Garage overfilled oil

Mervyn Skidmore

Hi. I bought a 2006 1.4 petrol Honda Civic about a week ago from a dealer. When inspecting the car, I checked oil and the level was at the full mark on the dipstick. When I was in the office with the salesman, I told him there was no washer fluid in the car so he called one of the workshop employees and told him to check all fluid levels. When I went out I saw him with oil but thought nothing of it. Now, on checking fluids last night, having followed the manual on how to do an oil check, the level is about 1cm over the full mark on the dipstick. Research online goes from, "it's totally fine" to, "stop driving immediately". I've driven a few hundred km in the mean time and noticed nothing. Any advice?

Wibbs

Drain off the excess as soon as possible. Overfilling is a bad idea. If the oil level reaches the bottom of the spinning crank this cause cavitation, bubbles, in the oil which can lead to starvation of oil to vital bits like bearings. My 2 cents anyway.

Nuw

Did you check level after having driven the car? If yes, it might be normal. My advise would be to check again after the car has fully cooled (if not already done). If there is still excess, drain it straight away to avoid potential issues.

I would also suggest bringing the car to a trusted mechanic, have it serviced and getting looked at, if the dealer's employees are not able to check oil before pouring some in, it doesn't bod well for how they treated the car...

Mervyn Skidmore

Nuw wrote: »

Did you check level after having driven the car? If yes, it might be normal. My advise would be to check again after the car has fully cooled (if not already done). If there is still excess, drain it straight away to avoid potential issues.

I would also suggest bringing the car to a trusted mechanic, have it serviced and getting looked at, if the dealer's employees are not able to check oil before pouring some in, it doesn't bod well for how they treated the car...

Hi, the manual says to bring car to running temp, switch off engine, leave approx 3 mins and check oil level so that's what I followed. Raging if I have to pay for this now, can't go to back to the same place as it's too far. What eijit tops up full oil?

Nuw

Ah ok, maybe another civic 1.4 owner on here can confirm? I always check oil when cold, but maybe I'm the one who needs to update my method...

I still think a good service by a trusted mechanic, while a pain in the wallet, will bring you peace of mind. At least, then you know it has been done properly.

Toyotafanboi

A major overfill of oil wouldn't be good as in overfilled by litres. I don't think 1cm over the full line would have me concerned, the sort of damage that overfull engine oil can do would be obvious pretty soon so if it's driving ok a few days after the overfill it's probably fine, that and those engines are partial to a drop of oil so it'll right itself over time anyway. Obviously the 100% correct thing to do is drain the excess but if it's showing 1cm max extra on the dipstick, personally I'd forget about it.

biko

Ring the dealer and let them handle it.
Why would you have to clean up their problem?
If they don't know it happened they can't double-check these things in future.

Mervyn Skidmore

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

A major overfill of oil wouldn't be good as in overfilled by litres. I don't think 1cm over the full line would have me concerned, the sort of damage that overfull engine oil can do would be obvious pretty soon so if it's driving ok a few days after the overfill it's probably fine, that and those engines are partial to a drop of oil so it'll right itself over time anyway. Obviously the 100% correct thing to do is drain the excess but if it's showing 1cm max extra on the dipstick, personally I'd forget about it.

Thanks. I'm getting new tyres tomorrow so might ask them to suck a bit out if they have one of those vacuum things. It seems to be common, overfilling, looking online. I'd normally only check the oil every couple of weeks so this could have gone unnoticed.

Mervyn Skidmore

biko wrote: »

Ring the dealer and let them handle it.
Why would you have to clean up their problem?
If they don't know it happened they can't double-check these things in future.

Thanks but I don't have time to go back. It's a 2 hour drive.

biko

Aye, that's a bit far for a problem any local mech can handle.
Still, you should mention it to dealer, just in case.

Avns1s

1 cm over is absolutely nothing to be worried about.

Just forget about it OP and keep an eye on it for it dropping. As has been mentioned some of these engines are partial to a little oil.

Leonard Hofstadter

I wouldn't be bothered by 1 cm, yes it shouldn't have happened, but engines are always built to withstand certain tolerances, including going (a little) above the maximum oil capacity.