Oil overfill

[Dartmoor]

Had my T25 2litre Aircooled re-tested today for its MOT. Glad to say it passed. Whilst it was there I asked the garage, who I normally trust, and have a good reputation to change the oil and filter. I supplied the correct filter and a new 5 litre container of oil - the correct ones for Aircooled from Just Kampers. Got home, and checked the oil - what concerned me was that it appears to have been overfilled - past high level mark. I then checked the 5 litre container they gave me back, and it still had just under a litre of oil in it? The oil in the engine is prestine and clean, so I think they had drained the old oil ok. So I am baffled as I thought a 2 litre T25 would take 4.5 litres of oil?? Second question - I have driven about 8 miles from the garage - will the overfill have caused any damage - there are some dire warnings for some engines about over-filling?

[R0B]

it should hold 4.5 litres with a filter change.the only sure way of knowing is to drain the oil and refill again...

[toomanytoys]

You checked it, engine hot??? check it engine cold.... before you decide to drop the oil.... a little above, youll get away with, use a syringe and lenght of tubing down the filler pipe to suck out some oil...

[Fritz]

Surly the thing was to check the level before you left the garage,


Regards


Fritz,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[Dartmoor]

You checked it, engine hot??? check it engine cold.... before you decide to drop the oil.... a little above, youll get away with, use a syringe and lenght of tubing down the filler pipe to suck out some oil...

Well, yep, I think I will check it again. Guess question is though, can an overfill, if it has happened, cause any damage...or is that fairly unlikely?

[Dartmoor]

Surly the thing was to check the level before you left the garage,


Regards


Fritz,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Should have done, but it looks like you don't trust them!

[Red Westie]

A little overfull on a pre-cat engine isn't really an issue....if the engine disagrees it will likely blow a little up the breather into the air filter...no big deal (as a guide I would say don't bother if under 1cm over max mark)
If it were vastly overfull....1 litre plus too much, I would say drop the sump bung for 5 seconds...bit messy but the only way.
Overfilling is a bit more critical on later engines fitted with catalytic convertors, where excessive amounts discharged down the exhaust due to overfilling, can destroy the CAT.
Martin

[HarryMann]

.. and on diesel T25s where it can cause running on oil via the turbo, harmful at the least and potentially catastrophic.

Engines I know don't like it because they can then not only throw out the excess but a lot of the rest at the same time, are Fiat Unos and some Lancias twin-cams, but they're all a bit old in the tooth now.
Generally try to keep it fairly near the max mark.. check when cold and drained back dead-level.

[Mr Bean]

Well my 2.1DJ WBX got ever so slightly overfilled by after my engine rebuild and it solve the problem by laying down a blinding smoke screen for about 1/4 mile which frightened me to death as you can imagine. I mentioned this on the forum and several people come back with similar responses. To be honest I think the flat four layout is more susceptable to overfilling than say a vertical four but it still puzzles me as to how it got into the combustion chambers unless it got chucked up the breather stack. Of course now I have been ranbling I wil probably find yours was an upright deisel engine or sumat and I have been talking rubish. No change there then
cheers
Wolfie

[syncrosimon]

I have heard from the American forums that static dyno testing of the WBX, (essentially them same as the CU) shows that the flat four is susceptible to frothing, if the oil level is too high. The crank acts like a big wisk, and foams up the crank case oil, leading to a drop in oil pressure. This is only of concern when at high revs for sustained amounts of time, but accounts for the occasional burp of smoke from the back. I would definately get the oil level back down to the top mark. On a cold engine draining a bit off wont be too difficult for your garage to do.

[Red Westie]

Although I think some of these points are a little over the top I do agree that it is generally not a good idea to run overfull. A point possibly missed : you have paid good money for these guys to carry out the work and they made a small mistake in slightly? overfilling your engine....it is therefore their responsibility to put matters right and drain off the excess...job done and removing the worry, however real.
Martin

[HarryMann]

Frothing on the 2.1s can be a problem after a fast run, 'tis why Porsches use a windage tray.

[R0B]

which points would those be?

Although I think some of these points are a little over the top

[Dartmoor]

Although I think some of these points are a little over the top I do agree that it is generally not a good idea to run overfull. A point possibly missed : you have paid good money for these guys to carry out the work and they made a small mistake in slightly? overfilling your engine....it is therefore their responsibility to put matters right and drain off the excess...job done and removing the worry, however real.
Martin

They should put it right really, but they charged £30 labour including fitting new horn and indicator for the MOT re-test, so quite modest really. I have a clean bilge pump with a long tube from a boat - sounds like I could re-clean that very thoroughly, and suck abit out via the filler tube. But I think the overfill is less than 1cm from the top mark, so not a lot of oil. I was more worried about something I had read about overfilling causing seals to bloow, especially the oil cooler seal. But no one has mentioned that, so maybe that is only extreme.

[bigherb]

2 ltr Aircooled only take 3.5 ltrs with a filter channge.