Dealer Overfilled Oil?

[Neil4Speed]

Hey Guys,

So I took my car to Toyota at Charlesglen to get a sceduled oil change. I took it in with 5L of Castrol Syntec, this is the third time that I changed the oil in the car since I bought it. I took it in about 2:30, wanting to come back at 5 to pick the car up. I came in a bit early, ~4 and she mentioned that she couldn't do the oil change on the car as I didn't provide enough oil. I though it was peculiar, however, the guy seemed so determined that the car needed 6L as it is a V8 so I told them to just fill it up with a litre of Mobil 1. I drove it home and didn't really notice anything peculiar, however today I decided to check what the oil capacity is in the manual.

Sure enough, it lists the oil capacity at 4.8L with Filter. So I go ahead and check the dipstick and see that it is above full, not way above full, but above.

Before I go to them and ask questions, is this even something beyond normal and worth bringing up or am I being a stickler. I am not mad to the slightest about the excess oil they charged me, I just want the right amount in the car.

[SOAB]

excess oil in a car is just as bad if not worse than having not enough oil. the dealer should definitely know exactly how much oil goes into all of their cars...

maybe their oil machine started pumping and couldn't stop...

[RZRSHARP_SVX]

i wouldnt worry about the extra oil its not worth the time. an old car like that is bound to comsume some oil. or leak it.

alot of the time it may say 4.8L of oil but it may actualy take more in my expirence.

and its not like an extra Litre is gonna kill your motor.

[dj_rice]

Taken from Wiki


It can seriously damage the crankshaft main seals, and depending on how MUCH overfilled, it can damage other parts as well.


Drain the oil NOW! What is happening is that because the level is too full the crankshaft is hitting the oil and causing it to "foam up" foam can't pump and lubricate and that is why the oil pressure has dropped and turned the oil light on. You have to get the level down to the full mark or you will burn that motor up. Never overfill and drive a car with oil as you can have just this problem. Also the higher oil level can often cause the front and rear seals to leak (expensive repair) as those seals are designed to hold in oil "vapor and mist" and not a flood of high reving motor oil being forced into them. You can drain the oil down to the full mark without removing all of it through the drain on the bottom of the engine and you should be fine providing you didn't drive it too long like that.

So drain the excess oil now

[HuMz]

Typically as long as its not overfilled by more then a litre then you have nothing to worry about. Given he put in 6L in a 4.8L thats a little excessive, i'd probably drain just a bit for piece of mind if it was my car.

[DeeK]

They fucked up. I would cause a scene. It's money you paid for your car, and they are potentially ruining the longevity of it by their mistake.

I'd be causing shit.

[No_Cash]

I'd take it back and get them to correct it, but I wouldn't be a dick about it.

[TimH]

Were the containers you brought in one quart or one liter in volume? Maybe they didn't completely drain them either? With those two variables you might only get about 5 liters to 6 quart containers of oil.

[2EFNFAST]

Drain some out to even out the dipstick. TOo much oil can be a bad thing and cause engine damages.

However, don't start freaking out thinking your engine is already ruined - my cobra takes 8L of oil. First oil change I forgot to drain the front and rear sump. Long story short, I managed to run around for 10miles with about 11L of oil. Probably a good thing I never stabbed the gas pedal very hard or else.... :nut:

[Cos]

You can blow out seals and main bearings. I find it pretty bad that they didnt check the dip stick.

[scat19]

I'd have oil drained asap.

This happened to me once - they overfilled by about a litre and it caused the seal on the lid of the oil cartridge to fail and have oil spray on the underside of my bonnet.

Drained it, took it back, they fixed it on the spot... :thumbsup:

[Zero102]

Originally posted by HuMz
Typically as long as its not overfilled by more then a litre then you have nothing to worry about. Given he put in 6L in a 4.8L thats a little excessive, i'd probably drain just a bit for piece of mind if it was my car.

