Overfilling on purpose?

[crinkles]

my toyota dealer does it even though the published drain and fill volume is just about perfect.

You can't often buy oil in 1L bottles down here (and not be taken for a ride in the price) so its always a 5L jug you just have to eyeball to get fractions of a litre.

 

[sangyup81]

Your sump is not fully empty when you do a regular oil change and you will be more than 1/2 a quart over.

Drive your car for a bit and check out the dipstick. If there are any bubbles, take some oil out by loosening the filter and then retightening after it stops draining oil.

 

[calvinnnnnnnnn]

how many miles on the accord?

switch to a High mileage oil if you're concerned.

 

[Superbuick96]

My 4.3 takes 4.5 quarts, I always dump in the whole 5 qt. jug, no problems

 

[Patman]

Originally Posted By: Jim 5
I think Patman who is a moderator here does just that with his wife's Civic and his Corvette as well.



Yep, my wife's Civic calls for 3.6L of oil but I put in 4.4L (that's the size of most of the big jugs here)

My Corvette calls for 6.5 quarts but I usually put in 7.5.

I've been doing this for years with no problems.

 

[ac_tc]

Overfilling can quickly destroy your engine...
Some engines have so shallow pans that overfilling let the crank whip the oil.
And aerated oil doesent lubricate.
-Dont owerfill.

 

[MoparDak05]

Originally Posted By: calvinnnnnnnnn
how many miles on the accord?

switch to a High mileage oil if you're concerned.


About 143k miles on the accord. I typically run Maxlife 5w30 anyway (It burns less than with other oils but still does burn at least 1/4 quart). I just wanted to try out AMSOIL Signature Series.

Thanks again for the responses everyone!

 

[saberz]

The pumping area maybe, but the garage and lift have to be level, otherwise lifting a car will result in the car sliding off and being posted on Failblog

 

[webfors]

Being down half a quart @ 5k and ready to dump the oil is nothing to be concerned about and doesn't require constant topping off IMHO. Checking often yes, but topping off little bits here and there to try to maintain that fill line... no.

I personally would rather be half a quart down, than substantially over the fill line. What's fine for one engine may not be fine for another. Generalizations bad...

 

[MoparDak05]

Originally Posted By: Anies
The pumping area maybe, but the garage and lift have to be level, otherwise lifting a car will result in the car sliding off and being posted on Failblog


The gas stations around here don't have garages/lifts. I know of one, but it is shut down.

Oh well, I guess I'll just try to find a parking lot with the most level ground I can and actually carry a level around with me to sit on the ground to see how bad it is. This should make for a humorous sight for some people.

 

[FusilliJerry82]

Originally Posted By: MoparDak05
Originally Posted By: gathermewool


Gas stations are level. With such a predictable rate, I wouldn't think any more often than every or every other fill up is necessary.


Every gas station I go to is on a horrible slope. It must be an Ohio thing.

Even the concrete pads the pumps are on?

 

[MoparDak05]

Originally Posted By: FusilliJerry82


Even the concrete pads the pumps are on?


I'll take a picture if I get a chance. The whole lot is concrete and it slopes down toward the road at the station where I usually fill up. The rest of the ones I have been to are not as bad, but still slope in one direction or the other.

 

[umbg35]

I out 5 quarts in my 04 Accord V-6 for the same exact reason. It burns roughly 1/2 quart for a 5-6K run. The car has 180K roughly....been doing the 5 quart changes since 30K. Been running YB 5W-20 and probably for a while...just bought 15 five quart jugs at Walmart a few weeks ago.

 

[ThirdeYe]

I've been putting in 5 quarts (with the oversized PF-52) on the 3.1 Malibu I maintain and it works fine. It calls for 4.5-4.6 quarts (depending on the source) and used oil analysis come back great on it. With the oversized filter it's overfilled by about 1/3 of a quart. I've done 5 quarts with the regular PF-47 sized filter too with no issues.

 

[dnewton3]

I've been known to over or under fill, based upon convenience.

Examples:
1995 Villager takes 4.2 quarts with filter; it gets 4.0
2006 GL1800 takes 3.9 quarts with filter; it gets 4.0
2010 Fusion takes 5.3 quarts with filter; it gets 5.5

I would never grossly over or under fill, but a few tenths one way of another has not hurt my vehicles at all.

 

[mechtech2]

I would put in the correct amount .
When it gets low, it is still not low enough to be any sort of a problem. So just change it.
Maybe top it off a bit at 3/4 of your OCI.
Don't purposefully overfill. Plus, it may burn it off at a quicker rate, and you end up about the same.

 

[Patman]

Originally Posted By: ac_tc
Overfilling can quickly destroy your engine...
Some engines have so shallow pans that overfilling let the crank whip the oil.
And aerated oil doesent lubricate.
-Dont owerfill.


If you overfill to the point where the crank whips into the oil, then yes that's dangerous, but there is a lot of leeway built into most engines out there. It's not as if a half quart or even a full quart in most engines, is going to be a problem. I'd be willing to bet that with 95% of the engines out there, you could go as high as 1.5 quarts over and the crank still wouldn't be whipping through the oil.

I think the key if you want to overfill is to do it a 1/4 of a quart at a time, and check the dipstick immediately after driving the car. If you don't see bubbles, you're ok.

 

[Captain_Klink]

QUESTION: When the engine starts, and the oil pump is activated, and oil starts to circulate, how much oil is there is the upper half of the engine? if there is a quart of oil in the upper half, then to me, this would mean you can overfill the engine by a full quart, and still not have the crank frothing up the oil. i imagine the larger the engine, the more oil would go up.

 

[FusilliJerry82]

Originally Posted By: Captain_Klink
QUESTION: When the engine starts, and the oil pump is activated, and oil starts to circulate, how much oil is there is the upper half of the engine? if there is a quart of oil in the upper half, then to me, this would mean you can overfill the engine by a full quart, and still not have the crank frothing up the oil. i imagine the larger the engine, the more oil would go up.


Yes but mind you this is taken into account when designing the engine. However, also taken into account is accidental over/underfilling so generally you can be a quart high or low without much issue, as long as its not permanent.