I did an oil change. I performed it exactly as written in the How-To Oil Change thread we have on this site.
I know I tightened the drain bolt very well. The oil did not spill from there. I filled the engine with roughly 6.2 quarts of oil, checked the dipstick and it seemed fine. Started the car up, drove out of the garage and saw the spill.
A few things:
I jacked up the car off the ground from the front bar and nothing seemed to creak, crack or break.
When I noticed the oil spill, I jacked the car up again, but for some reason it wasn't getting off the ground very high anymore. I don't know if this was because I was nervous due to the massive oil spill and simply did a **** job of jacking it up.
Obviously I'm stupid with cars. I can easily do work on my bike, but that's because with the bike, everything is visible without a jack. With this Cobalt, I'm now terrified something cracked underneath and spilled all the damn oil.

FWIW, I also did a spark plug change, which seemed to go fine, but I can't be too certain anymore. I also had assumed the oil change had gone fine.

Included are pics of the oil spill. It spilled out from the location you see. I am posting this from my phone, so sorry if the images aren't properly sized.







Sadly, I'm too broke to get it fixed if something truly broke. Hell, I'm too broke to get an oil change done, which is why I attempted it myself...

 

hope to god you didn't actually put 6.2 gallons of oil in your car.

 

remove oil file cap and check oring

 

How much did you really put in there? The LNF oil pan holds 5 qts.

Can you find the actual source of the leak? The phone pics aren't doing much for me. First thought is maybe it's coming from the oil filter holder. How tight is the cap? It doesn't take much torque, but finger-tight isn't enough either.

Ditto

 

That was a typo. I meant 6.2 quarts. Sorry.

 

6.2 liters=6.5 quarts. You put way too much in there.

 

I figured...but you never know.

Looks like its leaking from Oil filter O-ring or the oil dipstick.

 

****.. I tightened the oil cap with my hand, but nothing spilled from the top..? It all spilled from elsewhere. I am afraid of jacking the car up again, and now the car is sitting on my driveway. I'm worried about driving it back into the garage again to only end up having something go wrong.
To me, it looks like the entire amount of oil I put in it spilled out. It was worse than what you see in the pics.

 

The only way that happens is if you didn't tighten the drain plug on the oil pan. Only a little bit of oil would leak from the oil filter.

 

Did it spill before starting the car?

 

Not the fill cap, the oil filter cap.

The first picture looks like it's coming from the filter.

 

I think it spilled after starting the car.

 

Oh, ****! I just checked and it did spill out from there!
How tight is the oil filter cap supposed to be? And the 2009 Cobalt SS only takes 5L of oil? Someone please confirm.
This was my first time attempting an oil change. I feel like such a ******* moron. Ruined my garage floor for nothing.

 

OK definitely from filter. Here's what you do:
1. Measure the oil level. You may have drained enough that now you're good. If not, adjust. You may need to drain some oil, which means you may need to jack the car. You can do it
2. Pull off the oil filter cap. Check that the o-ring is seated in the groove properly.
3. Tighten the filter cover/cap to 18 ft-lb. If you don't have a socket or adapter that fits, then get one.
4. Enjoy your properly-filled car.

 

The LNF takes 5 qts of oil.

The LDK takes 6.2 qts of oil.

its ok dude. we all make mistakes. I did the same thing on my wifes Ford Focus except I had just put oil in at the gas station. There was oil all over her hood.

 

God I wish I could of been there to laugh at you in person

 

It's in the manual as 5 qts. Mine took a smidge more to read properly full on the dipstick. Always go by the dipstick.

The LSJ (supercharged old-skool) took 6.5-7 qts.

Edit: I've been informed that the lsj takes 6 qts. Just updating so that someone doesn't overfill their lsj based on this. As always, just check the dipstick when you fill it to avoid problems.

 

Yeah it was pretty epic. I was like WTF Is that oil smell? and then I remembered I hadn't put the oil cap back on.

 

Where I'm fucked is I don't have a torque wrench. I guess I'll have to wait until my next paycheck to get this done. Another 2 weeks...
Thanks for the info. You've given me peace of mind. I honestly thought I shattered something unintentionally.

Thank you. I feel a bit better.

 

Seriously. I changed the oil in my Integra once and left the seal on the block. Peed oil all over the apartment complex parking lot. That sucked. Freaked me out till i figured out what I did.

 

Yeah, I bought the car used and never got the owner's manual. I should've just made sure. I was checking the Cobalt oil change thread (this one here: Oil Change How To ). Looking at it now, I see the thread was made in 2006, so my mistake was not looking for an updated version.

 

18 ft-lbs isn't all that much. Just get it good-n-tight and you'll be fine. Worst case is you over tighten and you jack up the plastic cap.

 

yeah I never use a torque wrench on that stuff. Just tighten it til its good and tight.

 

Now your oil changes will be $10 cheaper

 

Thank you, everyone, for the help and being kind. I thought I'd be bashed for being an idiot. Luckily you guys were nice enough to look past my stupidity.
I'll check it out in a bit and tighten it more.

Thanks again.