I took my car in for the 10k service at a Lexus dealership a few weeks ago. At the time I didn't check the oil level but today I decided to check it and noticed it was about 5/16 of an inch above the high level mark. I was parked on level ground and the car was cooled(not driven since yesterday). There hasn't been any warning lights for what it's worth. I am going to call and schedule another appointment but I wanted to hear some thoughts as well. Has this happened to anyone before? Should I be concerned about driving it like this before taking it in?

 

it is probably not as bad as having too little oil. An easy fix is to aspirate the excess amount with a small plastic tubing and a syringe. you can get the tubing from any aquarium supply store. do this when engine is cold of course.


"A word of caution: Be careful not to overfill your car's crankcase with oil. If you put in too much oil, the engine's crankshaft can actually come in contact with the oil. And because the crankshaft is turning at several thousand revolutions per minute, it can quickly whip your oil into a froth — like the steamed milk that sits on the top of a cappuccino. Why is that bad? Well, the oil pump can't pump froth very well, and as a result, it can't get oil to the parts of the engine that need lubrication. The result ... a hefty boat payment to your mechanic."

here is the link.
http://cars.cartalk.com/content/advice/oilchanges.html

 

On the other hand, your engine may have the proper amount of oil and your dip stick goes in too far....

 

now I have heard some bad advice on this forum before, but this may very well take the cake...

 

Is he runing an after market dipstick???

 

I'd run 2 quarts low before I'd run 1 quart too full. Air in oil is the kiss of death for plain bearings.

 

I have the stock dispstick.

 

Ummm......not sure how to respond to this only to say I'm sure it's not going in any further than it's designed to.

 

Does the high level on the dipstick represent the level of the oil in the engine and in the oil filter? Or is it only the oil in the engine? If so then maybe the excess oil is ok(as it would being going to the oil filter). What do you think?

 

Does anyone know if the ISF engine has a mechanism to handle any excess oil....maybe as simple as the excess just drains back into the oil pan(or anything more complicated)?

 

It's not advice. It is a possibility.

The tube may be inserted too far into the engine or a O ring/gasket may be missing at the top. Either condition would move the mark up the dip stick.

 

I doubt either could be accounting for over 1/4" of additional oil.

If you paid the dealer to change your oil and it's not correct, I'd bring it back and let them sort it out. I would not recommend running to much oil. It's a bad thing. Alternatively, you could crack open the drain plug and CAREFULLY drain out a bit. It's tough to control how quickly the oil drains, however, so you might end up having to refil a bit.

 

No. This is failing to understand the important thing: the oil level is measured in the pan under normal operating conditions after starting the engine, warming it up, then turning it off and letting it sit for a few minutes. To quote the manual:I learned a long time ago about too much oil being bad - the crank whips it up and turns it into mousse, AND you lose power because the crank is being slowed by hitting the oil's surface. Way back in the 30's Pontiac was winning races because they put a windage tray in their engines to prevent the crank from splashing in the oil sump. This is also why dry sump is a preferred technology for plain bearing engines - you can never have this happen if the engine does not have a big puddle of oil under it.

So stop thinking much too hard about how it might not be wrong or bad. It is unquestionably both wrong AND bad and needs to be corrected sooner than later.

FWIW, way back in 1991, Team Honda (Ray Plumb) figured out they'd get an extra 2 hp from their 600cc motorcycle engines by running them 1/2 quart lower than the manufacturer's spec. So you can figure all the team bikes were running a little less oil than the engineer's at Honda thought most prudent.

I always follow the procedure shown above, and as long as I'm not below the low mark, I call it good - if it's a little closer to low than full, I'm just fine with it.

 

This is why I like doing my own oil changes. I have seen so many times that dealers and oil change facilities overfill oil during changes. They just don't seem to exercise enough care.

 

The guys running SCCA's Formula Vee class in the late sixties were doing that too.