What happens when you put in too much oil?, The dealership did... Options

[CoolDoctorJ]

When I changed my oil for the first time, I noticed that while the manual says to put in something like 4 quarts, I actually drained about 5 quarts of existing oil. After 3000 miles, could that much extra oil damage something... like, oh, I don't know... the valve seals? I know you guys say the valve seals are a common problem, but it's a problem the car didn't have at the time I bought it, and I've only put about 3000 miles on it since then (most of which was during the time it had too much oil.)

Comments? Questions? Concerns? Donations?

Thanks.

[97Celica]

I have always put like 4.5 Quarts in. And make sure you don't keep on changing from synthetic to non-synthetic..THAT is bad for your engine.

[Supersprynt]

Usually the pan can hold X amount of qts and then there will be more which is physically sucked up by the engine.

[turboinduction]

I'm normally around 4.5 qts. Basically, 4 qts is "low" on the dipstick and 5 is "high." 4.5 is middle. Its not bad unless its way over high. Then you'll get blue smoke out that back as the oil is burning inside the engine! w00t. Your valve seals should be alright. If you so inclined, take off the valve cover and replace the valve cover seal and valve seals.

[CoolDoctorJ]

How easy is it to just "take off the valve cover and replace the valve cover seals and valve seals?"

From what I hear, that's several hundred dollars' worth of labor over a very inexpensive part. Is it a simple task?

Thanks.

[turboinduction]

Simple but time consuming. Thats all. Normally its hard on any other type of vehicle. Since ours is a I4 laid out right in front its easy. Not easy if you have a v8 with one cover underneath the car. You just need the right tools. I haven't taken my valve cover off yet, but have on 4 bangers before. I'm not sure, but I think its 4 bolts and ta da. NOW, I dont think you need to. You trying to fix something thats not broken. Just put 4.5 qts back in and drive until you think something needs a good fixn'

[CoolDoctorJ]

Well, everyone says it's not broken, but I don't like the idea of burning oil every time I start my car. After putting in 4 quarts of oil maybe 500 miles ago, the dipstick reads dangerously low. If it's a fix I can do easily, I'd rather do that than have to constantly feed it oil.

Heh. Then again, changing the oil and the plug wires was a challenge for me...

*edit: Yeah, I was one of those people who posted about blue smoke on startup.

This post has been edited by CoolDoctorJ: Jul 16, 2004 - 10:26 AM

[turboinduction]

Again, you should have 4.5 qts in the Celica. Thats probably why its low. You can smell if its burning oil normally. Very noticable. Plus exhaust gases are visible during the day.

This post has been edited by turboinduction: Jul 16, 2004 - 10:41 AM

[Four]

[brianforster]

yeah i changed my oil less tha ntwo months ago with 4 quarts and i checked it yesterday and it was at a little below LOW so i was like HOLY CRAP so i bought and added another quart and i will check it before i go to work.

at first i thought i had a huge oil leak but since 4 quarts is LOW on teh dipstick then I figure it was a little lower because of the oil I burn from the valve seals

[Cormudgen]

[Digndoug]

about the synthetic.. Its a cleaner oil.. There for it can and will break apart any sludge build up that your old oil made, witch is turn is keeping seals togeather. or them from leaking. Thats why one reason its not good to switch with high milage. Also sence your useing two dif oils your engine is going to run dif.. smother ruffer what ever.. If youhave higher mileage.. just use norm oil.. synthetic is good for when you do a swap or somthing like that..

Also To much oil wont hurt anything.. To little will.. If you have to much, your just going to burn it off. not a big deal. but that could be whats causeing you to burn a lil oil out the rear.. I know my car will burn a lil here an there. but Il somtimes add to much.. an it will just burn it off. an il be like ah ****.. i broke somthing now.

This post has been edited by Digndoug: Jul 17, 2004 - 11:00 AM

[SlowCelica94]

If you add too much oil (servel qt more) then the oil pressure can build and actually shot the dip stick out of it's lil home and through your hood

[Anub1s]

If to much oil is inside of the engine, you could easily blow almost all of your oil seals. Too much oil pressure is really bad for cars. 4 qts for me is perfect, I usually put it between half and full. My friend ( who is a dumb ass and doesn't know anything about cars) put 4 qts too many in his girlfrieds accord. I laughed my ass off, but then my other friend emptied the oil out and changed it. There were almost 8 qts of oil in the thing! How long were you driving it before you noticed that there was too much oil in it? And about synthetic oil, my car runs MUCH smoother with Synthetic. I use fully synthetic Mobile 1, good stuff. Regular oil is fine but if you want more out of your engine use synthetic.

This post has been edited by canyonking: Jul 17, 2004 - 3:13 PM

[Digndoug]

I was only talkign about 1/2-1 quart to much not 4 .. how the F could you do that.... canyonking, when did you switch to synthetic??

[Anub1s]

[slipgun]

Im very happy with synthetic as well. I find the car to run better on it as well. I talked to several car guys and they said that switching back and forth is very bad for the engine, juset like switching different oil weights all the time. They highly sugested if you go to synthetic never switch back.

[Anub1s]

^ very true. One thing that I could add is that regular is better for those people that start and shut off their engines multiple times a day, synthetic oil is so runny that it drops out of the crank case so fast and when you start the engine it has no oil up in there, which can cause a little more wear and tear. It is VERY minimal, its not going to cause much damage if any at all. Regular oil tends to stick a bit better to the block and doesn't run down as much, so when you start and stop your engine it still has some lubrication up in the crank case. Well there you have it.

Cody

[Digndoug]

[celicaboston1983]

i thought out cars only needed 4qts