Help, Car garage states I have too much oil
Discussion
It's definitely possible. Last summer I had a full service at Porsche, and the first time I took the car out for a drive, I saw a concerning message on the display:

The garage were unable to explain how this had happened, and said that oil delivery into each car is measured by a computer. A representative from the garage came with some Mobil 1 to top up the engine, and then shortly afterward, I got the following message while driving:

(Photo taken by my passenger)
Turns out after a bit of investigation that the oil had been correctly filled during the service, but was being under reported by the level sensor. Now the sensor was working again, it was sensing the excess oil level. So they took the car away, drained it and then refilled it to the correct level. Why they didn't just drain the excess, I don't know.
The garage were unable to explain how this had happened, and said that oil delivery into each car is measured by a computer. A representative from the garage came with some Mobil 1 to top up the engine, and then shortly afterward, I got the following message while driving:
(Photo taken by my passenger)
Turns out after a bit of investigation that the oil had been correctly filled during the service, but was being under reported by the level sensor. Now the sensor was working again, it was sensing the excess oil level. So they took the car away, drained it and then refilled it to the correct level. Why they didn't just drain the excess, I don't know.
phumy said:
Engine oil level is nothing to do with MOT.
Ffs. You have to rev the car, and drive the car on and off the ramp. If something goes pop (and overfilled oil does have a tendency to find it's way out, often hot, in a hurry), the garage doesn't want to be liable.
So they'll tell you.
They don't have to do the MOT. And if I was them I'd be telling the customer too. It won't fail an mot because it has too much oil in. It may f
k the car if driven with it.The customer could come back, take the car away, and either use another garage, if it gets there and another will ignore the dash warning, or take some oil out themself.
If they don't want to, then either it's no mot, or it's oil out, for which a charge is levied.
Common sense. Feel free to try it.
phumy said:
Engine oil level is nothing to do with MOT.
It is not a failure item, it is something they check so they know the car is OK to be run to go through the MOT.If the oil level is wrong, they can refuse to test it.
Normally that'd be because it was way too low, but being excessively high is a valid reason also.
InitialDave said:
It is not a failure item, it is something they check so they know the car is OK to be run to go through the MOT.
If the oil level is wrong, they can refuse to test it.
Normally that'd be because it was way too low, but being excessively high is a valid reason also.
An MOT tester isn't going to physically check the oil but if a warning flashes up he's probably going to refuse to test it.If the oil level is wrong, they can refuse to test it.
Normally that'd be because it was way too low, but being excessively high is a valid reason also.
Now if all cars had a dipstick it would be so much easier
LunarOne said:
It's definitely possible. Last summer I had a full service at Porsche, and the first time I took the car out for a drive, I saw a concerning message on the display:

The garage were unable to explain how this had happened, and said that oil delivery into each car is measured by a computer. A representative from the garage came with some Mobil 1 to top up the engine, and then shortly afterward, I got the following message while driving:

(Photo taken by my passenger)
Turns out after a bit of investigation that the oil had been correctly filled during the service, but was being under reported by the level sensor. Now the sensor was working again, it was sensing the excess oil level. So they took the car away, drained it and then refilled it to the correct level. Why they didn't just drain the excess, I don't know.
Some more recent models without dipstick need a complete refresh not just excess drained. I was surprised but a number of techs got caught out by such nonsense.The garage were unable to explain how this had happened, and said that oil delivery into each car is measured by a computer. A representative from the garage came with some Mobil 1 to top up the engine, and then shortly afterward, I got the following message while driving:
(Photo taken by my passenger)
Turns out after a bit of investigation that the oil had been correctly filled during the service, but was being under reported by the level sensor. Now the sensor was working again, it was sensing the excess oil level. So they took the car away, drained it and then refilled it to the correct level. Why they didn't just drain the excess, I don't know.
The other reason is they can then actually be confident of the actual oil in there.
Macron said:
Ffs.
You have to rev the car, and drive the car on and off the ramp. If something goes pop (and overfilled oil does have a tendency to find it's way out, often hot, in a hurry), the garage doesn't want to be liable.
So they'll tell you.
They don't have to do the MOT. And if I was them I'd be telling the customer too. It won't fail an mot because it has too much oil in. It may f
k the car if driven with it.
The customer could come back, take the car away, and either use another garage, if it gets there and another will ignore the dash warning, or take some oil out themself.
If they don't want to, then either it's no mot, or it's oil out, for which a charge is levied.
Common sense. Feel free to try it.
So they check the oil level during the MOT? News to me.You have to rev the car, and drive the car on and off the ramp. If something goes pop (and overfilled oil does have a tendency to find it's way out, often hot, in a hurry), the garage doesn't want to be liable.
So they'll tell you.
They don't have to do the MOT. And if I was them I'd be telling the customer too. It won't fail an mot because it has too much oil in. It may f
k the car if driven with it.The customer could come back, take the car away, and either use another garage, if it gets there and another will ignore the dash warning, or take some oil out themself.
If they don't want to, then either it's no mot, or it's oil out, for which a charge is levied.
Common sense. Feel free to try it.
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