Advice needed - Too much oil : 1000/2000€ damage ?

sabisflawless

Hello,

This morning, before heading to Dublin, my boyfriend thought that we needed to add some oil in the car. Problem is, both knowing nothing about cars, he added too much oil (almost 2 litres...).

What happened is that the car was very smokey so I drove to the nearest mechanical. After having a look at the car, he told me that once the car was cold, it was hard to start, still smokey, and was chugging a lot.
He checked the spark plugs and they were very dirty from oil. He also said that he suspects the engine piston rings broken up, and that the cylinder head will have to be removed.

My car is an Opel Astra 1.4 petrol from 1998. I bought it in December.

I have to admit that I am very surprised that too much oil can do so much damage! I only drove the car for 10 km after adding the oil!

Now, the mechanical told me that to get it repaired, it will cost me from €1000 to €2000, which is much more than the car value itself.

Do you think that all this happened because of the oil? And, is this guy trying to abuse the fact that I don't know anything about cars?

Thank you for any kind of help here!

n97 mini

Do you mind me asking what's your first language? Your English is very good, but it made me smile

Why did your BF think it needed more oil?

Did it only start chugging after he added the oil?

The mechanic's advice in this case is probably not correct.

guil

2 litres is nearly 50% of the oil already in the engine and could easily do a lot of damage, it would probably be cheaper just to change the engine rather than fix it

sabisflawless

Thank you for your answer!
I'm French, this explains my English.

For the oil, he wanted to add some oil as there weren't enough, but unfortunately, he added to much of it.

The car wasn't chugging before, I've been using it for 4 months now and never noticed any problem.

Seth Brundle

2L is waay too much oil to be used for topping it up.
Too much oil would be likely to cause a lot of damage such as what happened to your engine.
Can your mechanic give you a quote to fit a second hand engine?

LookBehindYou

Engine may be ok, just get someone with a spanner and a basin to get under car to drain a few litres of oil out of the engine. Buy new spark plugs and should fire up ok.

Nissan doctor

Having the oil 2L over filled could very well have caused severe damage due to excessive oil pressure but I would definatly advice getting it checked fully first. Guessing that there are issues with the piston rings is no use, various simple tests can be done to see what, if any, damage has been done.

af_thefragile

One thing I've learnt while dealing with mechanics here in Dublin, no offence to any mechanic here, but many are out there to take you for a ride. You need to be really careful while choosing a right mechanic for the job and good honest mechanics seem to be few and far between. Someone who won't take you for a ride and quote you mad for simple jobs...

Anyway, first get your engine checked for any damage as the posters above stated. Simple things like compression tests can tell you a lot about the condition of the engine and they're fairly cheap. If the compression test come out fine, then just drain out the excess oil, put in new spark plugs and your engine should be fine.

My policy is don't fix it if it ain't broken!
If the engine is running fine, don't worry about it till the engine complete breaks and falls apart. Cuz usually its cheaper to just replace the engine with another one than fixing the engine.

peasant

In laymans terms, what happens when you have too much oil (way too much oil) in the engine is that the pistons hit a puddle of oil on their way down. This oil has no place to go really and it doesn't compress either, so basically the pistons get hit from both ends ...the exploding fuel from the top hammers them into the non-compressable oil at the bottom.
No engine will stand for that for long without something breaking.

Just a bit too much oil has a different effect. The pistons don't hit it, but instead they whisk it into a foam. That foam then fills the oil channels essential for lubricating your engine with air bubbles instead of oil and you actually starve your engine of oil even though you have too much in it.

Solnskaya

oh. my. god. jesus wept.......

rob180

Was there no dipstick for u to use? Surely he knows how to use it .

brennarr

rob180 wrote: »

Was there no dipstick for u to use? Surely he knows how to use it .

He must be a dipstick. Adding 2l of oil to an engine for no reason:eek:

taintabird

brennarr wrote: »

He must be a dipstick. Adding 2l of oil to an engine for no reason:eek:

2 litres over could potently write off your engine so no your mechanize was not trying it on maximum means exactly that mind you 1000 to 2000 to fix a 1998 astra is a bit much the car would not be worth it a second hand engin would be approximately €400 + fitting

David09

peasant wrote: »

In laymans terms, what happens when you have too much oil (way too much oil) in the engine is that the pistons hit a puddle of oil on their way down. This oil has no place to go really and it doesn't compress either, so basically the pistons get hit from both ends ...the exploding fuel from the top hammers them into the non-compressable oil at the bottom.
No engine will stand for that for long without something breaking.

Just a bit too much oil has a different effect. The pistons don't hit it, but instead they whisk it into a foam. That foam then fills the oil channels essential for lubricating your engine with air bubbles instead of oil and you actually starve your engine of oil even though you have too much in it.

^ Exactly spot on.
However, it will cost next to nothing to drain the oil out and try running it to see how it goes, so this is the best thing to do before getting into the major stuff.

