thought that I'd save time and get a grease monkey to do my oil change, semi-sythetic Mobil 10-40 oil and filter for £25. Apart from the oil on the bonnet and steering wheel it appears to be overfilled, I've driven home and let the oil settle - but it's about 1cm higher on the dipstick than the max mark. So, apart from doing it myself next time, what should I do?
Don't panic. A small overfill doesn't matter.
Probably nothing will be the right course of action. 10mm is not a lot, and will be unlikely to cause problems. There is always a little room for error, it varies from car to car, but if you've driven it home and there are no signs of smoke, or of oil coming out anywhere, it's a non-event.
Steve
thanks gents
"Odin" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@eclipse.net.uk:
Treat it as a bonus.
Well, it's not as bad as a bloke came into a place I worked in a couple of years ago. He bought a litre of oil to topup. Two minute later he was back for another litre and another. The storeman went out to see what he was up to. He had the correct cap for filling the oil, which was a suprise, but apparently never heard of a dip stick and was looking in wondering if it would ever fill up. John
It can be surprising what we think of as basic, but is not grasped by the inexperienced. A trainee at a place I worked complained about his oil light coming on going round corners, so a quick look at the dipstick revealed it was well below the minimum. The garage across the road had some kind of a deal on 5 litre cans, so he got one of those. Now it seems so obvious to us that he should put some in and check the dipstick, but no. Next morning he was in the yard with oil dripping everywhere and smoking like a good'un. When asked how much oil he'd put in he replied "all of it"
Steve
OMG - you must be thick! Why ask here what you do when the engine has too much oil in it. I bet if you knew how to do an oil change in the first place you wouldn't be asking such a daft question. Put another 5litre container full in and drive it hard for a few miles.
can do oil changes - have done loads - hence the desire to be lazy for once!
Strange, the exact opposite impression is given my your respective posts. Odin seems like he knows what he's talking about, including having the sense to keeps his hands clean for an extra coupla quid. While you come across as a intellectually substandard, excitable 13-year-old girl with your "OMG" opening gambit :)
Go back to Kwikfit and tell them all that? Don't be scared!
When I was small, my mother and I tried filling up the oil. We did have a little knowledge - we knew to use the dipstick to check the level. So we checked, found it was low on oil, and poured some in. It was still low on oil, so we repeated this a few times and after a larger than expected amount of oil the dipstick was showing as full. It all seemed fine. It only dawned on us later that the dipstick has its own special hole for measuring the oil, and you're not supposed to insert the dipstick through the filler hole...
Theo
get a grease monkey to do my oil change,
That's exactly what my daughter did with her first car. But she actually succeeded in filling it up! Of course I got the blame for not telling her how to top up! Why is everything always my fault when the women in the household do something wrong??? :-(
BobC
A friend of mine used to work in a dealers, and had a very irate customer complaining about the stupid design of the oil filling system in his new car - apparently the hole was too small and it was taking him ages to top his oil up. it turned out that he was taking out the dip stick and pouring the oil down that hole!
Tell me about it.
Well I for one don't. I've got nothing but praise for my local branch at Tooting Bec. I've only used them for things like punctures, minor exhaust repairs and a couple of oil changes. So far they've done rather better than my BMW dealer - and *far* better in cost.
I'll second that. It's always dangerous to generalise, but over the years I've found them OK, but I don't use them anymore as they've got too expensive and feel that now their staff are being trained as sales people, trying to extract another sale item out of you while you're there, rather than mechanics/tyre fitters.
I used to work next door to our local KwikFit (Burton-on-Trent) and so all the company cars went in there, so got to know them well. They were always very good and often did small jobs on the side and didn't bother to charge, which of course meant you thought well of them and went back. On one occasion my company car failed its MOT on front brakes. Took it straight to KwikFit who examined it and declared there was nothing wrong, take it back. Which I did and now it passed! Now they could have got away with changing front discs and pads and no-one would have been any the wiser, but they didn't, they were honest.
If you want an example of cowboys, my sister-in-law took her car to another 'national' chain for new tyres recently, and they put the wheel nuts back on back to front, taper side out!!! Now that's what I'd call a cowboy outfit. I wouldn't guarantee KwikFit don't have some similar numbskulls on their payroll, but I can only speak as I find.
BobC
I'll second that. It's always dangerous to generalise, but over the years I've found them OK, but I don't use them anymore as they've got too expensive and feel that now their staff are being trained as sales people, trying to extract another sale item out of you while you're there, rather than mechanics/tyre fitters.
I used to work next door to our local KwikFit (Burton-on-Trent) and so all the company cars went in there, so got to know them well. They were always very good and often did small jobs on the side and didn't bother to charge, which of course meant you thought well of them and went back. On one occasion my company car failed its MOT on front brakes. Took it straight to KwikFit who examined it and declared there was nothing wrong, take it back. Which I did and now it passed! Now they could have got away with changing front discs and pads and no-one would have been any the wiser, but they didn't, they were honest.
If you want an example of cowboys, my sister-in-law took her car to another 'national' chain for new tyres recently, and they put the wheel nuts back on back to front, taper side out!!! Now that's what I'd call a cowboy outfit. I wouldn't guarantee KwikFit don't have some similar numbskulls on their payroll, but I can only speak as I find.
BobC
I suspect it's all down to the individual branch (are KF a franchise?). It is good to hear of good service though.
cheers, clive
It probably depends on who is managing a particular branch.
My local one was OKish. They did my tracking, but the steering wheel was slightly of centre. The manager did it for me, and I was very impressed.He took a good deal of time and care, and apologised that I had needed to return.
When I went back later with my Focus for a tyre replacement I pointed out to the new manager that the wheel trims were easily damaged, and offered to remove them. He quite rudely told me that the fitters were all fully trained, and wouldn't break them.
I watched through the window as the guy pulled and tugged with his fingers. He then proceeded to insert a huge screwdriver in to the gap, with the inevitable result that a chunk of trim broke off!
I walked round to the workshop, and told him that I had just seen him break my wheeltrim. He denied it! The broken trim was next to the car, but the egg-sized piece was nowhere to be seen. I then suggested to him that he tried refitting the trim; it fell to the floor. He was unable to explain how I had driven in with it like that!
The manager refused to go to the Ford dealer that was 400 yards away, but told me if I got one, Kwikfit would pay for it. I bought one whilst the tyres were being changed, then had a long argument with the manager who said that I needed to submit a claim. I refused to pay for the tyre replacement until he deducted the cost of the trim, but initially he wouldn't budge or give me my car keys back. I eventually got to the point where I had dialled the number of the local police on my mobile before he relented.
When I got home, I checked the tyre pressures; all were outside the correct amount by a significant margin. Some of the wheel nuts were massively overtightened, whilst some were too loose when checked with my torque wrench.
A complaint to Kwikfit customer services resulted in an apology and a voucher for 20UKP, which I threw in the bin, vowing never to go near the place again.
Chris
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