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      12-30-2015, 05:59 PM   #1
deez330
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Unhappy Strange...oil pellets??

Hey guys,

So a couple weeks ago I noticed a very small puddle of oil on the floor of my garage under the engine. A few days later, I get the notice that the oil level is at the minimum and to add some oil. I told my SA about this today while bringing my car in to get my MPPK done, but he said the tech couldn't find anything wrong. I doubt they even popped the hood though. I'm at about 12k miles now, last oil change was at 10k. My SA said its normal for the turbos to "consume" some oil.

So anyway I popped the hood to add a quart of oil, and I noticed these really strange pellets near the oil filter. If i didn't know any better, I would've thought they were rat droppings! I'm guessing some oil came out and formed into these oil pellets, but this doesn't seem normal to me. I took the pellets out to get a better picture. Anybody have any ideas?
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      12-30-2015, 06:19 PM   #2
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oil pellet disease......

you are lucky that yours are of the small variety found only when the engine needs some crappy oil replaced as opposed to the engine..........

I'm kidding, strange one, could be many things, I'm a sparky, maybe a mechanic could help.
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      12-30-2015, 06:26 PM   #3
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It looks to me like your oil filter cap could be leaking. They may have not have put the o-ring on properly when they tightened it down. Or - they were just messy when they changed the oil filter and those pellets are dried out / coked oil that dripped when they changed the filter.

Regardless I would clean up the area with paper towel and make sure no further oil collects there. If it does, take your car back to the dealer, have them replace the filter cap o-ring and retorque the oil filter cover.
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      12-30-2015, 07:03 PM   #4
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Marten or such?
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      12-30-2015, 07:07 PM   #5
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Looks like rats were there. Never heard of oil pellets. Maybe cut it half and give it a smell.
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      12-30-2015, 07:44 PM   #6
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do you park outside? sometimes animals climb into the engine compartment for warmth.
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      12-30-2015, 07:47 PM   #7
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Def animal droppings
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      12-30-2015, 08:45 PM   #8
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Uh oh..Ratatouille lives under my hood? Hope he didn't chew anything up. It makes sense that they would climb up in there for warmth. Weird thing is, the pellets kinda smelled like oil, and it looked like there was some oil residue underneath, as you can see in the picture. Not sure what mouse poop smells like, but these pellets are kinda hard and had the consistency of poop when broke one open with tweezers. Hmmm...going to go to Home Depot and pick up a couple mouse traps

Last edited by deez330; 12-30-2015 at 08:57 PM..
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      12-31-2015, 09:47 AM   #9
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+1 for animal droppings
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      12-31-2015, 09:48 AM   #10
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LOL this is hilarious. Def. animal droppings. The oil there could be from a prior oil change.

Alan
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      12-31-2015, 09:54 AM   #11
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Just for the sake of a wild-ass guess... Animal droppings that have soaked up a little oil. Oil was either spilled there during oil change or the oil filter o-ring is leaking a little, and the animal droppings just soaked it up. That's why they smell like oil. Like I said, just a guess.
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      12-31-2015, 09:57 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan l. View Post
LOL this is hilarious. Def. animal droppings. The oil there could be from a prior oil change.

Alan
+1. There's no such thing as oil pellets. Rodents love warm engine bays.
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      12-31-2015, 12:54 PM   #13
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Squirrels are notorious for going into the engine bay and chewing on wires.
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      12-31-2015, 01:46 PM   #14
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As others have already mentioned, it's most likely rodent droppings. If it makes you feel any better, I once found a partially eaten Cinnabon sitting on top of my intake manifold! I thought my buddies had played a joke on me at first lol.
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      12-31-2015, 02:58 PM   #15
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^^^ Bahahaha!
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      12-31-2015, 05:20 PM   #16
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This is the funniest post I've seen in a long time. Whether intended or not, thanks for the best laugh I've had in a very long time! Even my wife is still giggling.
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      12-31-2015, 05:55 PM   #17
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get that extra oil in as soon as possible, and possibly the rat was chewing somethings up...guaranty a little critter thought it was warm up in there.
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      12-31-2015, 06:20 PM   #18
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That's pretty funny. If you have a puddle under the engine and low oil I'd monitor carefully to make sure whatever pooped under your hood didn't chew through something.
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      12-31-2015, 07:17 PM   #19
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i had a cat laying on my engine on a dodge ram i owned. i went to start it, and heard a bam. i thought someone kicked my truck. i got out and saw a cat flopping on the ground. it got caught up in the belt.
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      12-31-2015, 09:37 PM   #20
deez330
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Lol wow.. That cat must've gotten pretty messed up. I setup a couple traps but nothing yet. Glad to have given you guys a good laugh. Happy New Years all.
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      01-01-2016, 03:13 PM   #21
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Last year in a beach house mice ate through a HDMI cable insulation, even cutting some copper inside -- and in a hangar I use they nibbled at some critical avionics cabling in a friend's towplane - in both cases similar droppings were visible and explained what happened.

Maybe you urgently need to station a hungry cat around your car, but please treat him better than the one on the Dodge ram I read above.
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