oil issue
#1
01-03-2008, 06:03 AM
oil issue
I just got my oil changed and added the majority of the STP Oil Additive I bought for my car. The problem is that although STP explained that the additive in addition to a brand new oil change was fine (the whole bottle), it seems like my oil might be a bit high now.
What would you guys recommend? Is this something to be worried about?
this is the stuff i used: http://www.stp.com/oil_oiltreat.html
What would you guys recommend? Is this something to be worried about?
this is the stuff i used: http://www.stp.com/oil_oiltreat.html
#2
01-03-2008, 08:14 AM
RE: oil issue
syphon, I'm not an expert like some others here, but you probably should've added the STP in place of a quart of oil, i.e. if you are putting in a total of six quarts, five should've been oil, one quart of the STP.
Second, unless you have engine problems you probably don't need that additive. Today's oils, especially the high-quality, brand name synthetics, have all of the additives you need to protect your engine. I haven't added anything to my oil since my '89 Cadillac and that was after 130,000 miles and oil leaks.
You should drain the extra oil - from what I understand too much oil can lead to burning of that oil and damaging the seals
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Second, unless you have engine problems you probably don't need that additive. Today's oils, especially the high-quality, brand name synthetics, have all of the additives you need to protect your engine. I haven't added anything to my oil since my '89 Cadillac and that was after 130,000 miles and oil leaks.
You should drain the extra oil - from what I understand too much oil can lead to burning of that oil and damaging the seals
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#5
01-03-2008, 12:57 PM
RE: oil issue
If you over filled your engine you will get blowby and you might even see some smoke from your exhaust because the blowby will come out through your PCV and be pulled into your Throttle body (TB). Even if it doesn't smoke your intake from your TB back will collect oil and deposit in the plastic manifold and gum up from normal tempature changes etc...
If you didn't go to any great expensefor oil, I would drain it and refill to the proper level, the little (STP) that will be left in your filter is of no consequence. If you used more expensive oil i.e. synthetic, I would just replace the filter with a new one and the filter should absorb your over fill and bring it down a bit if you have no other way too "syphon" it out.
STP is for very old engines with bad valve seals and low compression due to wear/high mileage.
It is a quick fix additive ( it will not hurt your engine, just the overfill). Todays engines have tighter tolerancesi.e. the use of lighter weight oils 5w30, 5w20, 0w40, 0w30, . YOU DO NOT WANT TO ADD ANY OF THOSE ADDITIVES LIKE SLICK50, allot of themhave PTFE/Teflon, which is bad, bad, bad.
If you didn't go to any great expensefor oil, I would drain it and refill to the proper level, the little (STP) that will be left in your filter is of no consequence. If you used more expensive oil i.e. synthetic, I would just replace the filter with a new one and the filter should absorb your over fill and bring it down a bit if you have no other way too "syphon" it out.
STP is for very old engines with bad valve seals and low compression due to wear/high mileage.
It is a quick fix additive ( it will not hurt your engine, just the overfill). Todays engines have tighter tolerancesi.e. the use of lighter weight oils 5w30, 5w20, 0w40, 0w30, . YOU DO NOT WANT TO ADD ANY OF THOSE ADDITIVES LIKE SLICK50, allot of themhave PTFE/Teflon, which is bad, bad, bad.
#10
01-03-2008, 08:04 PM
RE: oil issue
One consequence of overfilling the engine with oil is that the oil level can be high enough to where the crank will dip into the oil while rotating and whip the oil into a froth which carries all sorts of negative consequences.Below is a blow-by-blow ofwhat happens (from the carbibles.com website). Btw, an extra quart of oil is recommended to weekend racers of Corvettes during the race by the manufacturer to ward off oil starvation and overheating.
"What happens when an engine is overfilled with oil?
So you topped up the engine when it was warm after getting a faulty dipstick reading, or you put too much oil in when you changed it yourself. What's the worst that could happen? Well the problem with this is that the next time the engine is run, the windage in the crankcase and other pressures generated by the oil pump, etc. place a great strain on the seal on the rear main bearing.
Eventually, often much sooner than the ordinary man in the street might expect, the rear main bearing seal ruptures, and the engine becomes a 'leaker'. If you've got a manual gearbox, this means one thing: this oil goes right onto the flywheel and the face of the clutch disc. A lubricated clutch is A Bad Thing. If this still goes unnoticed, the front seal is the next to go, and the engine then becomes a 'gusher' (or to be more colourful, it starts pissing oil all over the place). As well as smothering the clutch with oil from the rear, the oil now coming from the front leak will be neatly distributed about the engine bay as it hits the front pulley - often propelling it out as far as the brake discs. At the same time as this Hollywood disaster movie is unfolding outside the engine, things aren't working out any better on the inside. As you can see from the diagram, the correct oil level is really close to the rotating crank. Overfilling will mean the crank dips into the oil and churns it into a froth. Froth is good on certain types of coffee but not good in an engine. The mixture of aerated oil will be forced into the bearings and in case you didn't know, air is not a lubricant. Typically this means that bearing damage will follow quite rapidly, especially if you are driving on a motorway. You'll know bearing damage when you get it. The engine smells like a garage mechanic cooking over an open flame and the noise coming from the engine is the sort of thing you'd normally hear in vaudeville plays when a piano is pushed down a flight of stairs. As if that all wasn't bad enough, the excess oil gets thrown up into the piston bores where the piston rings have a hard time coping with the excess oil and pressure. It gets into the combustion chamber and some of it will get out into the exhaust system unburned resulting in a nice patina of oil all over the platinum surfaces of your catalytic converter. This renders it utterly useless for good.
Well, you did ask."
"What happens when an engine is overfilled with oil?
So you topped up the engine when it was warm after getting a faulty dipstick reading, or you put too much oil in when you changed it yourself. What's the worst that could happen? Well the problem with this is that the next time the engine is run, the windage in the crankcase and other pressures generated by the oil pump, etc. place a great strain on the seal on the rear main bearing.
Eventually, often much sooner than the ordinary man in the street might expect, the rear main bearing seal ruptures, and the engine becomes a 'leaker'. If you've got a manual gearbox, this means one thing: this oil goes right onto the flywheel and the face of the clutch disc. A lubricated clutch is A Bad Thing. If this still goes unnoticed, the front seal is the next to go, and the engine then becomes a 'gusher' (or to be more colourful, it starts pissing oil all over the place). As well as smothering the clutch with oil from the rear, the oil now coming from the front leak will be neatly distributed about the engine bay as it hits the front pulley - often propelling it out as far as the brake discs. At the same time as this Hollywood disaster movie is unfolding outside the engine, things aren't working out any better on the inside. As you can see from the diagram, the correct oil level is really close to the rotating crank. Overfilling will mean the crank dips into the oil and churns it into a froth. Froth is good on certain types of coffee but not good in an engine. The mixture of aerated oil will be forced into the bearings and in case you didn't know, air is not a lubricant. Typically this means that bearing damage will follow quite rapidly, especially if you are driving on a motorway. You'll know bearing damage when you get it. The engine smells like a garage mechanic cooking over an open flame and the noise coming from the engine is the sort of thing you'd normally hear in vaudeville plays when a piano is pushed down a flight of stairs. As if that all wasn't bad enough, the excess oil gets thrown up into the piston bores where the piston rings have a hard time coping with the excess oil and pressure. It gets into the combustion chamber and some of it will get out into the exhaust system unburned resulting in a nice patina of oil all over the platinum surfaces of your catalytic converter. This renders it utterly useless for good.
Well, you did ask."