Hi all. I apologize up front because this question relates to my 1988 Oldsmobile with a 3.8L, and not my thirdgen but I figured I'd turn to my old friends here since I don't know where else to ask a community.
My all stock '88 olds has 149K miles and is obviously quite old now. It doesn't use oil and I never add any between oil changes.
It's been almost 6 months and 2000 miles since the last oil change so I had the oil changed at walmart yesterday and they put in 5 quarts according to the sheet. The capacity is 4.5 qts. Now I smell oil burning and see some smoke under the hood. My 1st thought was they just spilled some oil and let it burn off. But now I don't think that is the case. I checked the level on an incline that would make it read lower and sure enough it's about .5qt high, so maybe even more.
Prior to yesterday it had evidence of small seep leaks as old engines do but never enough to drip or burn or need to add oil.
So I'm guessing being overfilled has now caused the old seals/gaskets to finally give up and leak more.
Thoughts?

 

Well.. pull .5 quart out and see how it goes from there. Just a thought

 

Half a quart is not going to cause any adverse conditions. That is well within acceptable tolerances. Remember the car is not level under most driving conditions. Oil is going to splash around and slosh, and such.

It's probably just a case of new, slippery oil traveling through old gaskets and seals.

As you see it is best to not go to oil change chains or Walmart for your vehicle maintenance needs. Find a reputable shop that doesn't hire kids that were shaking fries out of a basket last week.

GD

 

Thanks guys. Yeah I'm not thrilled with taking it to walmart as I used to do my own service. But lack of time has changed all that

 

Geez, I thought you were going to say they put in 5 gallons instead of 5 quarts.

 

If it's already smoking put two more quarts in. Then you know it's too much oil related.

let it run, look under the hood and trace the oil down. If nothing else try to run it at night with your lights off and use a flash light and hold it to the side. this should light up smoke and let it be visible.

first place to check is the exhaust manifolds. Walmart is lazy and they put oil in like a male **** star fills up a woman. fluid just goes everywhere.
good luck