-Chris-

Solnskaya wrote: »

oh. my. god. jesus wept.......

brennarr wrote: »

He must be a dipstick. Adding 2l of oil to an engine for no reason:eek:

Any chance you lads could try and post constructively? Thanks.

danbohan

rob180 wrote: »

Was there no dipstick for u to use? Surely he knows how to use it .

only one dipstick it seems

-Chris-

-Chris- wrote: »

Any chance you lads could try and post constructively? Thanks.

danbohan wrote: »

only one dipstick it seems

Seriously??

danbohan banned for 24hrs for ignoring on-thread Mod request

sabisflawless

As I said, my boyfriend and I don't know anything about cars, so we didn't think that putting too much oil could do that... I know it sounds stupid for a lot of people here, but if I asked for help, it's because I wanted a second opinion.
We did a mistake and our car is probably ruined. I think that's enough to learn the lesson. Judging us won't make anything better.

So thanks to all of you who are trying to help us out. My step father is coming from France tomorrow, and he knows a bit more about all this stuff than us. We'll get it checked fully on Monday, drain the oil and change the spark plugs to see if it works.

Again, thanks a lot for your help. You can't even imagine how hard it is to loose your car without understanding a thing!

n97 mini

As was said, try draining out the excess oil first. There are various recirculation and breather tubes around the top of the engine that oil can make its way into. I would check these, and as also suggested I would check the spark plugs and also the air filter and throttle body.

I haven't seen the engine, but I doubt that it's wrecked.

(If it is, you should be able to get a 2nd hand engine, fitted, for a lot less than €1,000)

ShadowHearth

Engine could be gone - yes. Repairing it for 2k eu - lol no!

You can buy such astra for 1k eu these days, so getting an engine for it will be even cheaper.

In all normal cars there are dipsticks, it's better to have less then over fill. Now you know op, bad experience is an experience too. You should be happy that you did not doo that on higher value car then astra. A lesson for your next car.

-Chris-

Bring your car to someone else for a second opinion, or sit on your hands until your step dad gets home. If you don't know what you're doing I wouldn't suggest trying to remedy it yourself (draining oil or otherwise) - just because you've removed the excess oil doesn't mean it'll be safe to start or drive the car.

Wait until someone qualified tells you what the extent of the damage is.

sabisflawless

Hello!

Just to keep you informed, the mechanist drained the oil and changed the spark plugs, and tested the 4 cylinders (I mean, the 4 round things ), and he noticed that one of them was going at 60 instead of around 170.

He also said that this damaged wasn't due to the oil, but that it was normal if I didn't really notice anything.

Anyway, he's still a garage I'll avoid in the future, as the mechanist and the sales person I was dealing with started talking in Polish between them two so that I couldn't understand!!!! And also because they wanted to buy the car for 100€. Of course, I said that for this price, I'd scrap it, and he answered that he would see with the sales persons if they can buy it for more...

I don't know if we are allowed to directly write the names of the garages where we had bad experience, but if you want to know, he's in Cork, and I can give you their name by Private Message.

Thank you to all of you for your precious help! We promise to never ever add oil without checking it first!

mondeo

sabisflawless wrote: »

Hello!

Just to keep you informed, the mechanist drained the oil and changed the spark plugs, and tested the 4 cylinders (I mean, the 4 round things ), and he noticed that one of them was going at 60 instead of around 170.

He also said that this damaged wasn't due to the oil, but that it was normal if I didn't really notice anything.

Anyway, he's still a garage I'll avoid in the future, as the mechanist and the sales person I was dealing with started talking in Polish between them two so that I couldn't understand!!!! And also because they wanted to buy the car for 100€. Of course, I said that for this price, I'd scrap it, and he answered that he would see with the sales persons if they can buy it for more...

I don't know if we are allowed to directly write the names of the garages where we had bad experience, but if you want to know, he's in Cork, and I can give you their name by Private Message.

Thank you to all of you for your precious help! We promise to never ever add oil without checking it first!

Talking amongst themselves in their own language how ignorant. Sounds like they were attempting to do you up like a kipper sandwich.

Wheelnut

This thread is a perfect example of how the innocent can be conned by the trade and further confused by others who have the best intentions.

The boyfriend added 2 litres of oil because he thought it was needed, so the oil level must have been low, therefore he may only have overfilled by a lesser amount, shall we say 1 liter? Not enough to wreck an engine. (the difference between max and min on most dipsticks is 1 litre)

There are dire warnings about the consequences of over filling but these are not based on the well being of the engine. These warnings have become common since catalytic converters were added to cars. A high oil level may have no effect on an engine but may poison a cat due to oil being burned or escaping down the exhaust.

The car is still driving and yet a mechanic comes up with a diagnosis of a damaged engine and quotes thousands for repair! I think the OP should wait until her father (or someone she can trust) has a look at it. From what I have read it seems that one cylinder may be down on compression but it may have nothing to do with the oil level. The car is still driving so keep going and don't worry about it until the NCT comes round.