What happens when an engine has too much oil?

[Dantilla]

Going to an insurance auction tomorrow, probably going to bid on a car that has the engine I want for a project truck.

Only issue- When I pulled the dipstick, the oil level was way over the "full" line. Probably a quart+ over.

Cause for concern?

The plan is to yank it out of the donor vehicle and bolt it in the project without opening it up.

[nzporsche944s2]

I think in extreme cases there is a thing called hydraulicing (not sure about that spelling) when the moving parts especially the piston are fighting against the excess oil. It can lead to bent con-rods for example.

But I wouldn't have thought a quart (1 litre) is enough to have that effect given that most cars are 4-6 litres capacity and the distance between empty and full on the dipstick is usually 0.5 litres

[fastfredracing]

Probably no big deal. When they get too full, they can smoke, or possibly hydrolock the motor, but I have never seen it. We used to have oil dispenser hoses with dials on them in our one shop. The dial was broken on one , and I saw a new kid fill a motor to the top of the valve covers with oil. The car started but smoked, and knocked real bad. We drained it all back out, and it was fine.
I recently had a little Nissan towed in . Car began to smoke out the pipe immediately after a quick lube oil change. I drained over 10 quarts out of it. Filled it back up to the correct level, and it ran perfect.
My only fear is that it is not actually oil that is making the oil lever higher. Could also be from coolant, or fuel. Check carefully .

[sketchers356]

Agree with NZS2 one quart over isnt going to do anything bad. Some cars like it if they are going to be tracked (like the 944).

[John Rogers]

If the oil on the stick was just oil then you are probably okay. If it were me, I'd find something that went to the bottom of the pan and check to see if there is any water/coolant in the oil. I had a coworker years ago bought a nice Ford diesel at a border patrol auction and it's oil level was high and he never thought much about it. About 10 miles outside the gate the engine made funny noises and it was later found to have both heads cracked and the case filled up and locked the engine.

[M.D. Holloway]

take a sample for oil analysis is possible...auctions prolly wont allow though

[Dantilla]

Originally Posted by M.D. Holloway

take a sample for oil analysis is possible...auctions prolly wont allow though

Good idea, but the auction is tomorrow morning. The oil on the dipstick looked completely normal. No sign of coolant.

[RANDY P]

crankshaft acts like an egg beater and the oil is aerated, resulting in spun bearings and all other kinds of BS.

You may not have any more oil pressure....

rjp

[ckelly78z]

Smell the end of the dipstick for a fuel smell, sometimes if valves aren't sealing properly and the rings are loose, raw fuel can find it's way past the pistons into the oil pan. This also dilutes the oil which breaks down it's lubricating properties which causes more problems.

[wdfifteen]

My first assumption would be that there is a quart of water at the bottom of the oil pan. I can't think of a benign circumstance under which water would get in the oil pan. Other suggestions to check for fuel in the oil are spot on too. This one would scare me unless I was looking for a core.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by nzporsche944s2

I think in extreme cases there is a thing called hydraulicing (not sure about that spelling) when the moving parts especially the piston are fighting against the excess oil. It can lead to bent con-rods for example.

hydroclocking takes place when there is an incompressible liquid in the cylinder. Oil in the pan won't cause hydrolock. Things that might be wrong are cracked head or blown head gasket that let coolant into the crankcase or a stuck fuel injector that pumped fuel into a cylinder, which went past the rings. Not good either way.

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

My first assumption would be that there is a quart of water at the bottom of the oil pan. I can't think of a benign circumstance under which water would get in the oil pan. Other suggestions to check for fuel in the oil are spot on too. This one would scare me unless I was looking for a core.

This. What do the other fluids look like?

I thought the main trouble from overfilling would be blown seals and gaskets due to pressure?

[Gretch]

what color was the oil............... if newby clean, they may have just overfilled it when checking fluids for the auction.

If dirty, look at coolant, look for "milk shake" residue in coolant and oil.

Do they start the engine, pre auction? in front of bidders?

[john70t]

Originally Posted by Gretch

what color was the oil............... if newby clean, they may have just overfilled it when checking fluids for the auction.

The oil may have been changed a couple days ago, then parked.
It might be a toss-up.

A vacuum gauge is a quick basic way of determining how it's running.

[wdfifteen]

I'm not familiar with how these auction places work. I was unaware that they did any service on the cars. Interesting.

[sammyg2]

Hopefully it aint a chebby.

(some) Chebby's have a problem with their oil control rings.
They let too much oil past so the compression rings don't always seat well.

Talk to chebby owners, lots of em will tell you they have to add a quart between oil changes.
Furd owners doan hafta do that unless it's dripping on the driveway.

