Hi,
I had my car serviced by a well-known chain of garages on Saturday morning, as per the rules of my aftermarket warranty, as normally i hate paying people for something i could easily do myself.
Anyway, i was in a hurry when i picked up the car so forgot to give it a once over myself until yesterday evening (150 miles later), when i noticed that the dipstick showed an overfill of approximately 4-5ml.
I've searched the forum for previous threads on this subject, and they tend to say that a slight overfill will cause no real problems, but should i attempt to drain a small amount back out again (or demand that the garage do it, rather)? It depends what is considered 'slight' i suppose.
Thanks in advance for your opinions and advice
The car is an M reg Escort 1.6 Zetec
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>showed an overfill of approximately 4-5ml.
mililitres (ml) or milimetres (mm)?
I presume you mean the later as the first would be somewhat difficult to estimate.... I guess this is a good 50 - 60 mm from the bottom of the dipstick, and that is probably another 50mm above the bottom of the sump, so it might be 5% overfilled. Can't imagine that's going to do any harm.
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RichardW
Is it illogical? It must be Citroen....
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if it's 4-5 mm on the dipstick i would take it back there is a min and a max for a reason.
cheers...keo
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I had this with a new astra I had, and guess what, the crank rear oil seal started to leak, even after draining the excess off myself. Luckily for me the car was still under warranty when they started to leak so I got it renewed FOC.
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Yes, I would take it back.
I seem to dimly recall that excess oil burnt can kill the cat..
Isuzu diesels are known to self-destruct if overfilled, and have clear instructions on the engine bay not to overfill.
It's best to identify the error of the service place now, rather than haggle over a dead enginelater.
BTW, you did measure it onlevel ground, didn't you?
:-))
rg
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I don't strongly disagree with anything that's been said so far but I doubt if that level of overfill will cause a problem, especially if the car has already covered 150 miles without incident.
In deciding where to place the 'maximum' mark on a dipstick, account is taken of the proximity of the oil to (a) the crankshaft, (b) the oil seals and (c) the breather circuit oil return (if fitted). Allowance will be made for high tilt angles of the engine, such as when going up or down steep hills, and for the inertia effects of fast acceleration, heavy braking and near-the-limit cornering. Finally, there is likely to be a little bit of leeway built in to allow for slight overfill.
We have had several discussions on this forum about the value of aftermarket warranties. The need to pay someone else to do routine servicing seems to me yet another reason to avoid them.
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kith
Yes my Astra comes back 4 or 5 mm over the top, as did the Vectra before it. I've never worried about a small amount like that as once the engine is running the level drops down.
The Vectra did 80 k with no seal problems, so I'm pretty sure in your case the incidents were unrelated. I'd not worry about a few mm of overfill.
Regards
John S
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John S
I forgot to mention mine was a little more than 4 to 5 mm over, I had to drain just under a litre (a large coffee jar full) out before it dropped to the MAX mark on the stick.
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When cars came back overfilled by 5mm, I always assumed it was because 5 litres had been thrown in instead of the 4.5 needed (always DIY now so fill to the mark as it makes it easier to detect any drop).
Thinking a bit more, the filter quantity is equally likely. How does a garage dispense oil? I assume they have a big drum with a spigot?
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slight overfill wont cause a problem.the one thing I am surprised at is superviser should check all cars after any work done.ie if oil level too high it is returned to person that did the job to rectify.I wonder if showing my age here but things don`t seem to work now as they used to.
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When i used to get my cars serviced at garages, i always noticed that there was some overfilling when i got it home, often by almost 1cm on the dipstick. Most garages probably don't have the time to add a little bit, let it dribble to the sump and add a bit more so it gets sloshed in by some pimply apprentice.
A friend of mine used to work at a car dealership and knew a woman who had bought a car and then came back with it complaining of clouds of blue smoke,cutting out etc. My friend opens up the bonnet and has a look under the oil filler cap which is brimming (dipstick completely covered) with lovely golden oil.Apparently she had been told to keep it "topped up" with oil regularly and had taken the advice a bit too literally...
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Everytime ive had my car serviced so far, the oil afetr a change has been over the MAX on the dipstick.
Ive racked my brains trying to think of logical reasons for this, other than the mechanics being stupid etc...
Then it came to me, they do not have time to sit and wait for the oil to settle, and add small amounts here and there - they must go by the manual and fill to exactly what it says (mine is 3.5 litres), not taking into acount the small amount that will always be left after an oil change - thus the level is slighly higher than it should be.
Dave
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When I approached my motorcycle mechanic (who by the way has been established here for 25 years and is the best in my area), he told me he always overfills the oil when changed by just a touch (i.e. just over the max mark).
Considering he has been an approved mechanic for about 40 years and is about 75 years old (and is also an approved MOT tester), there must be some truth to this.
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Thanks for all the replies,
Richard: Sorry yes i mean 4-5mm above the max mark, not ml
Dizzy: I know what you mean about aftermarket warranties, but after my 306DTurbo (regularly featured on this forum) seemed to run entirely on £5 notes i decided to play it safe initially with this one! I won't be renewing it, but then sod's law dictates something catastrophic the day after the warranty run's out!
I'll take it back to the garage then and make them drain a bit for me, it's their mistake so they can be the ones to get messy!
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slight overfill wont cause a problem.the one thing I am surprised at is superviser should check all cars after any work done.ie if oil level too high it is returned to person that did the job to rectify.I wonder if showing my age here but things don`t seem to work now as they used to.
no they dont its laziness
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no they dont its laziness >>
Like not bothering with capitals and punctuations in postings? ;-)
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I take Dizzy's point about the probable built-in margin, but all the same I've always scrupulously filled mine to the MAX mark and not a fraction beyond.
The two dangers of overfilling are the risk of oil seal leakage, and frothing of the oil caused by the cranks touching the surface. There have been threads on that - as I recall that is a very serious condition and can cause inadequate lubrication of the entire engine.
Unless of course you have a wonderful old splash-lubricated engine, as I once did.
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>> no they dont its laziness >> Like not bothering with capitals and punctuations in postings? ;-)
>>
i may not be the most literate in this community but you obviously are ... you managed to read what i posted (and presumably understood it)didn't you.
i also happen to be a qualified mechanic and have taken college courses and neccessary exams to become a qualified if inexperienced electrician the city and guilds of london institute dont have any problem with punctuation or capital letters if i need a letter written i get someone to do it for me when they need their car fixed .... get the idea
cheers...keo
ps no offence meant just pointing out that i know my punctuation etc is far from perfect but shakespear couldn't spell.
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and neither can i Shakespeare.. there thats better.
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keo, you obviously didn't spot Dizzy's smiley, which suggests his comment was tongue in cheek.
Anyway, back to motoring please.
DD.
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sorry i am having a bad day, car overheated got home check levels find oil in water so obviously was peed off (motoring link..see).
and although it's not anyone elses fault punctuation has always been a bad point with me i cant do it ...makes no sense to me kinda like dyslexia.... i suppose
cheers ...keo
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If I recall correctly AR had a series of incorrectly calibrated dipsticks in Austin 1800s of the 1970s and careful owners who kept them filled to MAX blew up engines on motorways due the oil frothing when hit by the rotating crankshaft. Those who never checked were OK:-)
Could be a problem on modern cars .. overfilling also leads to carbonning up of combstion chambers due to burnt oil
madf
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