Ah Crap!!! (Oil Change Related)

[StroupSkier]

I was going to change the oil in my car last night, but was too tired and put it off. The power went off at work this morning though and I thought I would take advantage of the extra time and the fact I had left all the stuff in my car and change the oil at work.

I guess I didn't realize the parking lot was tilted a little bit though and I don't think all of the oil drained out. I usually buy a 5.5 quart jug and leave a little in the bottom then adjust as needed. My first check however revealed that the oil level was not only above the Full mark, but the safety mark above that.

I'm tempted to try and drain just a little oil out, but reluctant to do so at work as I don't want to make a mess. Should it be safe to drive the 12 or so miles home so I can do it in a cleaner environment?

Any other suggestions other than just taking the oil plug off for a few seconds adn should I be worried about leaving some old oil in the car?

[Aldo]

did you change the filter? If not, or if so, find the filter, hopefully it's in a position where it's holding oil ( downward), park the car so the filter is in the low side in the parking lot and spin it off, you should drain enough to make it safe to drive.

[StroupSkier]

While I have done many stupid things in my life, forgeting to change the filter is not one of them:)

[StroupSkier]

I woudl think that draining from the filter would be more difficult?

[daPig]

I'm no mechanic, but I would be weary of driving with an overly full oil pan. Once your engine heats up the oil is going to expand further. I dont know what damage may be caused but any damage to your engine block will not be good. Maybe it will just burn off and make a bunch of black smoke?

It will be somewhat messy either way but I think taking the oil pan screw out will be easier than trying to drain through the filter connector.

If you have access to an auto parts store (walk or ride from co-worker?) they make a siphon pump for gear oil that could work. Costs about $12. Seems like you could just put the hose down into the engine where you add oil and siphon some of the extra oil out?

[AsheanMT]

I woudl think that draining from the filter would be more difficult?

And messy!!

[cooltsi]

Personally I think you'd be fine driving home, the crankshaft is going to froth the oil more than usual but that will settle out in a very short time. Pull the plug real quick and have an extra quart on hand as you may end up draining too much when it's all done and said. The pump think would work if you could get the hose down into the oil pan. Most cars fill the oil into the head which then drains into the crank pan. Getting a hose down one of the passages might be a real bugger and the dipstick is usually too small for that approach as well. An extra quart of oil will be cheaper.

[manderson]

If your overfull enough that the crank is running in oil, I wouldn't drive it. If you aerate the oil enough it can become difficult for the oil pump to pickup and you could lose oil pressure. You would have to be really overfull for that to happen though.

I use to run a full extra quart in a small block Chevy I had (it had a high volume oil pump and I use to suck the pan dry). That wasn’t enough for the crank to touch the oil in the particular motor.

Start the car and watch the oil pressure. If it looks good then check the oil. If it doesn’t look like foam then you should be ok.

[Ripzalot]

get a hose or tube and stick it down in your oil cap opening. put your thumb over the end and remove a hose full of oil at a time until you get the level down enough.

[StoneCold]

How much over the full line is it? Halfway up the dip stick or a half inch above the "full" line on the dipstick? That makes a big difference. If you didn't really notice the driveway you did the work in was tilted, I doubt enough oil stayed in the crank case to make a major difference.

Two things you can do: Drive home with your oil cap off or unseat the dipstick. This way pressure in the crank case will be relieved. It might make a mess in your engine compartment though.

I would say you're going to make a huge mess if you pull the drain plug to let a little bit of oil out.

The hose idea is a good one too.

But again, an extra half quart or quart of oil shouldn't be a big deal. There are millions of people running around with way too much or way too little oil in the cars all the time.

[Aldo]

I woudl think that draining from the filter would be more difficult?

There's only about a 1/2 to a quart in the filter (depending on your car ) perhaps 5+ in the pan. Get a big pan, drain the filter, put filter back on. you could be done by now.

[MakersTeleMark]

You already have a pan presumably for the spent oil from the change, so what makes this little crack and drain more messy?

[StroupSkier]

I drained the oil from the catch pan back into the container the new oil came in and figured out that I needed to drain about 1.5 quarts from the engine.

I was able to loosen the drain plug to a point where I could tilt it and was able to drain enough oil out. I was very surprised at how clean I was able to keep this. I didn't even get any oil on my hands.

Thanks for everyone's help.

I suppose I should go ahead and buy another $20 jug of oil and replace it again when I get home so that I am not running mixture of new oil and old oil???

[MakersTeleMark]

I suppose I should go ahead and buy another $20 jug of oil and replace it again when I get home so that I am not running mixture of new oil and old oil???

WTF??????

[flatNshallow]

I suppose I should go ahead and buy another $20 jug of oil and replace it again when I get home so that I am not running mixture of new oil and old oil???

Probably... sounds like whats in the motor now is somewhere between 35 and 50% old oil... no sense taking a multi thousand dollar chance over $20 worth of oil... Of course that having been said, I doubt you'd do any damambe if you elected to run if for a 1000 miles or so...

[StroupSkier]

Short answers yes, but I had no idea how much oil was stored in the oil filter catch. No idea if you could release some oil without making too much of a mess. No idea that the crank could actually froth the oil to the point you could loose pressure.

Except for the leaving the oil cap off thing. That was dumb. Don't ever do that. I had a friend who's mechanic left it off by accident and it was not pretty.

Belgian should go to where the most pretty girls are.