Oil reading a quart over.....

[toneloc12345]

I have a 1993 subaru impreza. I changed the oil about a month ago so I checked it yesterday and it read probably almost a quart over full. The oil smelled a lot like gas to me. So I wondered how that much gas could have gotten in there in such a short period of time.

The only thing I can think of is the fuel injectors are leaking down into the cylinders when I shut the car off. The car runs fine, it's not like it has a dead cylinder or anything. Anyone else have any ideas?

 

[-Clayton-]

Leaking injectors would be about the only thing that would cause so much gas in the oil.

If I were you I would not run the engine like that, You could destroy it quickly.

 

[toneloc12345]

Yeah that's what I thought, I'm pretty sure it doesn't have a valve to check the fuel presser either... I changed the oil today and I 'll drive it a little and see if the oil smells like gas again. The bad thing is I can probably buy a junkyard engine for this car for the same price as the injectors.

 

[Donald]

If it happens again, I would have th oil analyzed rather than base your decision on smell.

 

[mechtech2]

Smell works.
Oil shouldn't smell like gasoline.

 

[ChiTDI]

Could you have the fi system pressure checked? You said it ran ok, but feeling ok and running rich sometimes aren't too far apart.

 

[Bulli]

my oil smells like gas but thats because i let it idle for over 2 + hours during a period of 4 months and 100 miles. Car is in storage so i had to let it warm up fully. When car is warmed up my injector starts to TIck louder. why is that?

 

[Tosh]

So the oil still smelled of gas once you drained it from the engine (and away from the car, as I'm thinking you were smelling gas in general under the hood)?

Maybe you checked the dipstick too soon after turning off the engine, or over-filled during the last oil change.

 

[road_rascal]

I would think that if an injector (or injectors) were leaking that much fuel the car would run like garbage and throw a few codes.

 

[Cutehumor]

part of the problem is that if your having some serious fuel dilution, people would check their oil and think they were not burning any oil,especially if they drove lots of short trips.
but when they took a long trip. the oil would show almost a quart low from buring off that fuel.

 

[toneloc12345]

Well I changed the oil to be on the safe side. And I 'll drive it a couple weeks and see what happens.

You're supposed to wait to check the oil for how long after turning the engine off?

 

[ChiTDI]

Few minutes on level ground. May take a little longer if oil is cold and thick.