Hi all
I just purchased a 1996 E300 Diesel with 80k miles,
i drove it home and checked the oil and it was overfilled by about 1 quart, i immidenty drained it.
i am hoping that the car is not damaged from the over filled oil.
the oil was changed by the dealership, whome i just called, they said it should not have caused any damage.
i figure its fine, but i know too much oil will foam up due to the crank shaft, and result in low oil pressure.

overall the car is perfect, mabey im just being paranoid. any thoughts

I thought too much oil would just, at worse, blow out some seals/gaskets.

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1983 240D 3.0T 4-speed manual, now sold

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

overfilling an engine with cause damage to the emisson system ie oxidizer

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

One quart probably wouldn't do too much harm, especially if it was only in there a short time, but it is good you got it out of there. There has to be some tolerance for oil over the full mark, they do design our cars to be idiot proof and so I would say they probably design in an extra quart as a margin of error...just like being a quart below add won't kill your engine. I would not sweat it but I would not go back to that dealer for any future work either.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

The first time I have heard that.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

Same principle applies to gas cars overfill an engine and you will damage the catalytic converter.

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

Keep an eye on your oil level. When I bought my 93 300d it had a bad modulater on the transmission allowing the trans fluid to overfill engine. A overfilled engine can run away on you been there. Also on my 2005 Jetta TDI it says overfilling oil can damage catilytc converter.

yeah since its only designed to deal with molecules not liquids. In a gas car its supposed to make h20 from the byproducts of combustion in the honey comb of the converter. Any liquids that go through it will damage it and go out the tail pipe.

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

Well, I don't know what theory you are operating under, can only assume you think that there could be so much oil in the crankcase that somehow it would, in liquid form, be able to escape combustion and exit the exhaust manifold and somehow foul the emissions control system. I'd be willing to bet that isn't a problem for him with one quart overfull...maybe if they had put 8 extra quarts in

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

X2

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

the basic answer is the three or 2 catalysts on the converter is damaged by the oil and cant perform the changes need to change carbon monoxide, hydro carbon to carbon dioxide and water. Too much oil or if you are burning oil will damage the converter by mixing with the wastes of combustion, enter the converter, damage it.

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

understood, but he was a quart over, not 2 or 3+

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

I still wouldnt take a chance with a quart over still asking for damaging the converter which we all know is expensive. converter are designed to last the lifetime of the car and yet they are getting replaced because owners of vehicles dont realize the damage they are doing due to overfilling engine oil, fuel injection problems etc

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1986 300SDL, 211K,Dealership serviced its whole life
1991 190E 2.6(120k)
1983 300D(300k)
1977 300D(211k)

you would be more likely to have a bad cat. caused by an old o2 sensor than one quart over. but i agree 100% with you, i dont like to be over full.

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have no worries.....President Obama swears "If you like your gun, you can keep it

If it were full enough to hit the crank and foam, it could be a problem eventually. Could also cause a runaway. However, if you didn't see a blue cloud following you down the road, the oil stayed in the crankcase and you are fine now that you have corrected the overfill.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff