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oil slightly over the max mark

mattlee

mattlee

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Location
leicestershire
Car
Civic 2.2 i-ctdi
my car went to a dealership a few weeks ago for a full service. since then its been to another dealership more local for a free health check. during this check they noticed fresh oil on the side of the engine below the drive belt area.

ive been keeping an eye on the level and it hasnt dropped any thats noticable using the dipstick. although what i have noticed is that the level is above the max level on the dipstick. not by much maybe just a couple of mil but just wondered if this slight overfill has caused it to start spraying out somewhere?
below are a couple of pics of the oil level this morning after the car has sat since about 5pm last night, i also took the filler cap off for 5 minutes before testing the level.
IMAG0504.jpg

IMAG0503.jpg


my car has today been taken back to my local dealership to have the pressure sensor on the ac changed and to have an engine wash to see if we can find out where the oil is coming from. will this have caused any damage to my engine? if its leaking has it damaged a seal? i know overfilling can be as bad as having too little oil and dont want to have to pay out for anything else as my car is costing me plenty at the minute :(
 
if its a tiny bit over i would not worry too much but it may be worth either draining a bit or just getting the oil changed again at the place who did the services expense.
 
Nah that's not much at all.

Famous last words :D
 
mattlee said:
my car went to a dealership a few weeks ago for a full service. since then its been to another dealership more local for a free health check. during this check they noticed fresh oil on the side of the engine below the drive belt area.

ive been keeping an eye on the level and it hasnt dropped any thats noticable using the dipstick. although what i have noticed is that the level is above the max level on the dipstick. not by much maybe just a couple of mil but just wondered if this slight overfill has caused it to start spraying out somewhere?
below are a couple of pics of the oil level this morning after the car has sat since about 5pm last night, i also took the filler cap off for 5 minutes before testing the level.
IMAG0504.jpg

IMAG0503.jpg


my car has today been taken back to my local dealership to have the pressure sensor on the ac changed and to have an engine wash to see if we can find out where the oil is coming from. will this have caused any damage to my engine? if its leaking has it damaged a seal? i know overfilling can be as bad as having too little oil and dont want to have to pay out for anything else as my car is costing me plenty at the minute :(
Click to expand...




If your not loosing any oil then chances are the oil on the side of the engine is just some that may have been spilt when they did the service.
 
i hope thats the case but to spill it where it is would be a mamouth job to do tbh without covering the belt and pulleys....
 
marks on the dip stick are for reason and I'd suggest to remove some oil to get it down to the marks as too much oil can cause damage to the seals because of the high pressure inside the engine, make sure you are on flat surface and with help of syringe and rubber tube you can sort it out.
 
so pretty mixed replies here guys.

should i take some out or not?

if its gonna do harm then ill take some out but if its neither here or there ill leave it but as Grzesiek said max and min are there for a reason surely...

the thing is i have no where to do it myself or the kit required and the dealership that did it is 85 miles away!
 
I am thinking like Grzesiek.For your engine to much oil and can demage.
 
At the end of the day it's up to you - it's your car after all. If it was my car I wouldn't bother for such a small overfill but I would keep an eye on the level to make sure it's not rising as that could be a sign of something more sinister such as a dodgy injector.

With regard to the oil found down the side of the engine it is likely to have been spilt when the oil change was done, particularly if it's clean oil. You'd be surprised just where spilt oil can end up. That's what can make finding the source of an oil leak a real pain.

Alan
 
thats not going to kill your engine. the difference between top and bottom on the dip stick is about 1 litre. That should give you an idea of how small the amount of oil is that's been over filled.

i know that on forums the first instinct is to don a tin hat and head for cover when an over fill has been mentioned but seriously mate that is not going to do any harm.
 
Matt i would say that will be fine.Check the oil level from a cold engine in the morning on perfect level ground.
When the oil is cold it will be bang on the mark i think.
As for the oil on the pulleys this might be a spillage if its clean oil.When you drive with new oil in a diesel it will turn black within a couple of miles so this would be the colour of the oil if leaking.
 
