Dealer over filled oil on change!

I took my car in for my "first free oil change" yesterday. I got it home and checked it after sitting a couple of hours.

The first pic is where the oil was, almost 1/2" over the "MAX" mark. I didn't like how they overfilled it, so I jacked it up, and drained oil until it was at the top of the "MAX" line.

When I drained the pan, there was enough to fill an 18 oz SOLO cup. I could have just overflowed the cup, but didn't feel like getting every last drop out of the drain pan.

I'm not even going to tell the dealership since it was free, but I am going to check it before I leave, that is if I ever go back for an oil change.

Matt

Don't worry on that small amount of overfill. I run with 1/2 qt + all the time on a fresh oil change so I don't have to check the oil for some time. I also did this with my race cars so I had less chance of grabbing air in the oil pickup in the corners.

Don't worry about that "small" amount? Geez, I'd hate to wonder what you consider a "large" amount of overfill(omg)


I remember seeing that engine damage was possible overfilling the oil.

That was about 19 ounces, and a quart is only 32 ounces.

Matt

I overfilled my oil by about half a quart and asked a bunch of people about it, and the concensus was that it would be fine. I drove around on that for a couple weeks and nothing happened, and then I had some free time and drained it down to the F mark.

Clearance between the rod ends and oil in the pan is really the only issue with overfilling. If the rod ends dip into the oil it will:

a - Induce drag on the moving parts and create undue heat.
b - inject air into the oil causing frothing and rapid brake-down of the oil and additives due to oxidation.

Most stock engines have sufficient clearance for a couple of extra quarts, but I have zero solid data on how much extra room is in the 2.3 litre's pan. Also if you do hard cornering/acceleration you could slosh the oil around enough to get some slap from the rod ands and induce some frothing.

I'd tell definitely let the service manager know. If for no other reason so he and his techs are aware.

Apple,
Do some work on your pan instead of overfilling for the above reasons. A couple of baffles near the pick-up will eliminate the chance of starvation. There are several books available on short track engines that have good designs (check out Steve Smith autosport publications). While overfiliing will eliminate the chance of starvation and catostrophic failures, you could be dropping HP from drag. It's the attention to details that sepreates a Roush from Joe's garage.

Back in my Neon owning days, it was common knowledge that you could destroy a DOHC Neon motor by overfilling it by as little as 1/2 qt.
The oil lievel would be high enough to contact the crank counterweights, the oil would foam, and therefore not reach the head and GOODBYE VALVETRAIN.
Not saying this is possible on Mazda motors, but I would definately not overfill, and if the dealer did it, I'd give them a piece of my mind.

I remember an old saying (since I am older)....

TOO MUCH OIL IS WORSE THEN NOT ENOUGH......does blowing seals ring a bell.

i pooched my oil pump in my 92 jetta w/ an overfill. luckily changing it out was easy and cost $100. still, an expensive mistake.