Too Much Oil - Consequence

[paulmoonraker]

Hi,

What's the consequence of putting way too much engine oil in your car...

In relation to this thread: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/forum.asp?h=0&a...

Thanks

[rallycross]

depends on the car.

eg on a smart car its easy to put too much oil in it (stupid design) and even just a bit of overfilling and it makes huge clouds of white smoke as the oil it gets burnt through the turbo and out the exhaust - looks spectacular but not a good idea.

[paulmoonraker]

Can it cause pipes and seals to fail?

[Ozzie Osmond]

No, but I think that some seals may leak if immersed in oil if they're only designed to deal with splashes. Horizontally opposed (flat) engines or engines which lie at an angle may be particularly vulnerable. For instance, you don't want oil leaking through onto the clutch.

More to the point, BIG trouble starts if the crankshaft and/or connecting rods are dipping into the oil in the sump because the level's too high. It not only causes stesses but whips the oil into an aerated foam which the oil pump then has to try to pump round your engine. As you might imagine, air is not a very good lubricant and you can trash your engine this way.

Most cars allow some leeway for overfilling to take account of parking on a slope etc etc

[paulmoonraker]

Ok, thanks. Looks like it may not be the cause then!

[Crow555]

On some cars, it can damage the cat but as mention, there is a leaway to prevent this when parked on an incline.

[shouldbworking]

Once put too much oil in an old car of mine. Forced it out the breather... cleaning the air intake was not the most fun i've ever had.

[Daston]

What about a car with a dry sump?

[davepoth]

Too much oil in an MGB caused the oil pressure gauge capillary to leak. That was messy.

[Jaguar steve]

Ozzie Osmond said:

No, but I think that some seals may leak if immersed in oil if they're only designed to deal with splashes. Horizontally opposed (flat) engines or engines which lie at an angle may be particularly vulnerable. For instance, you don't want oil leaking through onto the clutch.

More to the point, BIG trouble starts if the crankshaft and/or connecting rods are dipping into the oil in the sump because the level's too high. It not only causes stesses but whips the oil into an aerated foam which the oil pump then has to try to pump round your engine. As you might imagine, air is not a very good lubricant and you can trash your engine this way.

Most cars allow some leeway for overfilling to take account of parking on a slope etc etc

Exactly wot 'e said. Even though oil has anti foam properties in the addative package they won't cope with being beaten to a froth in a high reving engine, nor will most engines cope with the reduced air space and consequencial increase in pumping velocity back and forwards in the bottom end and round the sump either without pissing oil out of every orfice.

Excess foam and oil mist can also lead to a crankcase explosion too which'll really spoil your day.

[vladcjelli]

1.3 mk2 Golf just spat it all out the air intake. Needed a day in the garage cleaning it all out, but it ran fine after that till the gearbox died (unconnected I believe). Now I am a lot better at maintenance.
I just don't do any, can't break things if I don't touch them.

[anonymous-user]

My brand new Landcruiser V8 had 0.8 of a litre too much oil in the gearbox from the factory and then with 64 miles on the clock broke down and ultimately had to have a new gearbox fitted at around £7500 plus fitting, air freight and vat.

I'll be a little more cautious in future when topping up my vehicles with oil.