DanMaxima

I overfilled the oil on my 4th gen. Took a 5min. drive. Got froth. Drain it all out and replace, or just drain the excess (which I can more or less do by only taking off the oil filter)?

Full story:
So I changed my oil the other day, a task which I'm new to. For reasons I won't elaborate on, I wasn't quite sure how much I had put in. I let it sit for a while and when I checked my dipstick, I was in the low range of the OK range. So I just put 0.25 quarts in, in an attempt to bring it up to the higher end of the OK range. I took a 5min. errand. Let it sit for a while. When I checked the dipstick this morning before heading out on a long drive, I read around 1/8th" above OK. I opened the oil filler cap and yup, there's froth.

Rhyno02

iTrader: (12)

I dunno why over filling would result in froth. Regardless, if you're unsure just drain and refill. Better safe than sorry.

DanMaxima

Apparently overfilling rises the oil level to a point where some part of the engine laps it up to a froth. I could have that wrong though.

Now, again, I'm new to this all, so maybe what I'm seeing is normal. Again, I only took a very short trip indeed, but perhaps that was enough to froth things up....or maybe it's normal.

Here's the best shot I could get (click for larger image):

MadMax07SL

I'm confused by the froth. What color is it? Is it milky?

As far as over filling, typically just drain a bit, plug it, check and top off as needed. You shouldn't need to drain all of it.

MadMax07SL

Looking at the picture, are you sure that's froth, and not the imperfections of the cast metal?

DanMaxima

Hum...I took that photo just now, after I had already pulled the oil filter out to lower the level, so perhaps that is the metal.

BenStoked

iTrader: (7)

1/8th" inch won't make a damn bit of difference, either positive or negative.
if it were half a quart or more, it MAY make performance suffer slightly, but it won't actually do anything else.

DanMaxima

Well I just took the oil filter off and lost a bit of oil. I let it sit for a while. I just put the oil filter back on and check the level. It's now right in the middle of the OK range now.

Bleed Oil:


My real concern was if the oil had been compromised somehow from the foaming...but I bet I was looking at cast metal the whole time.

Thanks! I feel just slightly less noobish now.

MadMax07SL

Wow, that excess oil you took out is dirty...at such a thin presance in that catchpan, it shouldn't be that dirty unless you still had some dirty left in the catchpan.

What I'm getting at, are you sure you drained all the oil from the car initially? You did drain it from the plug at the bottom of the oil pan, not just the filter, right?

DanMaxima

You know, I thought the exact same thing. The pan was gravity drained of the old stuff before I did the overfill bleed.

I filled up an old fruit juice gallon jug with the old stuff and used a bottle from the new stuff for the rest of the old stuff. It's possible I threw away a part-emptied new quart and poured back in that part quart of old stuff...but I'm can't think of how I would have mixed them up. I did wander about the 'new' stuff though. I got it from an autozone or similar vendor with a really good sale. Maybe they mixed in some rubbish. I'm going to dig into the trash can to see if I can find the part-quart, and see if it's indeed old stuff.

DanMaxima

I dug the old stuff out of the trash can -- it is indeed old stuff. The only conclusion is that the place I bought the old from had some old stuff mixed in.

A took an dusty, partly used quart of GTX we had from way back and compared the too -- no doubt about it that 'overfill' oil is bad which isn't something I'm stoked about.

The deal was so good that I bought 5 pints more for the next oil change. I'm going to take the caps off those to see what they look like.

MadMax07SL

Hey, do the environment a favor when you find that half full one, take it to the auto parts store, and pour it out in their recovery bin for oil, that way it can be disposed of properly. I hope you did the same with the milk jug. Additionally, some of these containers we think will hold oil aren't designed to spec for that kind of containment. What i mean is, a milk jug can degrade under conditions with oil instead of milk in it, and start leaking over a very short period of time, so be sure you dispose of that stuff quickly. (and properly).

As far as the color of the oil, it's possible as it mixes throughout the motor over a short period that it pulled dirt and just mixed with the new, but typically it shouldn't be this dark right after an oil change. I seriously doubt that the auto parts store sold you used oil...when you poured it in, did you note the color? Usually it's got a thin honey look to it, which is close to what I'd expect to come out when you drained a little after a short mileage trip.

I think in the future you should pay someone to do your oil changes...might save you some grief...

DanMaxima

OK, I'll look into better disposal, thought I doubt the HDPE (iirc) bottle would have a problem in the landfill.

I did and I was surprised how nasty one of them looked. Like an idiot I pored it in anyway.

I'm used to to the tech world, where much is reversible. I can't do a hashsum check on the new oil or 'backup' my car before an oil change to I can revert back later if need be.

MadMax07SL

By itself standing upright, probably could last a few years. Under pressure of 20 tons of stuff above, it will spill out immediately, and seep into the ground. If the dump site hadn't been well developed from the beginning, that oil, along with other things, can slowly make their way into the water table...

Just saying, "Out of sight out of mind" isn't proper disposal...do the right thing!