1997 Impreza 2.2L Got the engine oil changed at the dealer and they filled with twice as much oil! Didn't suspect anything until 200 miles later, when saw CEL. Took it to closest repair shop - Tires Plus - and they changed oil again - also said CEL problem unrelated and fixed it (so I wont go into details here). Question is - with a car this old (183K), I'm afraid they 'drowned' my car - what problems might I expect? Warmed up the car on Mon. and noticed flashing oil temp light - turned off engine, turned it on again, no flashing, so didn't get TCM code - sorry if this is a premature question, but when I drive, it's 130 miles at a time, and I don't want to get stuck. Thanks

The flashing oil temp light you mention is for the automatic transmission oil, which would be unrelated to the engine oil. Generally that means the TCU detected a problem on the last drive cycle. There is a way to get it to flash out the codes on that light.

 

Filling with 'twice as much oil' is generally very very bad. At a quick lube shop, what that usually means is, they actually pulled the automatic transmission drain plug, which would give them 4-5 quarts of an oily substance which would satisfy them.

 

Then they proceed to change the filter and fill 'er up with 4-5 quarts of engine oil, while the old oil is still in the engine.

 

I see you say this oil change was at a dealer, so you would reasonably hope they know not to drain the transmission and then add engine oil, but it all depends on the technician.

Yes, check your ATF level. Low ATF would cause your tranny to heat up. If they actually drained your ATF as Porcupine mentioned, then you probably want to do at least a couple of drain and fills.

 

The effect of an overfilled crankcase would be windage, the main rod splashing the oil around causing aeration of the oil. The oil can absorb a certain amount of air, and this dissolved air is harmless to your engine. But dissolved air can come out of solution with a drop in pressure or an increase in temperature: both situations occur inside your engine. As a rule, aeration decreases the oil's ability to cool your engine.

 

Extreme cases of aeration such as yours can cause damage to components such as hydraulic lifters and catastrophic failure of the oil pump due to cavitation.

 

It can also cause oil to blow out your seals due to the increase of pressure inside your engine.

A friend of mine bought a car that had been run about 3 qaurts high for quite a while - the kid didn't understand the dipstick and filled to the second "twist" instead of to the second hole.... there was a river of oil running out of his garage and he felt pretty stupid when I pointed out what he had been doing wrong..... We ended up pulling the engine to reseal it because it had comprimised the rear main and the seperator plate was plastic anyway. Runs fine to this day - no signs of damage from the abuse of the former owner. It was a '98 Impreza OBS with a 2.2. Exact same engine you have.

 

I would say it's unlikely that it did any permanent damage.

 

GD