I went on a club drive today and as I pulled off the highway to where we were meeting, I smelled buring oil, when I pulled in the parking lot I noticed blue smoke coming out from under the hood. I opened the hood and there was goddamn oil all over the engine bay.

While I am smart enough to manage major software implementations, apparently I'm not smart enough to replace the oil cap after topping it off this morning. The engine on that car had been spotless as Larry had replaced all the oil seals last fall before I bought it.

 

I've done that once before. It sucks. I've also done something similarly stupid by replacing the oil filter but not checking to see that the old gasket came off with the filter. So I had 2 oil filter gaskets on there and blew oil all over the place that way.

Both of these were when I was 16, so now when I do oil changes I always check the old filter to make sure the gasket came off and I make sure the oil cap is back on.

 

lol saw that on NASIOC once. Since then I always check my old filter for the seal.

 

I've done it twice before.

Both times I knew right away cause the ******* oil would escape the vents on the FM hood and get all over the window. Both times I was leaving a gas station in a hurry after filling up. And both times the oil cap stayed right in the spark plug valley and didn't fall to the ground.

Vash-

 

I've done it too, but not on the miata though

 

Vash, that happened to me in my mini..but it was the motor popping the head off...ahh you gotta love old british cars

 

Previous owner did that just before I bought it. Now, over a year later, the stuff has congealed and has all sorts of road debris embedded in it. Every minor thing I do is a huge mess because of it.

I've heard horror stories of the dips over on m.net hosing down the bay and having electrical problems. So, is there any good way to clean it off besides the "one section at a time" method with simple green and rags?

 

If you have common sense, you can probably wash your engine bay. If your from m.net, your probably to busy being gay or something.

This past couple months I power washed mine, and did some hand cleaning with simple clean. I actually went through 2 simple green auto's and hundreds of paper towels in the engine bay, and under the entire car.

Just be careful to plug stuff and don't aim directly at the electrical connectors. I couldn't imagine driving around with my engine bay that dirty. I think it would make me depressed every time I drove the car.

Vash-

 

Funny how every miata owner makes it a habit to top of their oil...i know i do, once a day!!!