well i forgot to put the cap back on and now the car won't start butt i checked the dip stick and its still got like 3/4 of oil left ........i have a 96 hatch d16y7 and its pretty much all over the driver side of the engine bay.

the only thing i can think of is that the alternator is denched in oil and thats why i am not getting any power.

but i basically and not getting ANY power like nothing the alarm won't arm the radio won't turn on i mean absolutely nothing.

so any insight would help

thanx in advance.

 

possible short where? possiblly alternator but i have no clue

 

to my knowledge, motor oil does not conduct electricity. many transformers are oil cooled, not the same oil but probably the same properties

 

Whoa whoa whoa, hold on speedy gonzales. So whats the problem? That your car wont start, or you have no power? I fail to see the correlation between leaving your oil cap off and the battery going dead. Can you provide a better description of what the problem is?

 

can you haer your fuel pump prime? its probably completely unrelated to the oil cap

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jlacoy82 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Whoa whoa whoa, hold on speedy gonzales. So whats the problem? That your car wont start, or you have no power? I fail to see the correlation between leaving your oil cap off and the battery going dead. Can you provide a better description of what the problem is?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah cause if theres no power then it wouldn't even turn over.. so i think the problem as a whole is no power. maybe you filled the alternator with oil and the car ran off the battery and drained it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jlacoy82 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Whoa whoa whoa, hold on speedy gonzales. So whats the problem? That your car wont start, or you have no power? I fail to see the correlation between leaving your oil cap off and the battery going dead. Can you provide a better description of what the problem is?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Man did no1 see?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by whitemike1644 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> d16y7 and its pretty much all over the driver side of the engine bay.

the only thing i can think of is that the alternator is denched in oil and thats why i am not getting any power.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

whassup mike...have you tried jumping your car just to see if you can get any power that way?

 

i just put in a new alternator and starter so i know they didn't go out just because.

and no i m not getting ANY power so my car won't turn on or anything basically my car feels like i don't have a battery installed..

should i try to jump the car and see what happens?

should i just change the alternator?

is there anyway i can clean it out like with pressure hose or something like that?

i was just driving the car and went to eat and as soon as i turned off the car i got out tried to arm the alarm but it wouldn't and so i was like whatever i will just check it later. came back and there was no power at all. and now i am stuck here asking for help.

 

Stupid question, but have you checked your battery?

And civic4less, what correlation would an oily alternator and a dead battery/no power have? Your alternator doesnt start your car, the battery does.

 

dont soak it with water!!!! give it a jump to see if it works

 

I say try to jump it...at least that'll narrow down your problem.

 

i will do that tomorrow and see what happens

 

Clean off your motor with some Simple Green and use a light mist of water to rinse it off being sure to cover the fuse box, cap, etc. Let her dry and give her a whirl. This happened to a friends car and you would'nt believe how much oil gets out. How long did you drive before you noticed it? I'm sure rthe smoke billowing from underneath the hood was a dead giveaway . Good luck.

 

naw no smoke or anything .....i drove about 250 miles before it wouldn't turn on because i checked my oil when i filled up and that was the last time i was under there and i reset my trip meter when i did so.

 

WOW! You drove 250 miles without the cap on, it got all over the place yet no smoke......weird.

 

yea you telling me.........basically i filled up. drove home from costa mesa ( about an hour and a half drive) took my friend home (20 minutes) then came to my girls house (5 minutes) back home (5m) then came to pick her up (5m) then to school (20m) then to hometown (20m) and thats where it died.

i am as lost as anyone else. and yes i probably got up to speeds of around 70-100 from the drive back from la.

 

well before i would push the alarm button and nothing would happen it wouldn't chirp or arm or anything.

now i got home and just clicked in and it chirps but doesn't do anything.

another question i have is what if i sprayed brake cleaner to clean up the oil? would that **** up the alternator if it got into any of the internal stuff?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by S(J)O(D)L(M) &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">WOW! You drove 250 miles without the cap on, it got all over the place yet no smoke......weird.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I drove 3 hrs from Auburn to Buffalo NY and had my oil cap off.... I lost like 1/2 a quart or so and it was all over the front bumper.... but no smoke at all......

I just cleaned mine with some degreaser and the hose.... was careful not to hit the fuse block and wiring but hit everything else... it was fine.

 

Ok... still no power?? i say get a new engine... or may be put the cap back on.. haha.... did it rain while the cap was off?? some how some way u sucked up some H2O... tough luck.. get a new engine.... better off...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dgrave &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ok... still no power?? i say get a new engine... or may be put the cap back on.. haha.... did it rain while the cap was off?? some how some way u sucked up some H2O... tough luck.. get a new engine.... better off... </TD></TR></TABLE>

Damn, you're a genius. I wonder why nobody thought about that cause when I drive in the rain, that water gets all up in there TO THE VERY TOP OF THE MOTOR!!!! Damn, no wonder noobies get so much **** here....

It's obviously electrical. Try hooking up a charger or another battery to it and see what happens. Grab a couple rolls of paper towels & some Simple Green and clean up all of it that you can. DON'T use brake cleaner as some brands are harsh and will mess up paint and stuff (unless you don't care). Simple Green will get it all off. I would try to clean up each connection one at a time, including grounds. It's possible that you're just not getting a good connection through the oil.

 

it has nothing to do with the engine thats for sure even if ur engine is blown, hydrolocked, no matter what ur going to have power in the car like radio, etc, etc ,etc most likely what happen is that the oil spilled somewhere electrical and causes a short or maybe is in ur battery and is not lettin it get contact try cleanin battery terminals and givin it a jump start

 

It's got to be electrical, good luck finding it. Good luck.

Now I don't feel like such a dumbass for driving w/o my oil cap on for like 20 miles, I thought that I was the only one that had forgotten to put it back, and now I see that several others have as well. Man does that get the engine bay/hood/bumper nasty.

 

We all agree to try boosting it first, it sounds like a dead bettery. Once it is running, measure alternator output to see if the oil did anything to it. If not, shampoo that engine bay, power wash it at your local self serve carwash, and call it a day.

Oh yeah, top it off and put your oil cap back on too...

 

soak engine bay down with gunk engine degreaser, let sit for 10 minutes, hose down with garden hose and sprayer, let sit for a day, jump car, drive along like nothing ever happened.