Anyone overfill the crankcase on purpose?

>An educated friend mentioned that the Small Block Chevy was "known" to accept an extra quart of oil.
>I've read that engineers have a range of driveway angles they use in designing sump levels.
>Me? I don't know.

My car calls for 6.1 quarts of oil and I short it. Does that count?
 
I had a service manager tell me that not getting dealer changes and using any filter not being oem could void my warranty. So I had the dealer change my oil and they over filled it and used some cheap bulk filter and not oem. I went back in and showed the service manager and he had little to say. I recently took the car in for a recall and the new guy at the counter pointed out I haven't had an oil change in almost 2 yrs. I pointed out that it gets done properly every 5k by someone who isn't being paid minimum wage and who actually cares about my car. FWIW both my cars call for 4.9 qts but one is almost overfilled at 4.5 and the other is fine with all 5.
 
My Volvo called for 6.1 and it got 6 for all 275k of its life. Never used anything that wasn't synthetic and changed every 5k. Best car I ever owned.


Originally Posted by Kira
>An educated friend mentioned that the Small Block Chevy was "known" to accept an extra quart of oil.
>I've read that engineers have a range of driveway angles they use in designing sump levels.
>Me? I don't know.

My car calls for 6.1 quarts of oil and I short it. Does that count?
 
Originally Posted by Tundra73
I don't understand this...forgive me, I am not much on mechanics of vehicles. Is there a lot of "extra" room in the crankcase of all vehicles for this to be possible/okay? If so, then why don't manufacturers manuals just say the amount, but also say give or take a quart? How much more is okay? How much more is not okay?

If it is okay, then I am I safe putting 9 quarts in my Tundra when it calls for 8.5 quarts? What about my wife's car that calls for 4 quarts? Can I put in 5 quarts since jugs are 5 quarts?


The manufacturer wants the fill to be in range on the dipstick. The official listed capacity in the manual isn't necessarily the exact amount of oil you need. 8 quarts in my truck calling for 7.7 is still in range on the stick. 5 quarts in a 4 quart engine would probably be a pretty big overfill and was beyond the scope of the question asked in this thread.
 
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Moneymaker since oil change shops typically charge for a full qt when you only need 0.1 over. To make it worse they are usually pulling from bulk oil then stick it to you instead of just charging you for the 0.1 qt over.
 
Originally Posted by Kira
>An educated friend mentioned that the Small Block Chevy was "known" to accept an extra quart of oil.
>I've read that engineers have a range of driveway angles they use in designing sump levels.
>Me? I don't know.

My car calls for 6.1 quarts of oil and I short it. Does that count?

Yeah, that one would be getting 6. I think these listed capacities are just to make changing oil look harder than it is so you take it into the dealership. Every sump would be just fine with 1/2 quart increments.
 
Originally Posted by spk2000
Moneymaker since oil change shops typically charge for a full qt when you only need 0.1 over. To make it worse they are usually pulling from bulk oil then stick it to you instead of just charging you for the 0.1 qt over.

I didn't consider that. I wouldn't doubt it.
 
Originally Posted by Tundra73
I don't understand this...forgive me, I am not much on mechanics of vehicles. Is there a lot of "extra" room in the crankcase of all vehicles for this to be possible/okay? If so, then why don't manufacturers manuals just say the amount, but also say give or take a quart? How much more is okay? How much more is not okay?

If it is okay, then I am I safe putting 9 quarts in my Tundra when it calls for 8.5 quarts? What about my wife's car that calls for 4 quarts? Can I put in 5 quarts since jugs are 5 quarts?


I wouldn't overfill anything by .5 a quart, but that's just me. A .3 or .2? Sure, but if you do overfill it too much the oil in the crankcase will force its way into the cylinders past the rings bellow. I've seen that...lots of smoke when you accelerate.
 
Originally Posted by Railrust
Originally Posted by Tundra73
I don't understand this...forgive me, I am not much on mechanics of vehicles. Is there a lot of "extra" room in the crankcase of all vehicles for this to be possible/okay? If so, then why don't manufacturers manuals just say the amount, but also say give or take a quart? How much more is okay? How much more is not okay?

