What kind of damage can driving around w/ 10 quarts of oil in the engine cause (friend's Camaro). Jiffy Lube forgot to drain the old oil out. He drove this around for awhile, until the engine was making some type of noise. Hasn't been started in quite some time now. I own the car now and am wondering what type of repairs I have to look forward to. Bent rods or messed up cylinders?

 

The oil can be whipped into a foam - foam doesn't pump or lubricate very well, which can wipe out bearings, cam, lifters, rockers, etc.

Also known to raise crankcase pressure and blow out seals.

I've never heard of bent rods, but I'm sure I haven't heard everything.

While I tend to do my own oil changes, on those occasions where I do utilize a Jiffy type place (such as buying a car out of state, changing the oil before driving it home), I always check the level soon after.

 

Found on a website:

I read on another site about what you think may happen, but I think that is an extreme. Does it sound like a ticking noise? If so it might be a worn cam like mine had, or at least that's what the mechaninc said. But this same mechaninc parked my car on a drive on lift with only 1/2 the wheel on the track ...

 

I'm pulling the engine this weekend for an inspection. I was hoping to just throw new bearings, rings, and gaskets in it, but that of course will depend on what I find. If it is too bad, I'll just find a 350.

 

Sounds like a perfect topic for a Shakespeare play.... I think he should write one named

"Much Ado About Nothing"

Have "friend" (female?) drain the oil and put the right amount in, make sure "friend" learns lesson, move on.

It doesn't need rings, bearings, gaskets, and all kinds of labor, just for THAT.

If it does need all that ANYWAY, it was a bonehead move changing the oil ANYWAY.

In case you can't tell, I'm having a REAL hard time figuring out how this is anything more serious than a good laugh at the quick lube place's expense.

 

I agree with Sofakingdom. Don't use overfilling a crankcase as a reason to pull an engine! That would be the last thing I would do. You will get some foaming, but the oil pump pick-up is at the bottom of the oil pan. It would take a whole lot of foaming before you would ever get air in the pump. Dump the oil, start over and troubleshoot the noise. Save yourself a lot of work.
Corky

 

sometimes not as much as you would think. 99% of the time it seems you can just drain the oil and be ok. THe other way around really stinks though. We had a guy at our dealership do a Used vehicle inspection(UVI for you dealership guys) and forgot to put the oil in. Left for the day, cam back in the morning and started 'er up. Didnt even make it off the parking lot. Beautiful.

 

"friend" pulled parts they needed from the car and then sold it to me cheap. He drove it around w/ 10 quarts long enough for it to develop an internal noise. I should've explained this more at first.

 

I had a technician that did the massive overfill thing to a vehicle where I work, except he pumped about 30 quarts of oil into the engine. The crankcase became so full that oil started flowing out onto the ground under the truck (Dodge 4.7). (On Saturdays, the parts department sets the oil pump to 100 qts, tech was expecting it to pump 5 and shut-off, so he locked down the trigger on the oil pump, and walked away, came back to several other techs looking at the car with puzzled looks, being the service writer, I could have killed him, not really, lol.) The engine wasn't started and all the excess oil was drained back out. Engine started right back up and didn't even smoke. An overfilled crankcase shouldn't make the engine make too much noise.

 

just drain the oil, if its got foam then you should b concerned a little, but if not then eveything should be fine

 

ummm it's not gonna "have foam"... to get it to foam up it would have to be running while hes changing it.. not a good idea..

 

?!?
I have no idea how you can get that much oil in there, before it just starts puking out the PCV system! (i'm talking about the guy who put in 30 quarts) Either way, yea 10 quarts will give you some foam. The top 3 quarts might foam up, but you've still got 7 quarts of liquid in the bottom, which is where the pickup is. Liquid sinks below foam eh? So I highly HIGHLY doubt it'll ever be trying to "pump" the foam. Looks like you just got yourself a nice car for cheap. Rock on!

 

it's not that hard really, it's just most of the oil ends up being on the shop floor and not actually in the crank case.. I'm guilty of the same thing, i told the parts guy I needed 5 quarts stuck the nozzle in with the handle down, went to get a cup of coffee stopped by the bathroom and came back to one hell of a mess.. turns out he accidently hit the 5 two times..

 

Filling the cankcase with to much oil could cause piston slap, whitish blue smoke from the exhaust, and make it very hard to turn over.


I would not think that it would even start with that amount of oil.
was trashed one night, decided to change my oil, put in 7 quarts
"dunno why, normaly i put 4 wait, and add till full"
tried to start and it stumbled so bad and died after about 2 seconds of trying to run.

Drained it all, put in some maxlife, "4 quarts this time" problem solved.

 

wow old post..

 

i dont think it would be all to bad to get your oil changed at a shop. my mom had a car (ford ZX2 with 110,000 miles) and she took her car to the shop and told em to change the oil. next day going down the freeway BOOM, engine blew. (have NOOOO cluse how the engine even lasted 10 miles...) they forgot to add the oil. so as an appology she now has an engine with only 10,000 miles on it. not a bad deal eh??

think with your dipstick jimmy!

 

i change my oil myself. do no trust "professionals" making minimun wage. they do NOT care about your car. i also save a little money, buy the autozone high mileage oil change special. also gives me a chance to see the old oil, if anything looks bad(metal fragments)