GT-R oil overfilled

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Not to beat such a low-level issue to death (although that IS what the internet was invented for, and we're not allowed to discuss politics), but don't you think that extra 10% (1/2 qt on top of 5 qts) is buying you incremental lubrication/deferred degradation/cooling?


I agree.
 
Keeping your oil level at "Full" mark has many benefits sometimes more than you'd expected. Most importantly it provides greater safety margin to protect the engine. Here's a recent experience I personally encountered which proves keeping the oil level at "Full" mark is indeed very important.

My 2018 Toyota Yaris iA / Mazda2 has factory 2-year new car free maintenance and I brought it in for the first oil change at a Toyota dealer recently. They over-filled at least quarts of Toyota 0W-20 oil which I actually was not surprised. It's hard for me to check oil level as the street parking in SF Bay Area usually is not level. My son and I then drove the Yaris to LA in one weekend and I checked the oil level once I got there as the road the Yaris parked is level. Out of my total surprise the dipstick didn't show ANY oil! I purchased a quart of Castrol Edge 0W-20 and poured it in. It's still at least 1 quarts short to the "Full" mark! I added another quart and kept the third bottle as the spare because I thought the engine is burning a lot of oil. I took the Yaris to the same Toyota dealer once we got back and complained the engine is burning too much oil. They checked and found the crush washer on oil drain plug was cracked and the oil was leaking from there! I certainly didn't buy the story as I have never seen the drain plug washer got "cracked" all my life with countless oil changes. I complained to Service Manager, and she offered a full oil change immediately as I had added Castrol oil mixed with Toyota oil. She also offered an additional free oil change once Toyota's 2-year free maintenance is ended. And she agreed to check the engine compression when I bring the Yaris in 1,000 miles later checking the oil level again just to make sure the engine is not burning oil.

Although I really hate the over-fill, but IMO it did save the engine on the way to LA in this case. The over-fill INDEED provided greater safety margin!

BTW the low oil pressure warning light had never lit although the oil is 2 quarts short from the "Full" mark. And the total oil capacity is 4.4 quarts for this 1.5L.
Ok, fair point. In my case I have had my car for 6 1/2 years and it doesn't burn that much oil that and I agree sounds like bulls*** on the crush washer.

Don't know what to tell you.
 
Ok, fair point. In my case I have had my car for 6 1/2 years and it doesn't burn that much oil that and I agree sounds like bulls*** on the crush washer.

Don't know what to tell you.

Yea, no crap!

Lets all overfill our cars because one person had a crush washer crack and leak...
 
Keeping your oil level at "Full" mark has many benefits sometimes more than you'd expected. Most importantly it provides greater safety margin to protect the engine. Here's a recent experience I personally encountered which proves keeping the oil level at "Full" mark is indeed very important.

My 2018 Toyota Yaris iA / Mazda2 has factory 2-year new car free maintenance and I brought it in for the first oil change at a Toyota dealer recently. They over-filled at least quarts of Toyota 0W-20 oil which I actually was not surprised. It's hard for me to check oil level as the street parking in SF Bay Area usually is not level. My son and I then drove the Yaris to LA in one weekend and I checked the oil level once I got there as the road the Yaris parked is level. Out of my total surprise the dipstick didn't show ANY oil! I purchased a quart of Castrol Edge 0W-20 and poured it in. It's still at least 1 quarts short to the "Full" mark! I added another quart and kept the third bottle as the spare because I thought the engine is burning a lot of oil. I took the Yaris to the same Toyota dealer once we got back and complained the engine is burning too much oil. They checked and found the crush washer on oil drain plug was cracked and the oil was leaking from there! I certainly didn't buy the story as I have never seen the drain plug washer got "cracked" all my life with countless oil changes. I complained to Service Manager, and she offered a full oil change immediately as I had added Castrol oil mixed with Toyota oil. She also offered an additional free oil change once Toyota's 2-year free maintenance is ended. And she agreed to check the engine compression when I bring the Yaris in 1,000 miles later checking the oil level again just to make sure the engine is not burning oil.

Although I really hate the over-fill, but IMO it did save the engine on the way to LA in this case. The over-fill INDEED provided greater safety margin!

BTW the low oil pressure warning light had never lit although the oil is 2 quarts short from the "Full" mark. And the total oil capacity is 4.4 quarts for this 1.5L.

I agree that filling it to the full mark does give you a bit more leeway in situations like yours. But let's be real - your situation was pretty unique.

For one, if I lived in the SF Bay Area, as an enthusiast (or a local with experience living there and dealing with grades and oil levels), I would have figured out some way to level the car so I could read the oil level. For example, depending on the grade, I would park the car on some ramps in the garage or something.

Most people know to keep an eye out for oil leaks, especially after an oil change. If it were me, I would have been checking for oil leaks underneath the car at every gas station fill up. This is just like getting your lug nuts retorqued 30-50 miles after having the wheels rotated.

All that said, I know that nobody's perfect, and I can appreciate that keeping the oil at or near the full mark might have saved your engine. Going forward, I'm going to check the engine oil before long road trips and top up to the full mark, just in case.

Hopefully your Yaris wasn't damaged by the incident..

