bloody stealers , i think (and hope) they have over filled my sodding oil when they serviced it last friday , the car has only done a few short journeys since , but today i used it and pulled up at a mates house and stood talking to him at the rear end of my car and noticed it was smoking , it was quite bad for a little while but then died down as it stood idling for longer , i then dipped the oil whilst still running therefore meaning most of the oil would be in use and the level showed it was on the F mark i.e full , surely it shouldnt be right up there just after a short run , so i then had a cuppa with my mate and dipped it again before setting off to come home , the oil was now only slightly over the full mark though and the car hadnt properly cooled down ,

does anyone know if this is potentially dangerous to any part of my engine or had any similar experience .

i'll dip it again in the morning when its sat for a long while again,


Any help or advice on what to do next would be appreciated




Dave

 

Pretty sure the oil needs to be read whent he cars cold to get a good indication of level. I dont think it will make a difference if its very slightly over the full mark.

 

thats what i thought , and my concern lays with the fact that whilst only just turned off it was on / fractionally over the full mark

 

check the dipstick with engine off!

oh btw, you run the risk of blowing gaskets and seals with too much....

 

You need to let the oil settle to check it!

 

great i bet they'll love that news if it happens , and i bet there not willing to accept responsability the bast@*ds.

 

I had a rover 600Ti about 10 years ago, Quite a nice car as rovers go, anyway- Had it serviced at a main rover dealer,£120 odd for a minor service, next day I checked the oil level as you do, It was way over the top mark on the dipstick, rang them, ok they said no problem bring it in they said so in I take it, I open the bonnet and go to take the dipstick out........NO NO Sir, I hear the car will have to stand for an hour before we can check the oil level!, The service manager litterally throws me the keys to a brand new rover 800 vitesse and tells me to "go thrash it about for a couple of hours" which I did, When I get back to the dealers I'm told that A:The oil level was correct and B:my cylinder head gasket had gone and they wanted £350 to replace it! I was not a happy bunny lol! I took the car to a local garage who confirmed the head gasket was leaking oil which could have been caused by overfilling the oil, I complained to the rover dealer but got nowhere, the local garage did the head gasket for £200 and that was the last time I ever went to a main dealer. You may be asking where this thread is going, well that Rover dealer is now a Subaru main dealer, ok they have changed their name but most of the rover staff still work there, So just keep that in mind!

 

believe they hold 4.5 ltrs, how much on invoice

 

it wasnt souls of olney by any chance was it fella

 

doubt that will matter. prob forgot to drop the old stuff if its way over....

 

definately worth giving them a bell in the morning though eh , see what they say about it . the invoice doesnt say how much oil used though .

 

You cannot check the level with the engine running.

All the bits of engine whirring round will splash & spray the oil everywhere. So what you see on the dip stick is not the true level. Bit like trying to tell how much water is in a washing machine when the drum is turning. Can't be done.

Check the oil when it's had chance to drain down into the sump with the engine off. Have the car on as level a bit of ground as you can. As the camber in the road or a sloping driveway will alter the reading.

When you first pull the dip stick out don't read it but wipe it then put it back in & then pull it out & check the level.

Mark

 

right the cars been sat cooling for hours now on my driveway which to be fair is pretty level , i've just dipped it again twice and the oil is about a 1/4 of an inch above the F and the full mark on the dipstick , does this equal being way overfilled or would this not be enough for the smoking to start ,

Thanks for the replies/advice already but keep it coming

 

I reckon on a quick change there is about 1/2 litre stuck all over the internals, so 'change capacity' is actually only 4l. My last change done by dealer I asked for the balance of the 5l oil and he said there was only a bit left Sure enough there was about 1/2 litre. Still worth about £5 and useful for topping up.

I reckon the car had been overfilled and that caused the boost solenoid to play up and require cleaning

 

not good mate , i'm just gonna have to keep an eye on it me thinks .

 

Mine was like that when I bought it 2nd hand from the dealer, wasn't a Subaru garage and they overfilled. On mine (Classic STi) the oil vapour was sucked into the boost pipework and gave pretty serious overboost (hitting a brick wall while accelerating fast..) I just dropped out half a litre and cleaned the boost solenoid with solvent. Never let a dealer near it again in 8 yrs - if I do it I know it's done properly.