Was that reading from hot or cold, bear in mind when hot the reading changes due to thermal expansion. I any case as already said, I don't think it will do you any harm.
 
you can do it yourself on the drive or even on car park or wherever just put the rubber tube in to the place where dip stick is and just using syringe suck it out and that's it. but as guys said make sure your engine is cold and you are on perfectly flat surface to make sure that you're really above the mark.
 
yeah the engine was cold it hadnt been started for about 14 hours and was on my driveway which is flat.

my concern is that its been a few weeks since having the service and if its leaking how much was in there to begin with.....
 
just a word of warning guys. i didnt take the car back to the dealership that did my service as it was too far to go back there. i left it thinking its just a small amount over so it should be ok and have recently been told that the extra pressure from the oil has caused my oil leak.

ive really lost any confidence i had left in Honda dealerships and they now want £600 to put it right at my local dealership. it seems that a cheap deal has cost me much much more than what i expected.... such a shame and a waste of a day out to get the car serviced at what i thought was a money saving price. never again!!!!
 
Matt i would be very surprised if that small amount of oil over the dipstick would have caused the oil leak.
Its more likely you already had an oil leak and this slightly more oil and pressure made it more noticeable.
 
brett said:
Matt i would be very surprised if that small amount of oil over the dipstick would have caused the oil leak.
Its more likely you already had an oil leak and this slightly more oil and pressure made it more noticeable.
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+1
I was thinking exactly the same thing about a pre-existing condition being made more obvious by raising the oil level.

But why would a little too much oil cause extra pressure?
 
Jon_G said:
+1
I was thinking exactly the same thing about a pre-existing condition being made more obvious by raising the oil level.

But why would a little too much oil cause extra pressure?
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I would say Jon this small amount wouldn't but say over 0.5l would.I don't no the facts on this but on this car to much oil is as bad as not enough.
All i can think is there is less room in the engine with excess oil causing the pressure to change.
 
brett said:
I would say Jon this small amount wouldn't but say over 0.5l would.I don't no the facts on this but on this car to much oil is as bad as not enough.
All i can think is there is less room in the engine with excess oil causing the pressure to change.
Click to expand...
Hi Brett, I was hoping Matt would know, ***uming that this had been explained to him? I'd have thought that excess pressure caused by the increased volume would relieve into the sump airspace and then either be vented via the PCV system or, failing that, push out of the dipstick?
 
Jon_G said:
Hi Brett, I was hoping Matt would know, ***uming that this had been explained to him? I'd have thought that excess pressure caused by the increased volume would relieve into the sump airspace and then either be vented via the PCV system or, failing that, push out of the dipstick?
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TBO Jon i dont no the answer.But if i was Matt i would wont to no how the dealers came to this conclusion for the oil leak.
In this case a 2nd opinion would be the road i would go down.
 
Hear is a link i found its quite interesting reading and not to long.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_6924352_happens-oil-full-car_.html
 
brett said:
I would say Jon this small amount wouldn't but say over 0.5l would.I don't no the facts on this but on this car to much oil is as bad as not enough.
All i can think is there is less room in the engine with excess oil causing the pressure to change.
Click to expand...
this is what i was told. more oil in the engine = higher pressures = potential leaks/damage how true that is i have no idea as i am not a mechanic. before the service the engine was completely clean. i had an oil leak about 7 or so months previous which was sorted at Honda at the cost of £600+. it had never dropped a drop until after this service and never used a drop either which was a great thing for a diesel of any kind. within a couple of weeks of the service i had fresh oil dripping down my block. it was cleaned off at Honda and ran again for a week to see if it was spilt oil. the oil was visible again on my return so they washed it again and we repeated the test. where the leak is coming from is well out of reach of any spilt oil any way tbh unless they were chucking it about everywhere and even then it would be very hard to get it where it is.....

they cant pinpoint it 100% without stripping it down and the quote of £600 is a rough guide supplied from Honda. i guess it has a min and a max for a reason and incompetent staff cant be bothered to check it correctly need to realise this....
 
I have also noticed the thermal expansion. I use to fill my car to top mark and then when warm and notice it was over. For this reason I only ever fill the car 3/4 ish full between the two marks on the dip stick. This way I keep in tolerance for thermal expansion. My oil is basically at full mark when the engine is up to tempreture.

I did however drain the excess oil straight away when I noticed which was straight after my service. I just didnt take any risk as I know these engines are very picky when it comes to fluids and fluid types.
 
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