'99 Forester, 124K miles, Manual.

 

About 3 months ago, I took it in for the 120K service. It came out and the tires were still low. I walked back in to explain and they agreed. When the maintenance supervisor drove it back out and handed me the keys, he joked, "It makes you wonder what else they missed".

 

So, over the next several thousand miles I smell oil off and on. Not very frequently so I speculated it was coming from autos in front of me.

 

At about 123.5K miles, I smell it closer to home. So, once there, I check the oil.

 

It was about 2 times over the Full limit!!! This was 2 days ago.

 

I will be taking it back to them tonight or first thing in the morning to at least show them and get an oil change, but what else will this do to the engine?

 

Should I have them take it apart and inspect the valves or anything???? I'm no mechanic, so any help is appreciated.

So, you haven't checked the oil in a few thousand miles? I don't know what it will do to the engine but I suggest checking it much more often than that. Especially after someone has done work on it.

[...]It came out and the tires were still low.[...]When the maintenance supervisor drove it back out and handed me the keys, he joked, "It makes you wonder what else they missed".

 

[...]I check the oil.

 

It was about 2 times over the Full limit!!! This was 2 days ago.

 

[...]

 

Should I have them take it apart and inspect the valves or anything???? I'm no mechanic, so any help is appreciated.

Umm, you're considering having these people take apart your engine and inspect things? :-\

 

They may have overfilled the oil, or they may have neglected to fully drain it before filling. Either way, I'd suggest that they do a proper drain/refill, including filter replacement. Someone should probably check that the PCV system (valve, hoses, etc.) didn't get oil-logged. Make sure you get paperwork indicating why you're bringing the car back. Do check the oil level before you leave the shop's premises.

 

Overfilling the oil could cause some long-term problems, but that's not a "given". As long as the circumstances are documented, I'd be inclined to just drive the car for a while after the situation is resolved, and see what happens. If you're feeling that you want things looked over, based on what you've reported I'd suggest finding another service shop to do that.

x 2 too much would be about 9 total quarts.

 

It would probably hydro-lock as the oil seaped

by the rings while sitting.

 

BTW

Early Foresters had a recall for a burning oil/grease smell.

 

The DOJ connection to the transaxle leaked due to having the wrong viscosity oil, have you looked for this problem?

 

Mine dripped down onto the exhaust and made this smell.

 

Look for stains where the front axle enters the transmission.

So, you haven't checked the oil in a few thousand miles? I don't know what it will do to the engine but I suggest checking it much more often than that. Especially after someone has done work on it.

 

Right - ALWAYS check the oil immediately after an oil change. It's just as likely to have no oil as too much. A friend lost an engine at a 'fast-lube' joint with no oil. Shop blamed it on the auto fill mechanism.

He eventually got something out of them, but it was painful.

02 Forester here.

 

I'm surprised nobody mentioned that reading oil on boxer style engines is very unreliable. There is an entire thread about it. My engine will show 2x full and then if you change the orientation of the car slightly its back to normal. I would only worry that it's overfilled if you try checking it four times in different positions.

Too much oil ins a subaru can be catastrophic. I do agree its tough to read the dipstick on a subaru, so triple check.

 

Unlike a V engine or a std engine, the pistons are on their sides. Over filling (could) get the oil up into the cylinders behind pistons. You wont have hydraulic lock (that would be too easy, as the starter motor cant bend anything). What can happen is the oil foams and gets airated. The oil pump cant pump air. Oil with bubbles in the oil can't lubricate. The carankshaft jounrals can throw the oil around and airate it.

 

nipper

"You wont have hydraulic lock (that would be too easy, as the starter motor cant bend anything)."

?????

Hydraulic lock does NOT have to "bend" something to happen.

 

 

As I said this could happen while sitting.

Engine not running.

 

Oil seeps past the rings.

 

 

The piston will simply not reach TDC and the engine will

stop cranking - possibly overheating the windings in the starter motor.

02 Forester here.

 

I'm surprised nobody mentioned that reading oil on boxer style engines is very unreliable. There is an entire thread about it. My engine will show 2x full and then if you change the orientation of the car slightly its back to normal. I would only worry that it's overfilled if you try checking it four times in different positions.

 

Checked it 3 times now in 3 different places. I'm taking it in tomorrow.

Checked it 3 times now in 3 different places. I'm taking it in tomorrow.

 

and u looked at both sides of the dipstick?? Mine on one side is more wet, then the other side.

What oil change place are you going to? Usually they fill from their bulk tanks by 'dings', like each ding = 1/4 quart or something so say 4 quarts=16 dings. That's all it takes is for the kid to be on say ding 11 and his buddy just coming on shift yells 'HEEYY WWWAAAAASSSUUUUUPPPPPPP' and well you can guess it he loses count. I mean some of these places are scary.

So, you haven't checked the oil in a few thousand miles? I don't know what it will do to the engine but I suggest checking it much more often than that. Especially after someone has done work on it.

 

I agree! I would have gone over it carefully after getting it back. Then again I would have changed it my self. Smelling oil and not checking it for over 3000 miles is negligent on your part. Dont be afraid to ask if you dont know how. Do you check the air in your tires?

02 Forester here.

 

I'm surprised nobody mentioned that reading oil on boxer style engines is very unreliable. There is an entire thread about it. My engine will show 2x full and then if you change the orientation of the car slightly its back to normal. I would only worry that it's overfilled if you try checking it four times in different positions.

