Oil Overfill Question

Not sure if you got a chance to drain oil to get it level. I bought a 2006 Used prius which has 30K maintainance done by Toyota dealer Santa Monica, and these guys put too much oil. Almost 2/3 inch above full mark.

I saw in this forum that this one of the reasons for low fuel economy. So I drained it yesterday with simple small clear tube hose(about 7mm OD) which I had ( got from home depot for some other purpose). I put the hose in the dip stick tube all the way down, sucked the oil until the end of hose, and put it in drain container. It took a while because it is very small hose and it has to drain by gravity only( like faster drip by drip). It took total 1 1/2 hour, but I put it and checked every half an hour to make sure everything alright. Total I drained 3/4 quart, and it brought the oil level to 1/2" below full mark.

I have tested the fuel economy results yet, but hope this helps.

 

I just used the method described above with clear tubing to remove 500ml of oil (that I put in myself by accident). It took about 2hours to remove 500ml of cold oil by siphoning it.

 

It might be easier to drain out all the oil into a clean oil drain pan, then pour that oil back in a clean oil measuring device (back into the same 5 quart jug that you poured it out of), then re-add the oil, taking extra care.

I do not know about you, but in 2 hours, I can probably do two oil changes. Plus with the car and the tools already nearby, you should be able to do it much quicker.

 

When I got my new Prius in July 2008 I checked the oil and found it to be 1/4" over filled. I assume it was that way off the boat. I'm not sure if the selling dealer added any oil though. Anyway I used the brake bleeding tool that comes with the MityVac Vacuum pump and a thin piece of poly tubing inserted down the dipstick hole. I pumped out the oil to just below full in only a couple of minutes. The pump has plenty of power to pull 8 ounces of warm oil out in less than a minute.

Here's where to get the MityVac: - Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices
Its a very useful tool to have around.

I change my own oil the conventional way and refill with 3qts. Halfway between add and full is just fine since my car being new doesn't burn any oil between changes yet.

 

Tried my local Mobil 1 express lube for the 35,000 mile oil change. I had been going to the dealer for everything, but I finally decided that changing the oil does not require a dealer visit! (This is NOT rocket science!) Even though I walked into the place stating that my only concern was that they not overfill the oil, they overfilled it by about 1/4 inch - so I brought it back an hour later. They went through the motions of letting out oil and repeatedly showed me the dip stick at the full level, so I drove home (30 miles away). Just for the heck of it, I checked it before work today and it was back to being about 1/4 inch above the full mark. My only explanation for this is that the express lube guys didn't give the oil a chance to drain back down after I arrived (these guys were quick!). So I went to Walmart and bought a short length of aquarium air line tubing. It fit into the dip stick just fine and the oil siphoned out nicely over the course of an hour or so. 14 ounces later, I am now at around 1/8 inch below below full. I guess I will leave it there. I learned some lessons about being assertive about checking the dip stick, AFTER waiting a few minutes for things to settle out.

 

Their manual tells them to add four quarts so that's what they do, even though four quarts is too much. Next time buy three quart bottles. Hand them to the tech and say "use only this". When they're done check the level yourself and drive away happy.

 

Our 04 prius just came back from the dealer for it's 120K service. The mpg dropped by over 10mpg...

Checked the dipstick - it's over 2 inches above the fill line. Any idea how much extra is in the car? What damage this may cause to the engine?

My big questions are - if they even drained the old oil prior to putting in the new, and did they do the other services that we paid them to do, or were we completely ripped off.

Now I remember why I don't trust dealerships to work on the car.

 

A lot. I'd bet they put in 5 quarts. 4 quarts is too much.

 

Nice engine flush! Now drain it! LOL

 

Severe overfilling such as this can cause the oil to froth and foam filling the engine with foam where liquid oil should be. Air does not lubricate. Metal wears very fast in this situation as friction increases. If you did fry your IC motor you will start to see increased oil consumption, smoking, decreased power.

I would document what happened in a letter to the service manager and copy to a regional Toyota office and hope you caught it in time. With 120,000 miles on your car you may have a tough time ahead if you have damage and want the dealer to fix it.

Good luck!

 

Get the oil drained down ASAP.

Next time, do everyone involved a favor: before they start work tell the service writer that you will check the oil level yourself before driving away. And then do it. (Check the oil level after every oil change no matter who does it, including yourself; nobody is perfect.) As a further precaution buy 3 (three) quarts of oil yourself and give it to them to use, and tell them to use *only* that (no topping off).

 

Fortunately, the dealer has not been doing service on our 2 priuses. The place we have been going to, suggested for a major service, to take it to them. Never again.

The answer to the amount of oil that was in the car - almost 7 Quarts! It was black, not the nice clean consistency you would expect from a car that had just gotten it's oil changed. (our theory is that they did not drain the old oil prior to putting in more) We also didn't know if they put in the correct grade or the synthetic as we always have used.

We decided to do the work ourselves on this one, so we could see for ourselves what they did (or did not do). Can't believe how easy it was to do. From now on - we are doing our own oil...

Big lesson - check all the work done on your car before you drive away.

 

I think this is a good theory: 3.5 + 3.5 = 7 quarts.

I initially thought 5 quarts because this is almost "standard" with other Toyotas, but 2 inches over on the dipstick is a lot of overfill.