Oil Purgatory

THe only real damge likley is seal damge to front and rear main seals. If they were blow out you would know it by now and when that happens oil is ususally coming out of breather to from foaming up but it take a pretty good over fill to do it. Wash everything down good and watch for new leaks, if there are none, you are okay then.

mountains

check

THe only real damge likley is seal damge to front and rear main seals. If they were blow out you would know it by now and when that happens oil is ususally coming out of breather to from foaming up but it take a pretty good over fill to do it. Wash everything down good and watch for new leaks, if there are none, you are okay then.[/quote:c2fdf278c8]

You think I should worry about anything like the catalytic converter - I heard somewhere that oil can kill it.

"pacde" wrote: > [quote:c2fdf278c8="SnoMan"][quote:c2fdf278c8="pacde"]I > recently bought a Toyota Tercel, 98 and brought it in for an > oil change and some new tires - other than that the car is > perfect. After the oil change, I took it for a test drive down > the highway and the next day I took my wife up into the > mountains - all together about 200 miles. Anyway I loaded fuel > and went to check the oil and this is what happened: > > First there was no oil cap so all the underside of the hood > was covered with oil. I checked the oil and wouldnt you know > it, it was way over full. I checked the receipt and instead of > adding 2.8 Litres of oil, the service center added 4.5 litres > of oil. I understand some severe engine damage can result due > to overfilling - can someone please walk me through the things > I should look for?[/quote:c2fdf278c8] > > THe only real damge likley is seal damge to front and rear > main seals. If they were blow out you would know it by now and > when that happens oil is ususally coming out of breather to > from foaming up but it take a pretty good over fill to do it. > Wash everything down good and watch for new leaks, if there > are none, you are okay then.[/quote:c2fdf278c8] > > You think I should worry about anything like the catalytic > converter - I heard somewhere that oil can kill it.

Take a lot of oil to hurt it and in the inside of it, not the outside. Wash under the hood real good are a power hand car wash and if no new leaks are found, chalk it up to a story to tell over a cup of coffee sometime and laugh about it because I am sure you are not laughing when you first found it. It looks a whole lot worse than it is most of the time.

"SnoMan" wrote: > Take a lot of oil to hurt it and in the inside of it, not the > outside. Wash under the hood real good are a power hand car > wash and if no new leaks are found, chalk it up to a story to > tell over a cup of coffee sometime and laugh about it because > I am sure you are not laughing when you first found it. It > looks a whole lot worse than it is most of the time.

Thanks for the info - appreciated.

Your right - it wasnt funny when it happened - still doesnt feel funny but I hope nothing serious. I have had the motor washed and so far I dont see any leaks .. had to have the shop drain an extra 1.5 liters out of the engine. Anyway it was only a couple hundred miles.

funny

Sounds like you will be okay. If it had blown a seal you would know by now. Wash the bottom of the engine off too to look for new leaks there as well.

Actually, you're LUCKY there was no oil cap, because that would have pressurized the system and since oil acts like hydraulic fluid...

You're also lucky it was overfilled, since if it weren't, the engine may have run dry.

Bring it back to where you had the oil change, show them the hood and make a formal complaint. That way, if the rings should fail (I doubt a lower bearing will fail; there was too much oil in the crankcase for this to happen...) your 'butt' is covered if you need a costly repair. The engines in these cars (1989-1993) were very susceptible to oil problems of any kind, but the newer (5F-SE, I think...) engine was made more robust than the 3-valve used earlier.

Bring it NOW! ;) Good Luck!

Not really, what happens is the oil kinda whips up in a foam that traps the air pressure that normally developes in the engine and can start blowing seals if it get high enough in pressure

"HachiRoku" wrote:

How do you figure that one?

yeah, but with the cap off, the pressure can't build...

Been there, done that. Went to GA for two weeks, let my dad 'use' the car. He wasn't a car guy. When I came back the cap was gone and there was 1 qt of oil in the crank. The car DID go another 70,000 miles before requiring any work (My first car, a brand-new Lemon-Yellow 1200 Corolla...)

Happened to my GMC Suburban at the local Wal-Mart. Damage showed up after 3 month. The issue is that liquid is not compressible, and could even bend or break internal parts like pistons, connecting rods, and/or the crankshaft. Other issues would be spark plug fouling (it would miss), possible seal leakage (hydraulic pressure from too much oil could damage/displace a shaft seal), and mostly a mess from oil getting all over. Reset(drain excess) oil level, make sure the air filter isn't soaked. Driving with foamed oil means little or no lubrication and less engine lifetime at best. So get a written record of this incident signed by dealer for possible future use.

Could you tell the oil was foamed up just from inspection? And did you notice any leaks before the 3 months? my car really seems to run great still, no sign of missing, no knocks or anything in the motor and no oil leakage. My real concern is that like you, it will show up three months later. I also didnt notice any blue smoke out of the pipe - but that doesnt mean there wasnt any.

If your engine oil level is high enough to cause damage it happens right away. What happens is the moving parts actually hit the oil in the pan.

Something like that would most likely blow a hole in the block/ break a piston as soon as you drove it.

hope that's help full Dan

BTW:) oil foaming means its spent/breaking down/old or whatever and needs to be replaced.

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