30,000 miles on 5 quarts overfill (1/2 qt. dirty) a problem?

we know (from Powder Hound et al) that dealerships always leave half a quart of dirty old oil in your engine before adding 4.5 quarts of new oil during an oil change (because the old oil hides in the oil cooler)

my engine has been overfilled with that 0.5 quart of dirty oil for the 5K, 10K, 20K, and 30K oil changes.

finally i have acquired the big Pela oil extractor from Overton's (a cheaper place to get it than Griot's Garage and you only lose the lifetime warranty, $53 vs $65) and i have corrected the oil level for the first time in 34,000 miles.

but there still is the issue of running ~30,000 miles with (1) too mich oil and (2) 0.5 qts of dirty oil.

(a) should i just change the oil right now myself instead of waiting for 40,000 miles? (i'm never going to have them do it ever again)

(b) do you think oil has made its way into the rest of my engine? do i need to check?

I doubt anyone could really get all of the oil out of the block/pan/cooler etc, so it shouldn't be too big of a concern.
As far as running too much oil, the first concern would probably be the cat, as it may foul or clog. But theres no way to check that, unless performance has decreased. The CCV may be working overtime, so there may be a plugging issue there, as well.
(edited to fix 105 degree heat / 90% humidity induced grammatical errors)

[ August 07, 2001: Message edited by: tdibugman ]

half a quart of oil in the pan spread out will result in a level increase of .18436 inches and according to some will cause terrible destructive damage to the entire western hemisphere...

but actually due to bumps and cornering, the oil is never at the perfect depth....

to low cause pump starvation and lack of splash lubrication... this is very very bad for the engine..

extreamly high oil levels will cause the higher spash and venting of oil in the blowby gasses to be higher than normal and will result in slightly higher of vent oil fumes through the ccv.. this higher atomization of oil into the blow by gasses will continue till the oil is back down to a more normal level..

if the crankcase is filled to the point of interfereing with piston travel and due to the fact that liquids dont compress you will due severe damage,, but to get to this point you would need to be 3 to 8 quarts too full.

vw has an oil nozzle on the bottom of the block aimed up at each pistion on all its turbo charge diesel.. these nozzles continuously spray oil on the pistons to provide addition cooling to the pistons that a come from being turbo charged... these nozzles spay oil continuously and when the piston is up,, it simply spays the cylinder walls as well providing addition cooling and lubrication as well.. so slightly over full engines that splash additional oil on the cylindar walls adds no benifits..

ford use to have a paragraph in the owner manuel that if the oil pressure failed, dont drive the vehicle, but if it was an emergency and had to be driven,, add two additional quarts and drive slowly to safety.... keep in mind these were six's and v-8s engines...... so two quarts would be devestating to a tdi..

back to the point,, a "little" over full , like cornering,, is not the end of the world.

a lot over full, or a lot under full is a very very bad thing...

so you're saying that half a quart over fill is not too dangerous for the engine and I shouldn't worry about that, right?

What about having that half a quart being dirty all the time?

If you exclude all the guys with bypass filtration, drive around the block after you get your oil changed at the dealer and tell me what color it is. 1/2 quart isn't going to make any difference in the grand scheme of things.

The old oil itslef as a lubricant is still fine, it's just that the additives have been depleted from the oil. Adding 4.5 qts of fresh oil will more than make up for the .5 qts of old oil that is left in the crankcase.

Unless you look at the dipstick and it is actually overfull, don't worry about it.

well, that's the whole issue isn't it? Right after a dealership oil change, the oil looks dirty (it never looks clean), and the oil level is half or three-quarters of an inch above the bend...

Unless you have a very good quality bypass filtration system in use, the oil from the TDI will always be pitch black. That's just the way it is. I change my own oil and let it drain completely. The oil is black by the time I check the oil after running it for a few minutes.


Three quarters of an inch above the bend equates to more than a half quart. Then you do have a problem if it is that overfull.

[ August 08, 2001: Message edited by: dzcad90 ]

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>

<LI>I do not have a bypass filter installed. Car is stock.

<LI>if all you are doing is draining the oil and if you have an A4, then you too are leaving half a quart of old oil in the oil cooler. This oil does not drain out. It must be sucked out.

<LI>perhaps the oil will look cleaner and stay cleaner for longer if this oil was sucked out of your oil cooler during an oil change. I think Powder Hound would agree based on his post (you'll have to search for his name to find his post in reply to that topic)

<LI>what should I do now after having driven 30000 miles on over-filled /dirty oil?[/list]