Oil Overfill

[simpleR]

Hi all, so my car had its first service last thursday.

I check the oil, tyre pressures and clear down the dashcam once a week out of routine. This evening being that time.

The car had been sat for 3 hours on a near as dam it level car park (where I always park at work). Pre-service The oil level always used to say OK showing pretty much on max. 4000+ miles not a drop used.

So I checked it today. It said overfill. Although it looks particularly difficult to determine how much overfill on the naff digital bar. From a quick google a V6 RWD takes 7.25L of oil but an AWD (like mine) only takes 6.5L. So what are the chances of the dealer doing it wrong??? Surely they check these things manually and dont just chuck a load in.

[Dan_Veluwe]

@simpleR.

Inform the dealer ASAP and ask him to drain 'surplus oil' ; don't mention how much, as how can you know ?
Mostly oil remains in some parts when drained, in particular if they do'nt drain from a pulg at the bottom, but with a suction device.
So if they then put in the amount an empty engine would need, you've got an overfill..

This is all general knowledge as I have only a 4-pot with a normal dipstick...

Drive it as little as possible untill its been cleared !

[Senninha]

If you are confident it is over filled, I would NOT drive the car ... that’s an expensive engine to put at risk IMHO ...

Whilst a minor overfill shouldn’t do any harm, a large overfill can be catastrophic as it will restrict the engines ability to breathe ...

Your choice, but if it were my P&J I’d demand the dealer transport (not drive) it back and correctly change the oil plus a new filter (be sure to mark it before they collect!) then relax and enjoy ...

[john-handy]

Exactly what the above have said.

Dealer has screwed up. (Happens far to often) Do not drive it demand recovery.

The handbook tells you not to drive it if overfilled.

Well done for checking it!

Hope it gets sorted with minimum inconvenience and that your car is ok.

Regards

John

[JurassicF]

Quick note to myself as mine is going in for a service in a weeks time, check the oil level on collection.
Hope you get yours transported back to the dealership.

[simpleR]

OK, update time. So I checked it this morning before setting off, so car was stationary for about 13 hours, and it said overfill. The digital gauge is naff in my opinion! It just shows red at the top of gauge with no indication of how far over it actually is. It could be 50ml or 1litre who knows??

The manual says to check the oil when warm and after 10 minutes of stopping of the car.

So taking into account I've already driven 200 miles in the week since having it serviced and I actually trust my service centre dealer I decided to venture out for 20 min drive to work. Parked at work again, on the flat, and left it about 20 min. On returning it says "OK" and the gauge shows as literally a pixel over full. Checked it again a further hour later and still the same... "OK". Checked it now after about 4 hours and it says overfill.

So following the manuals procedure of drive and wait 10 minutes it would appear to be absolutely on max and completely perfect to the millilitre!

Now the only question to people is...... I thought oil expanded with heat? So I would expect a cold check to say full and a hot one to show less than full because the oil would of heated, be thinner and all around the engine and not all of it in the sump. Is that correct? Why would a warm oil check as per manual show OK but a cold one show as overfill.......? Any scientists or mechanics on here LOL

[Tel]

The resolution of the digital dip stick is pretty crude and as such the incremental jumps between one level and another are too coarse imo.

Get it back to the dealers...it's happened many times before, read the US forums.

You should get the oil quantity itemised in your invoice even if you've paid in a plan.

[cj10jeeper]

OK, update time. So I checked it this morning before setting off, so car was stationary for about 13 hours, and it said overfill. The digital gauge is naff in my opinion! It just shows red at the top of gauge with no indication of how far over it actually is. It could be 50ml or 1litre who knows??

The manual says to check the oil when warm and after 10 minutes of stopping of the car.

So taking into account I've already driven 200 miles in the week since having it serviced and I actually trust my service centre dealer I decided to venture out for 20 min drive to work. Parked at work again, on the flat, and left it about 20 min. On returning it says "OK" and the gauge shows as literally a pixel over full. Checked it again a further hour later and still the same... "OK". Checked it now after about 4 hours and it says overfill.

So following the manuals procedure of drive and wait 10 minutes it would appear to be absolutely on max and completely perfect to the millilitre!

Now the only question to people is...... I thought oil expanded with heat? So I would expect a cold check to say full and a hot one to show less than full because the oil would of heated, be thinner and all around the engine and not all of it in the sump. Is that correct? Why would a warm oil check as per manual show OK but a cold one show as overfill.......? Any scientists or mechanics on here LOL

In simple terms the expansion of oil is slight so won’t make much of a difference. The purpose of measuring warm and after 10 mins is that it’s closer to op temperature and not all the oil will have drained back to the sump. Left overnight it will certainly all drain and read higher.

Doesn’t matter what method an engine designer chooses be it hot, cold, static or running. All you need to do is measure the same way as they calibrated the level

BTW - overfill is way more dangerous than under full as crank can start splashing, foam the oil and cause near zero circulation and resulting seizure. Low is less problematic by far and designed to anticipate folks not topping up..

[john-handy]

It won't hurt getting the dealer to check it.

after all you can then go back and say well "you told me it was ok"

J

[cj10jeeper]

It won't hurt getting the dealer to check it.

after all you can then go back and say well "you told me it was ok"

J

Personally I think it’s a waste of time as the level has been wrongly checked and dealer will show its correct as op has found when correctly checked
If they recover it he’ll be charged
Can’t see a win here, just a lot of time wasted