^^^
This

There is no way that the engine was designed without space for at least 1 extra litre of oil in the crankcase. If when properly filled the crank is THAT close to hitting the oil then that engine should never have made it past the design phase.

For peace of mind drain the extra 1L, but there is no way that 1L over is going to do any immediate damage. It may provoke increased misting of oil within the crankcase and higher than normal oil consumption leading to long term catalytic converter damage, but you would likely need to run 10's of thousands of kilometres with the oil like that (or higher) to cause such damage.

If you have access to a dipstick oil extractor (like the Pela) then you can remove the extra oil quite easily. If you took it to them to change the oil then I would take it to them to have the level adjusted.

Just curious, but how far over the full line is it? Most cars have their dipsticks calibrated such that from the low to the full line is either 1 quart or 1L (946ml or 1000ml) so you can use that to estimate how far over full it is, since over such a short height difference it is unlikely there a significant change in area of the oil pan.
When you say "slightly" over full it sounds to me like it is 0.25L or less, at which point I wouldn't even bother taking it back, I would just leave it.

[heavyD]

LOL it's fine don't listen to the doomsday posters. You would have to be at least a liter over the full mark to cause any major issues. Half of the dealer oil changes I've ever seen on my wife's cars have always been over the full mark and over the last three vehicles none of them have ever developed any issues or leaks. Do you really think that manufacturers would put the full mark at the point where overfill would be critical?:rofl:

[Xtrema]

Eons ago when I know shit about car, Marlborough Ford killed my Dad's Taurus with over fill. After multiple gasket changes, the engine just won't stop leaking (probably because it's a Ford but still)

[Redlyne_mr2]

Agreed doomsday posters need to learn more about engines, sorry guys. :)

[Neil4Speed]

Hey Guys, thanks for all the input, I am going to take it back and get it drained to the right level, the dealership is just up the road.

Still kind of a piss off since I brought the right amount of oil to start out with, and they insisted on an unnecessary liter. Don't these guys check the dip stick?

And just to clear up some stuff written above. The car doesn't burn or leak oil, it stays absolutely constant from oil change to oil change, and there was no check engine/oil light triggered.

[2EFNFAST]

Originally posted by Neil4Speed
Don't these guys check the dip stick?


If you were being paid minimum wage and had to do several dozen a day, would you? :D

I think you should be thankful they didn't get lazy and use an impact gun on your oil pan!

[heavyD]

Originally posted by Neil4Speed
Don't these guys check the dip stick?


I do a lot of my own oil changes and it's pretty easy to go over the full mark when you are topping up. In reality when filling the oil you need to wait for a while for the level to properly settle then start up & idle for a 10 seconds or more and top up because the level will drop once the filter has been fully filled and oil circulated. Garages don't have time to let the car sit for 15 minutes to accuarately gauge the oil level to exact full. They just fill it to the full mark which often settles to slightly higher than full. It's really not that big a deal unless it's near a liter over the full mark.

[Neil4Speed]

Okay, Fair enough - I suppose your both right, Rather, I should complain don't these guys check the book to see the oil capacity?! :D

I spoke to the service advisor and he told me that they overfilled the car and to bring it in.

[HuMz]

Yeah typically they would have it right on the computer as to how much oil your car takes. Oil lube places have there own house oil brand coming from a spray gun which can be pre-set as to how much oil can be pumped so you don't overfill. (Most dealerships probably just carry oil in the bottle though)

Regardless, any idiot should be checking the dipstick after the oil has been changed, and if he did he was just to lazy to take the 5 min and drain it.

[Alak]

Guy at work overfilled one of our cummins powered shunt trucks. It takes 14L, he put in 22L (because the other identical truck takes 22L - so he never checked).

6 Months later when someone accually checked the dipstick, they rectified the problem. Truck never leaked, and never caused any engine trouble. That was over a year ago this happend.

Just thought I'd share.

[kangyu]

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