Mysterious overfilling of oil

[Ronald F.]

Anyone ever notice this: I changed my oil only, not the filter. After draining the oil, replaced 4 qts and measured on dipstick to the fill line. Then added one qt. It then went right to the full line. So far, exactly what I would expect. Started her up, no leaks. Let her rest for several hrs. Now it measures above the full line, to the last "L" in full. WTH? It's an '67 L71.

This is the second time this has happened. Do I need to pull her back onto the lift and drain some out? Or is this normal?

Ron

[Steven B.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

If you did not change the filter you have oil left in the filter and then added 5 qts so you have 5+ qts-overfill.

[Terry D.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Why would you change oil and not the filter? By the way Steve is right.

[William F.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Not a math major, but don't L71's require 6 qts. total, not 5?

[Joe L.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Not a math major, but don't L71's require 6 qts. total, not 5?

William------


Yes, Corvette big blocks require 6 quarts total.

[Steven B.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Woops! I have too many sbc's. Thanks for the catch guys.

[Ronald F.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

The oil wasjust changed with filter but i put wrong oil in. I replaced the oil with CJ-4 rated oil.

[Jim L.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Let her rest for several hrs. Now it measures above the full line, to the last "L" in full. WTH?

Ron, give the dipstick the sniff test. Do you smell gasoline? If so, your fuel pump could be leaking into the oil pan and that would raise the apparent oil level.

Jim

[Gary C.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Next time try this..if you really want a clue to what happens...check and record your dipstick level, drain the oil just exactly as you did here, measure how much oil you drained from the pan. If it is less than 5 qts then you found the answer. If you drain 5 qts and you then replace the 5 qts but is too full later then some other fluid is being added. My guess is that only 4.5 qts drained out because of the car position or whatever. Was the car level every time you measured with the dipstick? Was the car level when you drained the oil. It is safe to say your engine is not manafacturing oil (I know it is a big block and all, but it don't do that) so something has to be altered, the car attitude (not level), how the oil level is measured, or drained, or as Jim suggested.

[Ronald F.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Well it passed the sniff test, no gas smell on the dipstick. Car almost perfectly level when drained and checked. Garage floor was built with very slight slope for water drainage. What boggles my mind is the fact that the level rises after running the engine. I would think if anything it might drop slightly as oil is circulated. Anyway it's just slightly above the fill so I don't have much desire to replace it on the lift and drain some so I guess I'll just drive it around. It leaks a little from the main seal with each trip so it will self correct in no time and hopefully I won't do damage to it.

[Terry D.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Are you sure you have the right dipstick?

[Joe R.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Well it passed the sniff test, no gas smell on the dipstick. Car almost perfectly level when drained and checked. Garage floor was built with very slight slope for water drainage. What boggles my mind is the fact that the level rises after running the engine. I would think if anything it might drop slightly as oil is circulated. Anyway it's just slightly above the fill so I don't have much desire to replace it on the lift and drain some so I guess I'll just drive it around. It leaks a little from the main seal with each trip so it will self correct in no time and hopefully I won't do damage to it.

Ron,

I don't think you will do any harm being a little over the full line. For big blocks, the oil is slow to drain back from the top of the engine. I believe it was Clem who suggested running big blocks a quart over full if you plan to run them hard.

Joe

[William F.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Agree with Jim. You could be "making 'oil'"-getting gas in oil pan; if so, will cause severe engine wear/failure. Had that happen with Detroit "leaker"692 diesel boat engine-fuel line for injectors leaked fuel into oil.

[William F.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

If it's definitely not gas in oil, agree with some others' suggestions about possibly wrong dipstick, slow drainage of old oil since common things are common. Can get into oil aeration from slinging around by crank, if too full, though, and not good

[Joe L.]

Re: Mysterious overfilling of oil

Well it passed the sniff test, no gas smell on the dipstick. Car almost perfectly level when drained and checked. Garage floor was built with very slight slope for water drainage. What boggles my mind is the fact that the level rises after running the engine. I would think if anything it might drop slightly as oil is circulated. Anyway it's just slightly above the fill so I don't have much desire to replace it on the lift and drain some so I guess I'll just drive it around. It leaks a little from the main seal with each trip so it will self correct in no time and hopefully I won't do damage to it.

Ronald-----

What color plastic button is on the end of the dipstick's loop handle?