If it is okay, then I am I safe putting 9 quarts in my Tundra when it calls for 8.5 quarts? What about my wife's car that calls for 4 quarts? Can I put in 5 quarts since jugs are 5 quarts?


I wouldn't overfill anything by .5 a quart, but that's just me. A .3 or .2? Sure, but if you do overfill it too much the oil in the crankcase will force its way into the cylinders past the rings bellow. I've seen that...lots of smoke when you accelerate.


See, this is why I was asking. I looked at the records of my free dealership changes on both my vehicles. Toyota said they were putting 9 quarts in when it calls for 8.5. Hyundai showed they were putting 5 quarts in when it only called for 4. I haven't had any problems out of either vehicle, but this concerns me.
 
Originally Posted by hatt
Originally Posted by Tundra73
I don't understand this...forgive me, I am not much on mechanics of vehicles. Is there a lot of "extra" room in the crankcase of all vehicles for this to be possible/okay? If so, then why don't manufacturers manuals just say the amount, but also say give or take a quart? How much more is okay? How much more is not okay?

If it is okay, then I am I safe putting 9 quarts in my Tundra when it calls for 8.5 quarts? What about my wife's car that calls for 4 quarts? Can I put in 5 quarts since jugs are 5 quarts?


The manufacturer wants the fill to be in range on the dipstick. The official listed capacity in the manual isn't necessarily the exact amount of oil you need. 8 quarts in my truck calling for 7.7 is still in range on the stick. 5 quarts in a 4 quart engine would probably be a pretty big overfill


Thanks. You should have ended your reply here.

Quote
and was beyond the scope of the question asked in this thread.


Not necessary.
 
Too much oil can cause foaming especially in high power or modified high power engines. It's better to be under than over that's why the dipstick has a large area full mark and an add mark as well. It needs to be in the specified range not over or under.
 
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Originally Posted by Tundra73
Originally Posted by hatt
Originally Posted by Tundra73
I don't understand this...forgive me, I am not much on mechanics of vehicles. Is there a lot of "extra" room in the crankcase of all vehicles for this to be possible/okay? If so, then why don't manufacturers manuals just say the amount, but also say give or take a quart? How much more is okay? How much more is not okay?

If it is okay, then I am I safe putting 9 quarts in my Tundra when it calls for 8.5 quarts? What about my wife's car that calls for 4 quarts? Can I put in 5 quarts since jugs are 5 quarts?


The manufacturer wants the fill to be in range on the dipstick. The official listed capacity in the manual isn't necessarily the exact amount of oil you need. 8 quarts in my truck calling for 7.7 is still in range on the stick. 5 quarts in a 4 quart engine would probably be a pretty big overfill


Thanks. You should have ended your reply here.

Quote
and was beyond the scope of the question asked in this thread.


Not necessary.
Dumping a piece of a quart into the sump so you don't have jugs and boxes laying around with a cup of oil in it is a different discussion vs adding 25% more oil than what the specifications call for, IMO.
 
Thanks for all of the replies and opinions. It would seem that the majority feel that a .5 qt or less makes no difference. I agree. My real concern was with the GDi aspect of this vehicle. Any other car I wouldn't have given it a second thought. These engines are known for fuel dilution to the point off raising the oil level on the dip stick. I thought if I overfilled from the start and had some fuel in the oil that the level could get to a dangerous level.
 
You should go over to tocoma world forums, those guys have stressed for years over both the 2.7L and 4.0L have specs of 5.x qts of oil, My 2.7L calls for 5.5 qt. For the last 55,000 miles, I've dumped 6 qts in and called it a day. Lately, I've done everything wrong in an oil snobs eyes. I use SuperTech 5w30 oil, a Fram filter and I put 6 qts in, it'll probably blow tomorrow. Well, gotta go look at some new trucks so I'm ready.
 
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Originally Posted by D1dad
I had a service manager tell me that not getting dealer changes and using any filter not being oem could void my warranty. So I had the dealer change my oil and they over filled it and used some cheap bulk filter and not oem. I went back in and showed the service manager and he had little to say. I recently took the car in for a recall and the new guy at the counter pointed out I haven't had an oil change in almost 2 yrs. I pointed out that it gets done properly every 5k by someone who isn't being paid minimum wage and who actually cares about my car. FWIW both my cars call for 4.9 qts but one is almost overfilled at 4.5 and the other is fine with all 5.

