Word of Warning: Oil Overfill

I can't be sure... less than 0.5 qt.

 

I tried a tank or two of Chevron highest octane (94 up here, and ethanol free). As I recall not much happened.

I DID once have a miracle tank: filled up with Chevron regular in a small town, and EASILY got very good numbers. Suspect it was ethanol free.

 

You likely will notice NO difference.

And in the Midwest and Southeast, the far right button usually IS premium.
Sometimes ethanol free premium.

 

Hey folks,

I just did an oil change on my Gen 2 (2007), and my wife got the red triangle on her way to work. She came back home, and after the car sat overnight, I checked the dipstick and it was a little over a 1/4” above the top dot. I was certain that I’d only put in 3.6 litres, but I must have put in more…

I’ve drained some of the oil out, and the dipstick level is now a 1/4” below the top dot, but I still have the red triangle. Do I have to do anything else besides draining off the excess oil? How do I get rid of the red triangle? Can I be sure that the red triangle was because of overfilling the engine oil?

Any help is appreciated!

 

The real way to figure this out is to read the codes on the car, to see what it's telling you is wrong.

Normally I don't think the red triangle will come out if you just a simple overfill. I would check to see if your inverter pump is actually working, that is a more common failure that leads to a red triangle.

To visually check if the pump is working, open the inverter pump reservoir cap while your car is running in READY mode. You should see the fluid pumping action. If there is no movement in the fluid, then the pump is not working.

 

A quarter of an inch above the top mark is NOT considered an "overfill".
You need to look for another cause for the warning light.

 

Thanks for the tip on the inverter pump. I popped the cap off the reservoir while the car was running (engine actually running), and while there was some VERY slight movement of the fluid in there, I can’t tell if it was from the pump or the vibration of the motor. I checked a video of this and the fluid in my reservoir was not turbulent like in the video. If put my finger on the pump (beside the driver’s side headlight?) and could feel vibration from the pump.

Any thoughts? Is the inverter pump an expensive repair, or can I replace it myself?

 

This is definitely a DIY repair, many videos on YouTube. Difficulty level probably only a 3 or 4. Some maybe even say it’s easier than that.

If the pump has failed, it’ll have code P0A93

 

How do you check the code? Is that through the special-diagnostic-headlight-switch menu, or from an OBDII code reader?

Thanks so much for the help, BTW!

 

you need a specialized reader. it connects to the obd under the dash.

 

Is that different from an OBD II code reader that plugs into the car under the dash?

 

different in that the prius has 8 computers and not many generic readers will read all the codes and sub codes.
toyota tech stream is the gold standard. then there are a few like dr. prius and hybrid assistant phone apps that are pretty good but not perfect.