OK back to the chebby oil control rings:
If you run a chebby small block too full of oil it can make the oil control ring problem lots worse to the point where it can loose compression.
In extreme cases it can require an engine replacement.

The guy I carpool with just spend $5200 last week to replace the engine in his 80,000 mile silverado because of the oil control rings.
The compression rings never quite seated right and it always burned oil but got worse until he lost compression on two cylinders.

I asked him if he ever over-filled it and he said that he got so used to adding a quart ever 1500 miles that he did it automatically and a couple times he checked it and it was over the full mark.

I had a silverado many years ago and it burned a quart ever 2000 miles but it lasted for 150k with no problems, but I never over-filled it.

Note that not all chebbys have this problem, but enough do to notice.

EDIT: you shoulda seen his face when i told him he coulda saved that engine with 10 cents worth of bon-ami cleanser.


See, there's an old old urban myth about the small block chebby that goes sumthin like this:

When they first came out in the 50's ssome of em burned oil like nobody's business.
The guys at the factory tried to figure out why and htey found the compression rings were not seating.
Duiring testing they tried pouring bon-ami down the carb and that solved the seating problem, so they put out an (unofficial) service bulletin that is any car came in under warranty complaining of oil burning, try bon-ami.

Doan know if it's true or not.

[RF5BPilot]

Could have been a sloppy, last minute oil change just before the auction.

However:

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

Smell the end of the dipstick for a fuel smell

to see if something might be dumping fuel in the crankcase.

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

My first assumption would be that there is a quart of water (coolant) at the bottom of the oil pan.

Do the best you can to check for that.

Assuming that there isn't something actually causing this other than inattentive maintenance, still don't take it lightly as:

Originally Posted by RANDY P

crankshaft acts like an egg beater and the oil is aerated, resulting in spun bearings and all other kinds of BS.
rjp

BS includes overheated engine.

It's a point of caution that would encourage you to want to know more as well as not drive with it that way -- but not a deal killer by itself. But you would want to correct it, even if it's just too much oil.

[sammyg2]

LOL, did a search. It's all over the inter-webs, retired chebby mechanics swear that chebby had them use bon-ami to seat the rings on the 55.

I even found it on this forum:

Originally Posted by Jared at Pelican Parts

I remember reading something about the Bel Aire Chevy, where dealers were reccommending that owners pour Bon Ami down the carb to roughen up the cylinder bores, and help the rings seat, thereby helping slow down oil consumption. apparently they were having problems with the then new Chevy small block V-8.

Dont do this with your BMW, By the way....

Do a compression check. Is the car still under warranty? Something aint right here, hoss.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

I'm not familiar with how these auction places work. I was unaware that they did any service on the cars. Interesting.

I bought two cars from a S.F. nonprofit charity auction(J.E.C. scammers) who 'fixed' and resold donated cars.
It can be big business.
California law requires the seller passes state smog before sale.

Both cars were transferred with an outstanding test report. (another tailpipe)
The next smog test wouldn't be due for another two years.
-One had a serious low/midrange missfire.
-The other had two spark plugs halfway-in at an angle, with a third held on by a couple threads.

They were basically disposable cars. Good for two years.

[Dantilla]

Okay, guys, here's the auction report:

First of all, this is an insurance auction, where several insurance companies dispose of totaled cars. Some are theft recoveries, and have no damage whatsoever. At the other end of the scale are cars that are completely mangled.

What you see is what you get. No option to test anything. Many cars are driven during the auction, others are sold right where they sit.

The one I was interested in was marketed in the auction info as "runs and drives", but it was never driven during the auction. I never had the chance to see the engine start.

The concern about coolant entering the block got my attention- This car appeared to have very minor damage to the front suspension- Sure didn't look like a total loss. Is it possible the engine suffered a crack during the collision?

So I checked the radiator level this morning, and it appeared low.

Hmmmm........ Oil level high, coolant level low.

I may have missed out on a great running engine, but decided not to bid.

Once again, oil on the dipstick was pure oil. Not as clean as after a fresh oil change, but sure not dark enough to raise any flags. No sign of being diluted by coolant or gas. No "mayonnaise" under the oil cap, no sign of oil in the radiator. Looking underneath with a flashlight showed no obvious problems.

But without the opportunity for a closer inspection, I decided to pass on this one, and see what the next auction brings.

I've only bought a few vehicles at the insurance auction. None for a few years. I've always thought that the engines are a fairly safe bet- They had to be running well enough to be out and about on public roads in order to get in an accident.

At least the chances of getting a good engine are better here than a barn find that's been sitting for years. So far, I haven't had a bad engine.