Jack14

Hello All. I had a 30k service yesterday, which included an oil change. Drove home in the evening. I checked the car this morning and there is oil on the garage floor beneath the engine. Not a pool, but a sliver about 18 inches long and about 2 inches wide. My initial investigation reveals the oil drain plug at the bottom of the engine is missing. On startup, the oil reads full as does the oil gauge on the dash. The shop is @ 20miles from my house and is not open until Monday morning.

Assuming I do not drive the car until Monday morning, any opinions on whether I can drive as-is directly to the shop in morning traffic on Monday?

Any place I can purchase a drain plug this weekend in LA/SoCal?

Many thanks in advance.

Charlie C

There's NO WAY I'd drive it without a drain plug. I think I'd call the shop that did it and have them pay to tow your car back. I hope you had that 30K done at a Porsche dealer just in case this doesn't turn out nicely. (i.e. engine damage)

Another Don

Have you checked the oil level on the dipstick? If the drain plug is missing, I don't think I'd be driving the car. Not even 20 miles.

I'd call the dealership and have them send a flat bed to tow the car back to the service department. My rationale is something along these lines. A tow would cost me about $100. If the engine does run out of oil and seizes up, that'll cost me about $7.500. If there's only a 5% chance of that engine seizing, then game probabilities are that I'm betting $375 to save $100. And if, the dealership screwed up the service, they should be paying for the tow truck anyway.

G/L with getting your ride back on the road.

Marc Gelefsky

be safe. call the dealer and tell them to come get it.

C4CRNA

You know the drain plug has a recess in it to accept the allen drive?Is that what you are looking at?? and it looks like it is missing. it fits flush with the pan not sticking out like on an american car.You should have had major oil mess all over the rear of that car if the drain plug fell out.

C4CRNA

Can you stick your pinky finger in the hole where you think the drain plug was and feel the threads? I think you just have an oil leak from the indy not using a new compression ring with the plug. Otherwise you would not register full on the dash.

Jack14

Many thanks to everyone. I have no intetion of driving the car. I was hoping it was simply a loose plug, but that doesn't appear to be the case. And there is a bloody mess on the underside of the engine. How do i attach pictures?

Bijan

Jack, what does the dipstick read?

Jack14

Bijan: the dipstick reads full. But i just took pictures and it is pretty clear that the plug is missing. Would a random autoparts store carry a plug that I can use as a bandaid until I reach the shop on Monday? While this is not my daily driver, my DD is temporarily withy my father.

mooty

better safe than sorry, have car towed to dealer.
however, i dont quite understand. if you are missing the drain plug, you will have like 9 qts of oil on the floor. it doesn't drip, it will POUR right out.

Jack14

my suscpision is that when i picked up the car yesterday evening, the plug was loose, then fell out at some point during the commute home (along with the oil). what doesn't make sense is the amount of oil showing on the dipstick.

CosmosC4S

I would like to know what really happened. I don't think the drain plug is missing, like everyone said, the oil will not hold without a drain plug!? And it will definitely not show full on the dipstick either.

I'm guessing you somehow mistakenly think that the drain plug is missing, and the leak could be from accidental spillage when they were filling up with new oil. Sometimes it takes a while for the spillage to drip down. Have you noticed any more drips? Or was that it?

It's just hard to believe any decent technician could mess up by simply leaving a loose drain plug or filter cover on.

Jack14

what is your email addy? i will send you pics.

edit: check your email linked to rennlist.

CosmosC4S

Okay, here are the pics that Jack took. Looks like the drain plug is there, probably loose, or, the oil could have dripped from the top.

CosmosC4S

On second thoughts, there seems to be too much oil drip to be from leftover spillage...