Overfilled Engine oil - Bad mistake

bbam · 24-12-2013 02:11PM #1

Well..
Looks like I overfilled her car, C4 Grand Picasso, with oil and it stopped along the road..
Sounds like it had a runaway episode before she stopped it.. Plumes of smoke...

Not a great start to christmas eve

Have it towed back home and booked into garage in new year...
It turns over fine but doesn't start..

Any guess on the chances of getting away without changing the engine ??

Neilw · 24-12-2013 02:13PM

How much did you over fill it by?

bbam · 24-12-2013 02:15PM

Neilw wrote: »

How much did you over fill it by?

Its about an inch above high level on dipstick..

A-Trak · 24-12-2013 02:36PM

bbam wrote: »

Its about an inch above high level on dipstick..

How long is the space between low and high level on the dipstick?

bbam · 24-12-2013 02:41PM

A-Trak wrote: »

How long is the space between low and high level on the dipstick?

Inch and a half maybe..

Neilw · 24-12-2013 03:06PM

Doesn't sound like you put that much in. Was the car on level ground when you were topping up?

kona · 24-12-2013 03:10PM

Depends on the size of the sump and shape, but if it overfilled you could have just opened the sump plug a bit to drain off the extra.

I'd say a inch over is miles too much oil. Chances of getting away without a massive bill is slim.

hi5 · 24-12-2013 03:22PM

An inch isn't that much, it all depends on whether the crank hits it when turning, if it does, it will cause it to foam, meaning air instead of oil gets pumped through the oil ways.
How long has it been overfilled?

corktina · 24-12-2013 03:22PM

I'd say it wont start because the computer thinks something is wrong. It may be just a case of re-setting the computer, I hope so. Have a good xmas anyway.

bbam · 24-12-2013 04:05PM

Thanks lads.
I see oil round the engine bay so I know it's not a simple drain and start.

No warnings showing on the display, just won't start.

It was odd.
Low oil pressure light came on.
Checked dipstick and it was clean.
Topped up and still nothing showing.
Topped up and still nothing.
Started car, stopped and still nothing on dipstick.
Topped it up again and stopped when midway in dipstick. About 2l of oil total.

Herself drove 4 miles to town and no bother.
Then half way back it started to over rev , plume of smoke and she pulled in and stopped it.

Spoke to mechanic and he said it's a common problem that they are a torture to top up and it can happen easily. He doesn't hold out much hope if an easy fix.

I feel quite stupid, suck a rookie mistake

Anan1 · 24-12-2013 05:42PM

If it was driven with the low oil pressure light on then the damage was quite possibly done before you ever touched it. It could be that the running without oil wore the engine to the point of runaway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_engine_runaway

Sorry to hear anyway, try not to let it ruin your Christmas.

debabyjesus · 24-12-2013 06:53PM

corktina wrote: »

I'd say it wont start because the computer thinks something is wrong. It may be just a case of re-setting the computer, I hope so. Have a good xmas anyway.

Some Peugeots wont start if the ecu sees low oil or coolant so citroen possibly the same

grainnewhale · 24-12-2013 11:13PM

bbam wrote: »

Thanks lads.
I see oil round the engine bay so I know it's not a simple drain and start.

No warnings showing on the display, just won't start.

It was odd.
Low oil pressure light came on.
Checked dipstick and it was clean.
Topped up and still nothing showing.
Topped up and still nothing.
Started car, stopped and still nothing on dipstick.
Topped it up again and stopped when midway in dipstick. About 2l of oil total.

Herself drove 4 miles to town and no bother.
Then half way back it started to over rev , plume of smoke and she pulled in and stopped it.

Spoke to mechanic and he said it's a common problem that they are a torture to top up and it can happen easily. He doesn't hold out much hope if an easy fix.

I feel quite stupid, suck a rookie mistake

wheres the oil coming out. is the oil leaking at turbo or breather. there must be a reason it was so low in the first place.

ION08 · 25-12-2013 12:00AM

Oil pressure light? Overfilled oil? The words car and abuse come to mind. God forbid I ever buy a used car for a person that had "maintained" their car to this standard.

mickdw · 25-12-2013 12:28AM

It doesn't make alot of sense to me how you say nothing was registering on the dipstick after alot of the 2l (total you added) was gone in yet suddenly is overfilled massively.
Was the car on a slope when you were filling it?

Wheelnut · 25-12-2013 01:26AM

I think it will be OK.

@ION08: Totally unhelpful post.

Row · 25-12-2013 01:35AM

If this is the 1.6 hdi and theres oil over the top of the engine then it sounds like the camchain has worn tru the top of the cambox due to poor servicing+&incorrect oil been used....:(

Is the oil all over the drivers side of the engine...?

In the meantime happy Christmas to all....;)

SleeperService · 25-12-2013 02:07AM

ION08 wrote: »

Oil pressure light? Overfilled oil? The words car and abuse come to mind. God forbid I ever buy a used car for a person that had "maintained" their car to this standard.

Mint. Daysul. Miser on fuel. Bargin. L@@k.

Cheep tax...

kona · 25-12-2013 05:28AM

ION08 wrote: »

Oil pressure light? Overfilled oil? The words car and abuse come to mind. God forbid I ever buy a used car for a person that had "maintained" their car to this standard.

