oil over fill?
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pathfinder9035
- Posts: 348
- Joined: Thu Oct 02, 2008 5:48 pm
- Car: 2001 Nissan pathfinder
oil over fill?
What would happen if u over fill your oil. I think i did. i put in 5 1/4 but i am not sure that all the old oil drained out... everytime i check my dipstick its way pass the normal line. what should i do? drain alittle of the oil out? or should i just wait till next oil change? also..does me leaving the oil filler cap on affect the draining of the oil?
Re: oil over fill? (pathfinder9035)
personally i would drain it and refill it, just because most motors will just burn it off but sometimes you can damage things, like the pcv valve. always best to play it safe considering its an easy thing to drain and refill it. the cap doesnt need to be off but i always take mine off because it drains faster, similar to a gas can where it comes out faster if you open the vent to let air in.
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Densetsu
- Posts: 557
- Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 5:50 am
- Car: 2004 Nissan Pathfinder Chinook
Prev: 2003 Nissan Pathfinder Chilkoot - Location: Edmonton, AB
Re: oil over fill? (pathfinder9035)
If most of the oil drained properly and you changed the filter as well, the approx. capacity is 5 1/4 qts. Without a filter change, 5 1/8 qts. A completely dry engine holds 7 1/8 qts, but you'll never drain that much without overhauling the engine.
It doesn't sound like you overfilled it too much, so I wouldn't fuss about it. Most likely you'll burn off the excess in a short period of time, which isn't a big issue. Worst case, the plugs will be fouled a tiny bit. The engine can handle small over/underfills, the engineers don't expect every mechanic out there to be perfect.
If there was a moderate overfill (extra couple quarts), then things start to get funner. Moderate oil fouling of plugs, oil pressure dropping because the oil foams up. More than a couple quarts, physical damage like bent valves could be in the near future.
If you're concerned, try draining a bit out. If you have a small hand pump (under $5), take off the engine cap, stick a hose down there, and hand-pump some out. Either way, if it's just dino oil then it's just a couple bucks wasted, no big deal.
And in addition to leaving the cap off, I always warm up my engine a bit before a drain. Nowhere close to temperatures where the thermostat begins to let coolant flow (don't want to scald yourself with hot oil!), but just where the temp. gauge is starting to move away from the bottom. Warm oil flows out much better than cold oil.
It doesn't sound like you overfilled it too much, so I wouldn't fuss about it. Most likely you'll burn off the excess in a short period of time, which isn't a big issue. Worst case, the plugs will be fouled a tiny bit. The engine can handle small over/underfills, the engineers don't expect every mechanic out there to be perfect.
If there was a moderate overfill (extra couple quarts), then things start to get funner. Moderate oil fouling of plugs, oil pressure dropping because the oil foams up. More than a couple quarts, physical damage like bent valves could be in the near future.
If you're concerned, try draining a bit out. If you have a small hand pump (under $5), take off the engine cap, stick a hose down there, and hand-pump some out. Either way, if it's just dino oil then it's just a couple bucks wasted, no big deal.
And in addition to leaving the cap off, I always warm up my engine a bit before a drain. Nowhere close to temperatures where the thermostat begins to let coolant flow (don't want to scald yourself with hot oil!), but just where the temp. gauge is starting to move away from the bottom. Warm oil flows out much better than cold oil.