Overfilled Oil

If you're going through that much trouble to second guess their work then you'd be better off doing it yourself then you would know that the above mentioned items would still be there.

In the long term.. less stress on your part having people handle your vehicle.

If you have to go through those checks when they simply do an oil change then obviously you don't trust the mechanics you bring your vehicle to. Go to another garage

LOL, It is -30C this morning. On such a day it is ALWAYS safer to get someone else to do it. An oil change is much more than the crankcase. They change the filter, grease the chassis, check the oil in the pumpkins. They have a hoist so they can take the pressure off the ball joints so they can be filled. All this takes more than 20 minutes for me (in my gravel driveway) and we have 3 trucks. At 52 years old I can think of some things I would have others do. Oil changes and exhaust systems comes to mind. I have to save huge sheets of cardboard to lay under the truck on and they don't :)

Merry Christmas one and all. Gordie

-- Best Regards Gordie

Different engines exhibit different degrees of sensitivity to oil overfill. My one data point regarding the 4.3 as installed in the S10-based Blazer is that it's not too crabby about it. At the other extreme would be the 4AFE in my mother's Corolla, which emits a faint but distinct "hey, lemme outta here!" noise at idle (goes away with any noticeable revs) if you put in a bit too much oil.

Note that if you replace oil by lining up the empties rather than by dipstick measurement, there *is* going to be some error unless you carefully let all the oil drain down through the engine and then into the drip pan.

Being in a hurry or doing it on a surface that slopes in the wrong direction -- common sins of Lube'n'Leave and of do-it-yourselfers, respectively -- are pretty much guaranteed to leave some ounces of old oil in there. This is worsened, of course, by car-manufacturer brain trusts who choose not to design oil pans such that a change with new filter consumes an integral number of quart bottles, as it usually did in days of old.

Anyway, I'm with the fellow who advised loosening the plug enough to let several ounces trickle out and then tightening it back, adding more to achieve a level no higher than the hashmarked "normal" range of the dipstick.

Cheers,

--Joe

The real problem is people don't develop a relationship with a garage, they don't get to know a shop. They take it to some oil change joint for that and pay too much, another place for ac and yet another when it isn't running right. and more than likely never the same place twice in a row.

I dont change oil. I have a shop that does that for me, I've known the owner for 10 years plus. He's the only one that has touched my truck besides myself. I bring him the oil and filter, walk across the street to the dinner, have breakfast, bring him back a cup of coffee and a bagal, pay him $20 and drive away. I buy the oil by the case and enough oil filters to go with it. Grab a couple sets of wiper blades(Florida sun is hell on blades), and couple air filters at the same time. Every third oil change he rotates and balances tires and checks the alignment, and does a brake inspection.

The alternative is drag out jack stands and jack, crawl under, drain, replace filter, shake front end down and lube, check u-joints, check diff lube level. Get it off the jack stands, fill the crank, check the power steering fluid, check the tranny fluid. drain the drain pan into a container of some kind, clean the pan, and other tools used, put everything away. Wash hands, change out of old clothes worn. And then find some place to get rid of the old oil. Still have to take it some place for the rotate, balance and alignment check.

Whiteightning

"The Nolalu Barn Owl"

Most of the oil change places use a basement "pit" as opposed to a hoist though.

Also how many of them wipe the grease nipples before applying the grease gun. usually they just jamb it on and pump sandy gritty grease into the ball joint. I once asked the guy in the pit to wipe each nipple before greasing and he looked at me like I was insane.

B

To add a bit to this, you can get these at KMart, Sears, Pep Boys etc under various names for about $10. Some are under the Mighty Vac name. They all look identical so I assume they all come out of the same factory in East Zippitydoodah somewhere in the Pacific rim. Make sure the one you get has a skinny black hose in addition to the two larger red ones. You'll need that to fit down the dipstick tube. They look like a miniature hand bilge pump. FWIW YMMV DFB

"When a legislature undertakes to proscribe the exercise of a citizen's constitutional rights it acts lawlessly and the citizen can take matters into his own hands and proceed on the basis that such a law is no law at all."

- Justice William O. Douglas

Ken Weitzel wrote in article ...

I overfilled mine once, by 1/2 quart, and just loostened the plug and let

1/2 qt out like you said. BUT I wouldnt think of reusing it, in case it picked up and particles on the outside of the oil pan.

Sure, the motor might be $2000, but putting the damn thing in is probably $5000 in that newfangled pice of s*it car. Thank got my 81 and 85 trucks arent that way.

They have those for cars too, but I have never used one in the whole 30 years that I have been changing oil. You dont even need ramps to drain most trucks, so i could drain 1/2 quart from mine in about 1 1/2 minuits max after I find my wrench.

snipped-for-privacy@pleasedontspamme.com wrote in article ...

You might want to take the filter off and drain it, but I'd put the same filter back on. They cost money ya know.

Brian

Hi...

Is the gasket on the filter meant to be re-used ?

And even if so, starting with an empty filter means another few seconds of engine running time before oil pressure, while the filter fills, right?

Ken

This thread has lost all control, lol

agreed, this thread is now to the 'jeez, get a f*cking life!' point...............

Or pre fill the oil filter before putting it on. Whitelightning

No, I think we had this discussion a while back. Glicky is just a "dean" wannabe. I thought he was gone for a while, but I guess he's poked his little ol head back up again. Drives a Ford...serves him right! He'll be in the shop on Monday bitching about his "brown" trans fluid....hopefully they will tell him to go "f*ck himself".

Ian

Oooooohh....noooooo....you "plonked" me!!! I guess I've been told. Good luck on Monday, I hope they run you out of the shop on a rail. A little bit of tar and feathers wouldn't hurt either.

Ian

Right....I'd like to see you pre-fill the oil filter on an Ecotec 4 cylinder engine. And many other engines....good luck!

Ian

Bingo.

The majority of 4-bangers I've worked on have the filter mounted parallel to the ground, making it just a wee bit difficult to pre-oil the filter before install.

Doc

As of yesterday (12-19), the "Help diagnose starting problem" thread.

No starter motor action and there you were, blathering about Throttle Position Sensors, vacuum leaks, MAF sensors, fuel pressure under load and your tinker toy scan tool.

That's five technical errors in ONE post!

Any other questions?