1 litre too much..please help

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Hi everyone i changed my wifes oil the other day and she has a 2001 beetle with 2.0 motor in it and i should of had put ONLY 4 litres as the manual states for that but i accidently put the whole 5 litre jug into the crankcase and worried something may happen down the road.I never told her about it but she may question me what is that noise after a while LOL..I just need your input..thanks Robert
 
If you don't have any way to extract the oil via the dipstick tube, I would just get under it again and crack the drain plug until it had a slow leak, not drips but a slow thin stream. Use your best guess for something less than a liter then close it up. Just remember to take your time so the drain plug stays in.

If you're really cheap
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and have access to a clean container, like the bottom half of a gallon milk jug, you can drain the oil into that.

In my experience, 1/3 liter/quart overfill won't make a difference as it just burns off faster.
 
With all due respect, my experience with VW's is that it's normal (as the service people once told me) for them to burn a quart every 1000 miles. I'd just drive it.
 
I have a story of what not to do. My friend (Let's call him Alex) decided to change the oil in his car. He overfilled it, and instead of doing one of the above - he drains all the oil into our drain pan and puts it back in the motor at the right level.

Now, some of you will say "that doesn't matter" but I digress. The drain pan was one of the closed ones with just a small hole in the middle for the collected oil to drain into. IT was impossible to clean out well. Also, it has tranny fluid, brake fluid, coolant, and rain in it. He just turned it upside down to let as many nasties drip out as he could before using it.

That's NOT the way you want to do it.

Just loosen the drain plug until it's a slow drip and let out ~ a litre.
 
I have no problem with half that amount, but a full liter or quart is probably too much.
Here is a thought:
Run and drive the car a bit, and then pull the dipstick and check for bubbles, which would indicate aeration, which would mean that the crank counterweights are whiping through the oil in the sump, which would be bad.
If you see aeration, drain some of the oil into a clean container, and use it for top-ups.
If you see no evidence of aeration, leave it alone, and remember next time not to dump a whole five liter/quart jug in.
 
Hey guys thanks for your support..what i will do today is crawl under and use my funnel and drain from the plug..the car didnt go anywhere except to start it for a min. and done with and i will save a litre for top ups..made my day thanks again guys..Robert
 
A 25% overfill is definitely too much, you need to drain some. Apart from the issues already mentioned, it's even possible for a big overfill to badly interfere with crankcase ventilation and pressurize the crankcase blowing seals.

Just out of interest, where on the dipstick did the oil level read?
 
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Well a inch past the full line and that made me very concerned..never added one litre past the full line as i could remembered.And yes it could cause seals and the like so it has to go somewhere when the pressure at peak..and these buggers are fussy and cramped to work on when i do maintanance on this car..there are not to many short cuts when working on these motors and there is no way im going to tear down part to part just to get at the seals and stuff if ruptured because of my silly mistake while i can just leak it out of the drain plug for a few minutes rather days on repairing LOL
 
i would'nt worry about a ruptured seal as much as i would worry about the crank whipping the oil into an aerated foamy state. A little overfilled won't hurt but an inch too high on the stick and i would not be able to sleep!!!!.
 
Ok i just finaly got around to drain some oil out and i put the rest away.The oil on the dip stick is now correct at the full line..my wife said why are you going under my car..i said just to make things safe and drain a little oil..she just smiled so im free from her wrath (for now) LOL
 
Depending on the car, the drain plug might be a tidier method than a filter removal. Also, with some of the horror stories that you hear about oil change stations, you have to wonder how many cars are actually driving around with over filled crankcases.
 
Yes it is good news mechtech2..now this was just a fluk that happened and oh yes i will pay more attention next time...thanks to everyone who chimed in to give me the best advice and taking the time..take care Robert
 
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