diesel in engine oil

[ollya]

My girlfriend bought a 2013 Astra 2.0 diesel at then end of last year. It's out of the 3 months warranty from Perry's now.
I topped up the washer fluid for her today and checked the oil which was a good 8 -10 cm overfull on the dipstick.
Wondering if it's because diesel is getting into the oil.

Here's a drop - is that definitive?
Thanks

[ollya]

...here's the same dot half an hour later held up the light

[E-bmw]

I don't think there is any way of telling from afar via a pic.

More likely, what is the consistency/viscosity like?

Is it viable to do an oil change & check it once YOU KNOW what it was like the day/week/month before rather than assuming it was done correctly.

Are there any starting/running problems?

[Zoobeef]

8-10cm is a hell of alot??

On my old Mazda there was an "X" higher up the dipstick and if it got to that level you had to change the oil.
Part of the dpf regen was to put extra diesel in the cylinders, some of which made its way into the sump filling it up.

[ollya]

No problems with running that i'm aware of, going to syphon off the excess when I have a way to do so.
It feels and smells like oil but I was surprised how quickly it dissipated on the paper.
There's every chance it was overfilled but Perry's do of course assure me there's no chance.

[t400ble]

I always fill these half way between min and max oil wise

[Pumaracing]

You've just misread the dipstick. Simples.

[ollya]

Pumaracing said:

You've just misread the dipstick. Simples.

Yes that's it :P
I'll take a picture in a minute

...ok picture...yes I'm guilty of exaggeration - perhaps it's about 5 cm over the max, it's hard to tell

Edited by ollya on Saturday 9th April 13:50

[Pumaracing]

Dipsticks can be buggers to read sometimes especially if there's oil on the inside of the dipstick tube which then smears onto the dipstick itself. The more you check it the more oil you drag up into the tube. Take the stick out, leave it alone for a couple of hours so the tube can drain fully. Then try again.

[stevieturbo]

If you genuinely believe there is lots of diesel in the oil and unsure about dipstick reading...just drain it and measure how much comes out.

That will confirm 100% if there is far too much in there. As to how it got in, that's another matter.

[Higgs boson]

I drained way over what should have been in my e39 sump when the HPFP failed.
IIRC, over 9L of oil/diesel mix! It stank a bit, too.
Give the dipstick a sniff test. You might be able to smell even a little contamination.

[George111]

Volvo modified the software on the D5 engines a few years back as the DPF regeneration process involved injecting additional diesel into the engine which was then burnt in the DPF, burning off the collected soot, but in some situations this extra diesel found its way past the rings and into the sump, eventually filling it up. The new software turned on the engine warning light if the oil level reached the top of the dipstick and the amended service instruction as to fill it only halfway between min and max.

No idea if your engine has a similar system - if not it could just be a leaking injector or overfilled at service.

[ollya]

...after letting the dipstick hole drain with the dipstick out and remeasuring we're now maybe 15mm over - a big relief compared to the 8cm or so when I first looked.
It's due an oil change soon so we'll probably just do that and then monitor closely.
Thanks for the help guys, will update if the level rises post change (or for that matter whether it gets filled correctly at the garage)

[imagineifyeswill]

As has been said already if its a DPF system its quite common for diesel to get in the oil. One of my customers a taxi driver had a Mazda six thats was serviced regularly and every time I changed the oil I would drain out about 7 -7.5 litres against the 5 litres it was previously filled with. I believe this was happening to such an extent with Jaguar diesels that they were wrecking the bottom ends.