The Consequences of Too Much Oil in Your Engine

The Dangers of Having Too Much Oil in Your Engine

Engine oil lubricates the moving parts, reduces friction, helps to cool the engine, and keeps internal components clean by carrying away dirt and debris. While maintaining the correct oil level is crucial, adding too much oil can lead to severe problems. Understanding the potential consequences of adding too much oil to your engine can prevent engine damage.

Most engines can accommodate an extra pint (half a quart) of oil. However, if you’ve added more than that, the extra oil can cause problems.

Here’s what happens if you add too much oil to your engine

You get oil foaming and engine overheating

Too much oil in the crankcase causes the crankshaft to whip air into the oil, causing it to foam. Foam reduces oil pressure, doesn’t lubricate well and doesn’t remove heat from high friction areas. So your engine’s moving parts can overheat and melt.

Overfilling can cause oil burning and smoke from the tailpipe

Too much oil in your engine can cause the piston oil rings to drag too much oil up into the cylinder. That extra oil may not burn off during combustion. In that scenario, the extra oil winds up in the catalytic converter, where it burns off, creating smoke. If this goes on for too long, the extra oil can poison the catalytic converter.

Overfilling can cause engine noise and hydro lock

In extreme cases, the oil rings can drag so much oil into the combustion chamber that it causes hydrolock and engine damage.

How much overfilling is too much?

Most engines can handle overfilling engine oil by about 1/2-quart. This is what that looks like on your dipstick.

If you’ve overfilled by just 1/2-quart, you don’t need to remove the extra as long as you’re not experiencing any of the overfilled symptoms listed above.

However, if your oil level is above the 1/2-quart mark on the dipstick, you really should drain out the extra motor oil.

How to remove extra oil

1) Remove the drain plug and drain out a little at a time until the dipstick shows the correct level.

2) Snake small 1/4 O.D. vinyl tubing (from any home center) down the dipstick tube and use a turkey baster to suck out the extra oil.

©, 2021 Rick Muscoplat