What potential damage can too much oil do? Son checks the oil yesterday after a chiding from me about his not checking it weekly like I'd told him to. It was at the low mark. He added oil. I took the car to town on some errands and stopped for fuel. Checked it again and it's now about 1/8 to 1/4 inch ABOVE the high mark.
Should I drain some?

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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

Suck some out the dipstick tube.

I should make the kid do it with his mouth. Barring that, how else would I do it?

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You're a daisy if you do.
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84 Euro 240D 4spd. 220.5k sold
04 Honda Element AWD
1985 F150 XLT 4x4, 351W with 270k miles, hay hauler
1997 Suzuki Sidekick 4x4
1993 Toyota 4wd Pickup 226K and counting

I just drained some with the plug when mine was above. You won't be able to change the washer, though, so you might drip a little until your next change. Mine didn't, though.

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

1989 Subaru GL Wagon 5-speed Touring Edition

Find a 3' length of clean 1/4" OD polyethylene tubing. Hook it to the end of a suction gun. Or even tape it to the end of a turkey baster, but that would take a while - perhaps your son could sit there and correct the level 1/4 cup at a time.

I don't think a real "eighth or quarter" over will hurt much. I would let it sit over night and check it next day. That would allow for a very accurate check and you might find it 3/4 inch over, and that is too much. At this time your oil will be cold, making it easier to drop a quart or two out of the drain plug. Catch it in a clean pan or container so in the event you dropped too much, it will be easy to replace. I know, a little messy - let the kid do it.

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Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

Make certain your air filter is clean if you are unable to lower the level immediately. The large danger is a runaway engine where the fuel is your engine oil whipped up and supplied via mist to the intake tract.

With a dirty air filter the PCV passages will have proportionately higher vacuum.

X2 with Kevin !!
I would not drive it with that much oil in it in case it takes off with a runaway.
If it does, put it into top gear & brake hard till it stops. That should stall it.

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1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
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If it doesn't stall the engine, perhaps it will just destroy the torque converter.

I'm quite surprised that anyone would suggest pulling the plug for a second to let some out. It's a guaranteed mess. Sucking a bit out the dipstick tube is easy, even if you lack an extractor.

Matt,
I think you will find that the car in question is a manual. Check his signature (240 4spd euro). So no turbo to make a run away reel bad either!!

A plastic 2 quart ice cream container is good for catching the oil. Done it once or twice!!

__________________
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

That helps for him, Layback. I do have signatures and avatars turned off, so I did not see it. But more important, the signature can change in the future. He could put an automatic in there, which would show up under that very post in the future. That could cause some confusion.

Please folks, put the car in question in the message itself, not relying on your signature or avatar.

All is good Matt !! I agree that we should always describe the car in the post so that every one isnt second guessing.

__________________
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving

Hehe I bet he checked the oil right after he turned the car off. I did that once on my old honda.

You need to wait at least 15-25 minutes. I just wait 30 after I turn it off to check it. Live and lessons learned

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"What potential damage can too much oil do?"

It all depends on how much. All these runaway and foaming situations -- yes, they're possible. But it'd have to be SERIOUSLY overfilled. I don't personally consider 1/4 inch on the stick "significant" especially since in 500-1000 miles, if it's anything like mine, it'll leak or burn down to the correct level.

"He added oil"?

How much? On almost all of these things, low mark to high mark is give or take one quart. If he added one from the low mark and went about his business, I wouldn't even worry about it. If he started in on a second additional quart, I'd probably do some more investigation.

They have to have logically built at least a small safety factor into this. It's not rocket science to fill a crankcase; any smart engineer would know that half these engines would get the Jiffy Lube express treatment and get over or underfilled by a small percentage -- and that it wouldn't be much of an engine that couldn't tolerate it.

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~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

+1 surely there is overdesign, at least to allow up to the next integer number of quarts to be put in and driven... In case of lazy mechanics fuming in whole quarts/gallons. A quick look at the dipstick after operations will quickly give insight into possible issues...

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (113k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1993 300SD (291k)
1993 300D 2.5T (338k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (265k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K)
1985 300D (233K)