the rear up a bit as it seems to help in the filling process.

 

Thanks Andy. The more I think about it the more I think you may be right. It just seems impossible for a valve cover to be leaking this bad. The oil may be leaking down from the last oil change. I may have overpoured the replacement oil in to fast and not noticed that it was running down onto the engine tin. This is the second time I have had this same mess on the floor. The first time was immediately after I changed the oil. I'll give it a good cleaning and see if maybe the engine tin has finally drained.

 

OP: not all bad news. The leaked oil looked so clean. Your engine has to be in top shape.
aircooledpurist:

 

I’d bet $1 its a sloppy oil fill and not leaking cover.

 

Yep…. And the oil on my garage floor was all burned and dirty from sitting on top of my exhaust manifolds before hitting the floor.

I found out yesterday that oil never even made it inside my engine. Better yet, my car isn’t leaking at all. All that oil was the result of a very sloppy oil fill.

My friends Don and Dan at Fairfield County Motorsports spent about two hours washing, wiping, degreasing the underside of my engine. A long drive and back on the lift. Bone dry. It doesn’t even smell anymore when I turn on the heat!

No valve cover leaks, no leaks anywhere. And surprise, the car was down TWO quarts of oil immediately following an oil change. Guess where those two missing quarts went?

I’m very happy it was nothing serious, I’m very disappointed my car was treated with such little respect.

live and learn

 

After investigating further, I can see no evidence that the leak was caused by an overfill. The top of the pan is dry and there is no sign of oil dripping down from above. I remain suspicious that it was overfill because of the amount of oil on the garage floor and exhaust. Anyway... I decided to replace the lower valve cover gasket. I have the valve cover off (see pics) and am waiting for the replacement gaskets to arrive. I HOPE that solves the issue. The way I see it; if it was an overflow leak, replacing the gasket (that was leaking) won't hurt anything. Besides, I really like working on my car!

 

I KNEW it!! There was just no way that much oil came from the valve cover all of a sudden. It was hard to see from underneath that day at Rob's.
Glad it wasn't serious, but sucks a place you trusted buggered an easy job.

 

Nailed it. LOL. Glad to see it was an easy fix.

-Scott

 

Glad you got it all sorted out and as you said, thankfully it wasn't more serious. This is the EXACT reason why I try to do my own work as no one will love our cars more than ourselves (speaking of enthusiasts).

Edwin

 

Im very glad you found the source and it wasn’t an issue with the car.

I was starting to think everyone had made their neighbors angry and they were tossing a cup of oil underneath then sitting back to watch the search effort.