I never heard of a soft aluminum crush washer cracking. My guess is that they had a rookie do it, he hand tightened it and forgot to put a wrench on it. It is terrible that we rarely believe what they tell us.
I would hate to do a new oil change and have it almost half a quart low and feel good. The extra quart is good for two oil changes, so an extra $4 or $5 bucks. It is the same amount for every oil change, no thinking necessary. I have a 2cycle measuring pitcher with clear CCs marked which makes it easy. Just have to make sure the funnel and pitcher are 100% clean.

How long does it take you to drain the oil? Do you always drain the exact same amount? I mean, your method is sound if you're draining a specific amount of oil every time and refilling that same amount. But your method doesn't take many other variables into account (oil consumption, oil dilution, oil leaks, etc.). That's why I don't bother measuring what I drain out or how much I put in. All that's important to me is the oil level before the change and the oil level after the change. This tells me if I have an oil consumption problem.
 
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Yea, no crap!

Let*s all overfill our cars because one person had a crush washer crack and leak...
Nobody says to over-fill the oil just to get greater safety margin. But to keep the oil level at the "Full" mark is the best way to do. Even our owner's manual clearly stated to top off the oil to "Full" mark when the oil level is low.
 
I never heard of a soft aluminum crush washer cracking. My guess is that they had a rookie do it, he hand tightened it and forgot to put a wrench on it. It is terrible that we rarely believe what they tell us.
Yes I also believe this's what happened but the Toyota dealer, or the tech simply didn't want to admit it.

I would hate to do a new oil change and have it almost half a quart low and feel good. The extra quart is good for two oil changes, so an extra $4 or $5 bucks. It is the same amount for every oil change, no thinking necessary. I have a 2cycle measuring pitcher with clear CCs marked which makes it easy. Just have to make sure the funnel and pitcher are 100% clean.
I used to do this way and make sure the oil level is at the "Full" mark for any oil changes. Now I'm lazy pouring in 5 quarts of Moly for my CX-5 and call it a day.
 
How long does it take you to drain the oil? Do you always drain the exact same amount? I mean, your method is sound if you're draining a specific amount of oil every time and refilling that same amount. But your method doesn't take many other variables into account (oil consumption, oil dilution, oil leaks, etc.). That's why I don't bother measuring what I drain out or how much I put in. All that's important to me is the oil level before the change and the oil level after the change. This tells me if I have an oil consumption problem.

In 10 or 15 minutes all the oil is out, especially hot thin oil. That drip every 4 or 5 seconds at the end wouldn't be enough to coat the bottom of a one quart container if one let it drain longer. And I agree, measuring how much oil is drained out is useless. I just put in 5 quarts and 425cc and it is filled.
 
I agree that filling it to the full mark does give you a bit more leeway in situations like yours. But let's be real - your situation was pretty unique.

For one, if I lived in the SF Bay Area, as an enthusiast (or a local with experience living there and dealing with grades and oil levels), I would have figured out some way to level the car so I could read the oil level. For example, depending on the grade, I would park the car on some ramps in the garage or something.

Most people know to keep an eye out for oil leaks, especially after an oil change. If it were me, I would have been checking for oil leaks underneath the car at every gas station fill up. This is just like getting your lug nuts retorqued 30-50 miles after having the wheels rotated.

All that said, I know that nobody's perfect, and I can appreciate that keeping the oil at or near the full mark might have saved your engine. Going forward, I'm going to check the engine oil before long road trips and top up to the full mark, just in case.

Hopefully your Yaris wasn't damaged by the incident..
I usually would check tire pressure, oil and other things before the long road trip. I did most of them other them the oil level as I thought it had been over-filled anyway, why bother to level the car and check? This's definitely my mistake as who would have thought a Toyota dealer would botch a simple oil change job! As for checking the oil leak, there's an under-cover and I won't be able to see such slow leak unless I take the cover off. I guess we simply can't trust any jobs done by the dealer, which is very unfortunate!

I was surprised that with less than half of the total oil capacity in the oil pan, the low oil pressure warning light didn't illuminate. Hopefully the compression test on cylinders turns out to be fine, although now I'm worried that the tech may screw up something during the compression test such as over-tighten the spark plugs ;)
 
I usually would check tire pressure, oil and other things before the long road trip. I did most of them other them the oil level as I thought it had been over-filled anyway, why bother to level the car and check? This's definitely my mistake as who would have thought a Toyota dealer would botch a simple oil change job! As for checking the oil leak, there's an under-cover and I won't be able to see such slow leak unless I take the cover off. I guess we simply can't trust any jobs done by the dealer, which is very unfortunate!

I was surprised that with less than half of the total oil capacity in the oil pan, the low oil pressure warning light didn't illuminate. Hopefully the compression test on cylinders turns out to be fine, although now I'm worried that the tech may screw up something during the compression test such as over-tighten the spark plugs * ;)

The cover isn't sealed thaat tight. And that would be a significant amount of oil loss in I presume a short time? You would have seen something on the ground. Sounds like an incompetent dealer to me. I agree your situation is a bit more unique. A lot of us are doing our own oil changes and know our vehicles and if they burn oil or not.
 
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