I finally caught someone putting oil in the wrong hole on their engine

Was helping a neighbor with his 2008 Civic last weekend and saw him pour 5W30 into the power steering reservoir instead of the oil cap. He swore it was the same thing because both say 'fluid' on the bottle. I had to stop him before he started the engine and turned the steering pump into a foam machine. The crazy part is he's been doing this for 2 years on his own car and never noticed the leak or the whining noise. How do people mix up a cap that says 'engine oil' with a random plastic reservoir? Has anyone else caught a buddy doing something this backwards?

2 comments

2 Comments

ellis.jennifer15d ago

'admit you used to think differently' - I used to think any bottle with fluid on it was the same too until I ruined my own pump.

mitchell.mark15d ago

@ellis.jennifer I used to grab any random fluid too without thinking twice until I wrecked a good pump the same way. That mistake really made me pay closer attention to what I was putting in there.