Was I right?

[C.A.R.]

Or was I right? (cos I'm never wrong...)

Warning, this is a bit long...(but worth it) (probably)

Servicing the car today, so the Father In Law decides he'll lend me his oil pan, unfortunately this also meant he wanted to help, he is a mechanic by trade.

I'm very - VERY - meticulous when it comes to working on my cars; everything is genuine, everything is 'right' and everything is torqued up or greased up as it should be. It's like my very own OCD.

So when I see him draining my oil via the dipstick tube I get worried.

Meanwhile I'm jacking the car up, as you do.

"What are you doing that for?" he asks
"I need to drain the sump and replace the crush washer" I replied..

"No need mate, stop messing about. This is why they invented these things" [pointing to his oil suction contraption]

Hmmm. But surely there will be contaminated oil still in there? I daren't ask. The standard reply is always 'I know what I'm doing mate, don't question me!'

OK.

So I pop in to make a brew as I'm parched. Somewhere in-between asking him how many sugars he wants he's filled the oil up already.

All of it. All 5 liters of it.

Not happy.

"Where's the left over oil?" I ask him, a little worried..
"I chucked it all in mate, won't do any harm to have a bit extra"
"But it only needs 4.5"
"Well it fit"

He then proceeded to show me the dipstick, sure enough, over-reading by about 5mm over max.

"I do 'em all like that mate, it's good for them" He says.

Again, I daren't question his experience.

Later, when he had finished (pissing me off that is) and he had gone home, I sat with my phone desperately reading up whether it would cause me a headache.

'engine lock' 'oil seals' and 'ran on it's own oil'

I'd read enough.

Before running out of daylight I decided to nip outside, in a last-ditch attempt at draining some oil off.

Jack the car up, get under there (thank god I had a 22mm socket) and grabbed a clean bucket. This is the state of the oil that came out. It was brand fricken' new just 2 hours earlier -



WHAT THE JUDDERING F*CK?

It's jet-black?!

It should be golden-brown, like Lyons Syrup only runnier.

It ain't.

This is the amount I ended up draining off -



Just over half a liter.

The dipstick still reads slightly over, but I haven't cranked the car over yet since doing it.

Here's the last reading -



So

Was I right to be concerned, or would 500ml have done no harm?

[cpikey316_]

Diesels do that. The oil goes jet black pretty sharpish.

As for over filling, I would ASSUME that a modern car would have a system to vent excess oil to stop engine damage. But 500 ml is quite a lot.

I wouldnt (and havent) overfilled a car, so my assumption might be nonsense. Im sure someone who knows whats what will be along in a minute.

Saying that, if its ok to overfill it, why bother with a max line? Why not just fill it till it reaches the filler hole like you do to the windscreen washer fluid! if it has a Max line, there must be good reasons not to go over it!

[Toms306]

Diesel oil always looks shit!

But over filling isn't good for them at all!

[Eeyore]

sounds like a complete nob. even i can do an oil change better than this guy! Youre right to be doing it properly! At the end of the day its your car and you driving it when it breaks. I do my car stuff with tom (tom does it for me) but im always watching him and i always check things are done up properly so i know how everything is and that its a good job. Only thing we have done wrong is undoing a strut nut with an uncompressed strut (held up by my toolbox). Needless to say it smashed the f*ck out of it!

Short story- this guy sounds like a twat and youre in the right!

[cully]

over filling is bad! over fill some engines and it causes damage as you have googled
subaru engines are prone to engine damage if overfilled

[Dan!]

Sounds like he's trying to f*ck your car over so it breaks and he can 'told you so' about French cars being shit and how you should have kept the focus like he suggested....

[Dum-Dum]

It is bad for them but that amount is not terrible on a HDi tbh, will probably blow it out the breathers and burn it off


I think both options on your poll apply but i just couldnt bear to tick to say that you were right so i went for the other one

[C.A.R.]

Haha, cheers Dum!

Yea I've come to the same conclusion, now if it breaks it's just one of them things but at least I can have peace of mind knowing it has the right amount of oil in.

[lewisdmz]

Father in laws eh, who needs 'em. Unfortunately it does seem like a lot of older mechanics are very set in their ways, no doubt they are right about some stuff but overfilling the oil? Why would that ever be 'good for them'?

[Tom]

What kind of mechanic was he haha... I hate it when people intervene when your getting on with your stuff :/ Should of told him to piss off and done it yourself, could always just say i have OCD and i have to do it myself haha

[stevieg]

hes a dickhead. if you like the top end of the revs the oil may froth up making its way up the bore thus making it run away

[Connor]

Where does he work? Just so we all know to keep away...

[Poodle]

Diesel oil doesn't just "do that", mine usually still looks relatively clean after a grand. And someone i know recently scrapped their HDi thanks to their consistent over-filling of the oil, was diagnosed with chronic oil seal failure and he didn't think a new engine was worth the hassle.

Feel free to use my solution: take the plunge and pay £3 for a bucket so you don't have to ask to use his. Every time i need a tool i haven't got, the cost of buying a new one vs putting up with my dad's "help" is very carefully weighed up, and tbf to my dad he's actually capable and intelligent. The only items yet to come in under the threshold are an arc welder and an engine crane, and i've recently bought an engine crane lol.

[Toms306]

1000 miles and still clean Poodle? Only if you flush it a few times first! You always get rank oil hanging around all the parts, especially after a quick change and no flush.......afterall, one of the points of oil is to stick to parts between switching off and on the engine. Plus diesels dirty thier oil quickly, especially high milers. I probably got 100miles at most before mine was jet black again on both golfs.

Plus with the PD, people actually recommend using those suction pumps due to the way the oil cooler holds around half a cup of old oil, so it probably is a good way to remove the oil from any engine tbh.

I agree about the 2nd part though, if I wanted help, Id ask for it, why do Dad, step Dad and nosey neighbours all want to come over, stop me working and tell me what I'm doing is wrong!

[Poodle]

I said "relatively", it'll still be sort of clear and certainly not black like that pic Chris just posted up. Diesels only dirty their oil that quickly if you do a shit job of servicing them or don't do it often enough.

In your case it's because they're right. How's that clutch coming along? :p

[THE_Liam]

I'd have told him to f*ck off and learn how to do things properly. It's 4.5 litres for a reason. Ask if he's ever seen a diesel running on its own oil, and point out that overfilling can cause that.

[Toms306]

I said "relatively", it'll still be sort of clear and certainly not black like that pic Chris just posted up. Diesels only dirty their oil that quickly if you do a shit job of servicing them or don't do it often enough.

In your case it's because they're right. How's that clutch coming along? :p

It's the first service that hdi has had in probably 10k, without a flush it'll soon dirty the oil.

And the clutch is done and working, cheeky bugger. . Plus, no they aren't right, you won't believe the number of people that still think I'm bullshitting them with the cams failing....they're adamant its the dmf or little end that's gone!