Which make & model calls for 4.9 and is totally filled with 4.5? Are you reading the dipstick incorrectly, or perhaps you have the wrong dipstick?
 
Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted by D1dad
I had a service manager tell me that not getting dealer changes and using any filter not being oem could void my warranty. So I had the dealer change my oil and they over filled it and used some cheap bulk filter and not oem. I went back in and showed the service manager and he had little to say. I recently took the car in for a recall and the new guy at the counter pointed out I haven't had an oil change in almost 2 yrs. I pointed out that it gets done properly every 5k by someone who isn't being paid minimum wage and who actually cares about my car. FWIW both my cars call for 4.9 qts but one is almost overfilled at 4.5 and the other is fine with all 5.

Which make & model calls for 4.9 and is totally filled with 4.5? Are you reading the dipstick incorrectly, or perhaps you have the wrong dipstick?



Happens all the time, my Tacoma calls for 6.0 or 6.1 qt can't remember without digging in the manual and is full at around 5.4 qt. I imagine that the 6.x is for a completely dry engine, first fill.
 
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Originally Posted by mpgo4th
Thanks for all of the replies and opinions. It would seem that the majority feel that a .5 qt or less makes no difference. I agree. My real concern was with the GDi aspect of this vehicle. Any other car I wouldn't have given it a second thought. These engines are known for fuel dilution to the point off raising the oil level on the dip stick. I thought if I overfilled from the start and had some fuel in the oil that the level could get to a dangerous level.

Just keep an eye on it. If fuel dilution is raising the oil level enough to see on the stick you have a problem on your hands.
 
Originally Posted by bchannell
Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en
Originally Posted by D1dad
I had a service manager tell me that not getting dealer changes and using any filter not being oem could void my warranty. So I had the dealer change my oil and they over filled it and used some cheap bulk filter and not oem. I went back in and showed the service manager and he had little to say. I recently took the car in for a recall and the new guy at the counter pointed out I haven't had an oil change in almost 2 yrs. I pointed out that it gets done properly every 5k by someone who isn't being paid minimum wage and who actually cares about my car. FWIW both my cars call for 4.9 qts but one is almost overfilled at 4.5 and the other is fine with all 5.

Which make & model calls for 4.9 and is totally filled with 4.5? Are you reading the dipstick incorrectly, or perhaps you have the wrong dipstick?



Happens all the time, my Tacoma calls for 6.0 or 6.1 qt can't remember without digging in the manual and is full at around 5.4 qt. I imagine that the 6.x is for a completely dry engine, first fill.

You are checking the oil when it's cold oil..... right?
You are checking the oil on level ground.... right?
 
Not usually. The only time I have done that is when my 94 Jeep was leaking oil due to bad O ring on oil filter adapter
I changed it out and now I do not add extra oil.
I keep the oil in the range on dipsticks.
I do check the oil at least monthly when I check tire pressures, fluid levels etc
I am not an automotive engineer but they probably have range on dipstick for a reason
 
Dealerships do it all the time. Irritates me to no end. First thing on my to do list after a dealer visit is to get my vacuum pump out and correct the oil level.

Most cars don't have an issue with a little bit of overfill, but the Northstar was NOT one of them. With 7.5 quarts of oil in the sump, and meant to be checked HOT, a lot of them were overfilled. Once all that oil got hot, this started a viscious cycle of stuck rings and oil burning. All this according to a GM powertrain engineer. The Northstar was one of the first V8 to meet ULEV specs, and had the piston ring placed very close to the top of the piston. This eliminated the gap of unburned fuel that would get into that gap. Anyway this practice has become very common in modern engine design. It also required the development of more heat resistant VII's.

Since my Northstar days, I've trained myself to keep the oil level midway (or a little above) on the dipstick, and watch it very closely. Some cars, like my previous Mercedes have oil level sensors that can be very picky. Had it go off when the oil level was just at the LOW mark on the stick when hot. 1/2 quart solved that issue.

My advice, don't overfill.
 
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