That's why you have to be able to spot them , simple questions like when have you changed the oil sort it out

kona · 25-12-2013 05:29AM

Wheelnut wrote: »

I think it will be OK.

@ION08: Totally unhelpful post.

Lol it will be ok after running away!? Dear god his post is more helpful than yours

kona · 25-12-2013 05:31AM

mickdw wrote: »

It doesn't make alot of sense to me how you say nothing was registering on the dipstick after alot of the 2l (total you added) was gone in yet suddenly is overfilled massively.
Was the car on a slope when you were filling it?

He filled it, effectively ran the pump , few litres of oil out of the sump, then measured.
I'm being harsh here(not to you). But you need to have some clue of how things work.

Once low pressure comes on your ****ed

corkgsxr · 25-12-2013 03:06PM

kona wrote: »

He filled it, effectively ran the pump , few litres of oil out of the sump, then measured.
I'm being harsh here(not to you). But you need to have some clue of how things work.

Once low pressure comes on your ****ed

Its depends on how low a pressure. Like did it come on borderline or complete loss.

Wheelnut · 25-12-2013 04:31PM

kona wrote: »

Lol it will be ok after running away!? Dear god his post is more helpful than yours

Let me explain it to you:

Start with the knowledge that on most cars the space between MIN and MAX on the dip-stick takes about one litre of oil. bbam tells us that the oil level is about an inch over the MAX, he also tells us that the distance between MIN and MAX on his car is about 1.5 inches. That indicates to me that the engine is over-filled by about 2/3 of a litre, not enough to cause a runaway.

bbam also tells us that he put in about 2 litres of oil. That indicates to me that the oil was about 1/3 of a litre below MIN before he topped up. That is not low enough to put on the oil pressure light, it probably put on the oil level light.

bbam says that the engine seemed to do a runaway while his wife was driving it so she stopped it. Unless his wife is a skilled mechanic it's very unlikely that she stopped a runaway. Some oil may have got into the cylinders but I doubt it was a runaway.

So I repeat my original view, I think it will be OK.

bbam · 29-12-2013 04:27PM

Thanks for the comments folks.
The car wasn't driven with the low oils level warning on.
It came on outside the house and that's where I made a mess if topping up the oil.

It was on a level surface when it was done and cool.

There was no oil on the engine before this incident, I know from topping up washer fluid.

I didn't get much of a look as to where the oil came out as it was blowing a blizzard here when I towed it in, and it was Christmas Eve and I just wanted it in off the road safe.

As for the comments on abusing the car I think that's OTT, yes I put my hands up to making a mistake. But other than this event our vehicles are well maintained and passed on in top condition. I've put in excess of 200k on cars in the past and kept them just fine.

We all make mistakes.

Wheelnut · 29-12-2013 05:48PM

@ bbam: Let us know the diagnosis when you get it looked at.

bbam · 09-01-2014 05:34PM

Hi folks.
Thought I'd circle back on this.

I have the car back from garage.
The injectors needed rebuilding at a cost of €485 and €200 labour for work done.
Car is running fine. Mechanic drove for a half day and no fault codes reappearing.

He recommends running for 500 miles and changing oil and filter again and pulling in the change on the timing belt as a precaution.

But he is confident that there should be no lasting problems beyond the work done.

Expensive lesson learned, but it could have been much, much worse.
Hopefully as he thinks, no other gremlins appear as a result.

Wheelnut · 09-01-2014 05:46PM

Thanks for coming back on that bbam, poor Kona is going to be very disappointed.

jca · 09-01-2014 05:53PM

bbam wrote: »

Hi folks.
Thought I'd circle back on this.

I have the car back from garage.
The injectors needed rebuilding at a cost of €485 and €200 labour for work done.
Car is running fine. Mechanic drove for a half day and no fault codes reappearing.

He recommends running for 500 miles and changing oil and filter again and pulling in the change on the timing belt as a precaution.

But he is confident that there should be no lasting problems beyond the work done.

Expensive lesson learned, but it could have been much, much worse.
Hopefully as he thinks, no other gremlins appear as a result.

So it had nothing to do with the overfilled oil at all:pac:

bbam · 09-01-2014 06:17PM

jca wrote: »

So it had nothing to do with the overfilled oil at all:pac:

Who said that?
Obviously the injectors were knackered when it ran away.

Seems like some would be happier if the car was knackered, just to teach me a lesson, and of course so they can be right about absolutely everything !!

jca · 09-01-2014 07:59PM

bbam wrote: »

Who said that?
Obviously the injectors were knackered when it ran away.

Seems like some would be happier if the car was knackered, just to teach me a lesson, and of course so they can be right about absolutely everything !!

A bad injector or injectors won't cause an engine to run away. Do you know what an engine runaway is?

grainnewhale · 09-01-2014 08:16PM

jca wrote: »

A bad injector or injectors won't cause an engine to run away. Do you know what an engine runaway is?

wrong.
the diesel was pissing through injector and filling sump with diesel which was coming out through breather into air intake.

Overfilled Engine oil - Bad mistake

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