Oil overfilled 1.5T

[JT Si]

I'm quite sure up to 7 mm (1/4 + inch) is fine with this engine. I believe up to the top of yellow may be OK. I don't go any higher, ever.

I put in 3.7 quarts when I oil change and it places the oil level near the top mark on the dipstick.

I filled with straight 4 quarts once and it was at the top of the plastic. It caused a minor oil leak and I would regularly find a thin film of oil on the bottom of the oil pan.

Its possible it's just the common timing chain inspection cover leak, but once I started filling with only 3.7 quarts again the leak stopped.

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[Gruber]

I put in 3.7 quarts when I oil change and it places the oil level near the top mark on the dipstick.

I filled with straight 4 quarts once and it was at the top of the plastic. It caused a minor oil leak and I would regularly find a thin film of oil on the bottom of the oil pan.

Its possible it's just the common timing chain inspection cover leak, but once I started filling with only 3.7 quarts again the leak stopped.

There is a question though, how accurate is the filling of the oil bottles by the manufacturer or the oil packaging company. There is a limit to their accuracy, so to make sure they don't cheat you, they pour a bit more on average. I often see that oil containers are not filled to exactly same level.

Could your 4 qt be even 4.3 qt? If you only used mfg jugs to measure, and assumed they contain exactly the nominal volume of oil, I say it's quite possible.

 

[JT Si]

There is a question though, how accurate is the filling of the oil bottles by the manufacturer or the oil packaging company. There is a limit to their accuracy, so to make sure they don't cheat you, they pour a bit more on average. I often see that oil containers are not filled to exactly same level.

Could your 4 qt be even 4.3 qt? If you only used mfg jugs to measure, and assumed they contain exactly the nominal volume of oil, I say it's quite possible.

I doubt it.

Amsoil SS 0W-20 SDS states the specific gravity is 0.8545-0.855. that puts the mass of 1 quart/946mL at ~809g.

I measure a full bottle of amsoil at 878g. The bottle itself assuredly weighs enough to account for most or all of the difference as it is thicker plastic than most oil containers.

 

[Gruber]

If you use 1 qt bottles, it is probably not likely to get so much more. I don't know how accurate Amsoil is, but I checked five 1 qt bottles of Mobil 1 I have and the largest difference between them was 18.5 g or just over 20 cc of oil.

Then I took a 5 qt jug of unopened Mobil 1 0W20 EP, and an identical empty jug I had, very well drained and dry. From the difference of mass and the density 0.839 g/cc as given my the mfg, the actual volume of oil at 15.6 C calculated to.... 5.005 qt. Seems like this one was very accurately filled... If they fill by weight, it can be very accurate.

So I don't know how you did it, but The Institute for Advanced Study of Oil Dilution stands firmly by their finding that overfilling by 0.3 qt over the full mark will not get you nearly to the top of the plastic tip of the dipstick. You need about 0.53 qt to get there.

 

[JT Si]

So I don't know how you did it, but The Institute for Advanced Study of Oil Dilution stands firmly by their finding that overfilling by 0.3 qt over the full mark will not get you nearly to the top of the plastic tip of the dipstick. You need about 0.53 qt to get there.

Sorry, what.... the f... is this organization? Where is this research available?

 

[Gruber]

Sorry, what.... the f... is this organization? Where is this research available?

The results have been published exclusively on this forum so far. I am the Director of Research at the Institute.

 

[fjrman]

"I filled with straight 4 quarts once ..."

Why did you put in too much? Are you lazy, too bothered to put in a partial quart?

There's no excuse for overfilling if you change the oil.

I change mine but I always put in a few ounces below full. Then I check it a day later after driving and I add oil to the final level.

The oil level stays constant in my LX till the next change.

Maybe I shouldn't fill to the top mark on the stick. Maybe only the midpoint between marks.

 

[Gruber]

"I filled with straight 4 quarts once ..."

Why did you put in too much? Are you lazy, too bothered to put in a partial quart?

There's no excuse for overfilling if you change the oil.

I change mine but I always put in a few ounces below full. Then I check it a day later after driving and I add oil to the final level.

The oil level stays constant in my LX till the next change.

Maybe I shouldn't fill to the top mark on the stick. Maybe only the midpoint between marks.

I do the same thing. The final oil level after a change is set the next day after driving and cooling. Whatever it was just after oil change completed is not important and is slightly below what I wanted to get.
I need absolutely precise oil levels for the ongoing advanced studies of oil dilution.

 

[JT Si]

"I filled with straight 4 quarts once ..."

Why did you put in too much? Are you lazy, too bothered to put in a partial quart?

There's no excuse for overfilling if you change the oil.

I change mine but I always put in a few ounces below full. Then I check it a day later after driving and I add oil to the final level.

The oil level stays constant in my LX till the next change.

Maybe I shouldn't fill to the top mark on the stick. Maybe only the midpoint between marks.

Not laziness. I'm tuned and drive it very hard. I figured a slight increase in oil volume may help turbo cooling slightly. I also hate having 0.3qt left at the end, it seems like a waste.

It was an experiment to see if I would have any ill effects from putting the rest of the final quart in.

I did, so I drained the excess oil out and stopped doing it.

Fumoto valves FTW

 

[BrandonSmith]

Easy solution: fill based on level, not blindly putting in the approximate amount listed in the specs. A lot of trained techs do the latter because they need to get vehicles in and out quickly.

As stated in the manual, all values in the specs are approximations - there are too many factors that can affect the level (pitch of the vehicle when drained/filled, duration of drain, temperature of oil when drained, etc.). Always fill less, get the vehicle up to operating temp, then check the level and add as needed.

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