Too much engine oil

[AM-DB9]

2013 V12
I just finished-up taking care of the neglect of previous owner(s) doing 7 years worth of maintenance and Cat inspection.
All was good until i over filled the engine oil. I have tried several different sizes of tubing via the dip stick but they will not get into the oil sump.

Is this too much oil?
It may be around 1/3 liter or so.

[Jon39]

I don't know how much overfill can lead to trouble, but I would not take a chance.

If there is no other way, you could remove the sump plug, release a quantity of oil, place gloved thumb over the outlet hole, a helper places a new washer on the plug, then refit sump plug to the correct torque.

Could be messy, but probably not too bad with care and protection items for yourself.

[macdeb]

Too much oil is bad in a wet sump engine, as has been suggested take out excess from sump plug.

[Craig elam1]

Oil removal syringe kit pretty cheap from ebay amazon etc, saves removing belly pan again,

[David W.]

Craig elam1 said:

Oil removal syringe kit pretty cheap from ebay amazon etc, saves removing belly pan again,

This if it’s a wet sump engine, I have one and it’s incredibly useful for many things, eg mover oil change.

[Mercdriver]

I would not run the engine with excess oil , you could damage the engine if the crankshaft big end caps are splashing into the oil in the sump. Depends how much a third of a litre increases the height of the oil in the sump.

As above I agree, unscrew the plug until an amount of oil has drained out, you will be able to control the flow by not completely unscrewing the sump plug. Catch overflow into an old oil 5 litre oil can with the side removed in case you drain too much.

[LTP]

AM-DB9 said:

2013 V12
<snip>
All was good until i over filled the engine oil. I have tried several different sizes of tubing via the dip stick but they will not get into the oil sump.
<snip>

I have had the same problem with an oil syringe, so I stepped the tube down by inserting lengths of tubing of ever-decreasing diameter until it could reach the sump of the motor I want to drain - I ended up with the last piece being some 7mm O/D semi-rigid plastic tubing that slid nicely down the filler tube and could bend around the engine internals to reach the oil. The only problem when you go that small is it can then be difficult to generate sufficient vacuum with an oil syringe to suck out the oil when it's cold and thick - mind you, I'm dealing with 30W.

As your V12 is a wet sump, can you not reach the sump via the oil filler rather than the dipstick?

[AM-DB9]

Thanks for the input. Off to drain some oil out.

I tried to avoid cracking open the new sump plug, its the one-use type but hopefully with only 10 minutes of run time it will be forgiving (zero run time with the over-fill). Still up on the Quickjacks and the under tray is currently off for repairs I'm doing on it, so no big deal there for access.

I do have the Amazon fluid suction tool and the last hose i bought to try was only 0.25mm larger diameter then the dip stick (top of the yellow section), still a no go.

[LTP]

AM-DB9 said:

Thanks for the input. Off to drain some oil out.

I tried to avoid cracking open the new sump plug, its the one-use type but hopefully with only 10 minutes of run time it will be forgiving (zero run time with the over-fill).

I don't think they work like that - it's being tightened that is the one-use, not the duration

AM-DB9 said:

I do have the Amazon fluid suction tool and the last hose i bought to try was only 0.25mm larger diameter then the dip stick (top of the yellow section), still a no go.

I still think looking for thinner tube is a better option - or a new drain plug. But you do you.

[AM-DB9]

FYI - The last tubing i got is only 4.76mm (.1875") in diameter, the end of the dip stick is 0.179" (4.55mm) in diameter.
Maybe in earlier year's V12's it works but not for my 2013 V12

[AM-DB9]

Drain down completed, right on the Max mark now.
What looked like not too much turned out to be a 1 liter over fill.
I'm glad the dip stick method didn't work out, would have been at it forever.

The 1 use drain plug is looking good on its 2nd use (so far, all dry).

Edited by AM-DB9 on Wednesday 17th January 03:06

[pschlute]

My understanding is that overfilling the oil can cause "foaming" of the oil as it gets churned around in the crankcase like in a Kenwood mixer.

Having a mixture of oil and air pumped around as lubricant in a high performance engine is not a good idea.

[8Tech]

Make sure that after all that fuss, you have the later modified dipstick in there because the early ones were too long and therefore the oil level too low!

[AM-DB9]

Thank you.
I had heard of that but think i'm ok, I have a 2013 DB9 and discounting my over fill it still took a bit more oil then the manual stated to hit the Max mark.

[Simpo Two]

8Tech said:

Make sure that after all that fuss, you have the later modified dipstick in there because the early ones were too long and therefore the oil level too low!

Interesting; how does one know which dipstick one has?

[Jon39]

Simpo Two said:

Interesting; how does one know which dipstick one has?

Ah, that is the clever part.
Aston Martin do not put part numbers on those dip sticks. Oh no, that would not help the cash flow.

What you need to do John, is go a huge distance to your 'local' main dealer, then buy a special boxed set pair of DB9 dipsticks (£899-99).
When you have managed to get the impenetrable wrapping off, compare the length of each stick and use the shorter one.

In fact, rather like a rare stamp that contains an unfortunate printers error, the long dip stick might be a collectors item.
Perhaps sought after on TikTac.




PS.
I hope that you spotted my outburst with illustrations, on page 4 of, 'V12 Primary Cat delete. Reviews and any regrets please!' .

I was even subsequently awarded a gold star (although that compliment might have been a tease).

Edited by Jon39 on Wednesday 17th January 19:50