The mess...
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:07 am
So, I'm in my garage, changing the oil on my L300. It's no different than usual, I pulled the plug and watched liter after liter of sludge black diesel goop drain from my pan. My pan's capable of holding 8L of oil, but even still, 6.5L of that roofing tar black death is quite a sight to behold. I felt like I was staring into the La Brea tar pits as I installed my new crush washer and put the plug back into position. I then started to undo the filter, a bit sticky at first, but after a slow turn or two it comes off as well with a gush and a plop of oil drizzling into the already full looking pan. As I slowly move the filter turn after turn backwards off the threaded base a thought occurs to me. "Boy it would suck if I dropped the filter into the full pan of oi!!!!!!" SLPOOOOOSH!!!!
I crawled out from under the van looking like a Valdez sea bird circa March 1989, the floor of my beautiful new(ish) garage... even worse. As bad as the mess was the situation wasn't completely dire, my wife was not at home and would not return for some time. I sprang into action. Being totally unprepared I did not have any floor dry. Nor did I have shop towels, I barely even had paper towels (I'm usually incredibly clean when I work on vehicles, if cat's worked on automobiles their garages would most likely look a lot like mine). I quickly cleaned my self up then raided the house for whatever paper towels I could find. Sadly, there weren't enough. I had to stoop to toilet paper and Kleenex to get the job done (it was a s#itload of oil) but other than a big greasy stain (if you could lift my garage floor up and hold it towards light I think you'd be able to see through it now) the floor is sorta clean-ish. I then re-positioned the cars, my wife will be driving the Deli tomorrow morning so I moved it outside. Then, I parked my car over the bulk of the stain. With any luck, she'll walk right past it, go to work, and I can rush out and get some de-greaser and floor dry and take care of the residual before she's any wiser!
If I fail, I'll get the "look" and I'll no longer be able to feel high and mighty as she's usually the klutzy one.
Pray for me!
I crawled out from under the van looking like a Valdez sea bird circa March 1989, the floor of my beautiful new(ish) garage... even worse. As bad as the mess was the situation wasn't completely dire, my wife was not at home and would not return for some time. I sprang into action. Being totally unprepared I did not have any floor dry. Nor did I have shop towels, I barely even had paper towels (I'm usually incredibly clean when I work on vehicles, if cat's worked on automobiles their garages would most likely look a lot like mine). I quickly cleaned my self up then raided the house for whatever paper towels I could find. Sadly, there weren't enough. I had to stoop to toilet paper and Kleenex to get the job done (it was a s#itload of oil) but other than a big greasy stain (if you could lift my garage floor up and hold it towards light I think you'd be able to see through it now) the floor is sorta clean-ish. I then re-positioned the cars, my wife will be driving the Deli tomorrow morning so I moved it outside. Then, I parked my car over the bulk of the stain. With any luck, she'll walk right past it, go to work, and I can rush out and get some de-greaser and floor dry and take care of the residual before she's any wiser!
If I fail, I'll get the "look" and I'll no longer be able to feel high and mighty as she's usually the klutzy one.
Pray for me!