 

I have never seen 2x and then back to normal??

What oil change place are you going to? Usually they fill from their bulk tanks by 'dings', like each ding = 1/4 quart or something so say 4 quarts=16 dings. That's all it takes is for the kid to be on say ding 11 and his buddy just coming on shift yells 'HEEYY WWWAAAAASSSUUUUUPPPPPPP' and well you can guess it he loses count. I mean some of these places are scary.

 

I think these quick lube places are criminal at best. No excuse for not checking the level 3 time if needed? I have heard too many bad stories. These places are of no use to me.

Did anyone say head gasket?

 

It seems unlikely to have 2x the normal amount, but when H2O gets in there, the level can go up (I guess it' a long shot in this case).

 

And is anyone else surprised that the last 3500 miles have been uneventful with that much oil in there?

Well leaky fuel injectors can make it go up too, but not that much. At 3 qts you would have noticed a huge drop in gas milage, or antifreeze a hot running engine, or worse case, a big paperwieght that used to be your engine.

 

nipper

[...]It seems unlikely to have 2x the normal amount, but when H2O gets in there, the level can go up (I guess it' a long shot in this case).

 

And is anyone else surprised that the last 3500 miles have been uneventful with that much oil in there?

Since there's no "2x" mark on the dipstick, the actual degree of overfilling is open to interpretation; it's very unlikely to really be 2 times a normal fill.

 

The fact that the only complaint was of an oil smell (no mention of strange noises or other unusual behavior) leads one to believe that the overfill probably isn't severe, and reducing the level to normal (and perhaps checking the PCV, as I mentioned previously) might be all that's needed.

WAIT!

 

 

Don't drive it anywhere! Your transmission might be empty. Maybe they drained the transmission and just filled new oil into the engine.

 

That second drain plug under a Subaru has fooled many a non-authorised mechanic.

 

 

Check the oil level in your transmission before driving again!

and u looked at both sides of the dipstick?? Mine on one side is more wet, then the other side.

 

I 1,000,000,000% agree on this. You can check the oil 50 times, but if you aren't looking at the correct side of the dip stick you will think it's over full. This isn't just some BS. Oil has a wicking action to it. The Dipstick comes into the oil pan at a angle. The side that faces the oil get the wicking effect and the oil travels up the stick. The side that faces the crank does not get the wicking effect and will read more accurately. Check your oil first thing in the morning, pull the dipstick out, wipe it off, put it right back in, let it set no more than 2 seconds, and pull it out again. If you pull it straight out, the left side of the stick should be the side facing up towards the crank. Read the level on that side first, and then turn it over once and check the other side to prove this point.

 

This isn't to say they didn't over fill it, but it is a well documented fact that reading the dipstick in these cars is a challange.

 

Keith

Oh man good point Setright! If it's an AT they may have drained either your front diff and/or the AT. Check all fluid levels ASAP. My understanding is that's one of the reasons Subaru switched to the large Torx socket.

i think he said he's driven 3k miles since the oil change.

'99 Forester, 124K miles, Manual.

 

About 3 months ago, I took it in for the 120K service. It came out and the tires were still low. I walked back in to explain and they agreed. When the maintenance supervisor drove it back out and handed me the keys, he joked, "It makes you wonder what else they missed".

 

So, over the next several thousand miles I smell oil off and on. Not very frequently so I speculated it was coming from autos in front of me.

 

At about 123.5K miles, I smell it closer to home. So, once there, I check the oil.

 

It was about 2 times over the Full limit!!! This was 2 days ago.

 

I will be taking it back to them tonight or first thing in the morning to at least show them and get an oil change, but what else will this do to the engine?

 

Should I have them take it apart and inspect the valves or anything???? I'm no mechanic, so any help is appreciated.

 

I have a '92 Nissan Sentra SE-R that I lost the rod/main bearings on at 85K miles and had to do a engine swap to get it back running again. This happened shortly after I too had a oil change that left the oil overfilled by approx 2 quarts or more. I think the bearing failure and the oil overfill were definitely related, but could not prove it.

 

If the oil level is too high, the lower journals on the crank will hit the oil in the pan as tyhe crank rotates, causing the oil to foam up and froth. This may allow air to get into the oil passages and thus cause loss of lubrication to some parts of the engine. I think this happened to my main bearings.

I think you guys need to look at one of these engines in pieces again. It's a boxer and the crank does not splash in the pan. If you were to have too much oil and it causes a problem it would have to be really full or the oil would have to slosh up below the pistons on one side under cornering loads. At the proper level the oil is half the pan depth or just over. To garantee this happening would require 6-8 liters of oil in the pan. obviously more oil would require less cornering load. When it looks like it needs .5-.75 liter on the stick .2-.3 liters is what it takes to get it to the correct level. Half a liter will take it up to somewhere between the notch and the first twist of the dipstick. This still leaves some concern over someone draining the tranny and leaving twice as much oil in the pan. "That can't be right, I drained the oil!":confused:

I have never seen 2x and then back to normal??

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=21899&highlight=dipstick+overfill

I think something has been missed. The difference between a reading at full, and a reading where the oil is just barely off of the stick is 1 qt. low, not empty. So a reading that far above the full line would be 1 quart overfull. not 2x the total amount of oil.

1 quart overfull is much more understandable from a "jiffy lube" place than 9 quarts. And that would be consistant with the fact there really hasn't been any driveability issues, other than oil smell. That said, I would never, ever, ever take my car to one of those places.