Checking Oil when it's cold? Or too much Oil

[jtmac]

I had the 10,000 mile oil change just before christmas and as I've done a few more mile since then I thought I'd just check the oil on my lunch hour as it will have all cooled down after this morning's commute.

I found that the oil was above the both the kinks in the dipstick. I thought that it was suppose to be in between them.

a) is 9:00 to 12:30 long enough to let the engine cool for checking oil?
b) would the oil go up when it's cold like today?
or (and this is what I think)
c) they filled it up with too much?

What harm will too much oil for the last 2 to 3,000 miles have done?

 

[googies]

The colder the Oil the less space it occupies, Hot=expansion, cold= contraction. in this cold weather it plenty of time to cool, a half hour is enough as the warm oil will run to the sump quicker! they put too much in i bet, too much will increase pressure on the seals of the engine but, i doubt if it done any to your engine unless you sky rocket the oil temps therefore pressure during full speed runs etc.

 

[TimBarratt]

What he said ^ but I would get it drained out as in the long run it can do a lot of damage, dont wait till the next service!

 

[EdButler]

Did you actaully remove the dipstick, clean it and re-dip it? If not it could have just splashed up there or rubbed off the pipe somewhere.

Overfilling of oil can be catastrophic for the valve seals etc but you would have seen this by now id have thought. It should be fine as there will be some tolerance factored in.

 

[muddyboots]

The temperature with have negligible effect.
Most important is to make sure the car is on a level surface, and it's been stood for a bit. If it's warm the oil will settle back down to the sump within a few minutes.

Just make sure you're checking with the car on a level service...

 

[jtmac]

Thanks everyone

yes I wiped before dipping and I did this three times because I didn't expect the dealer who had done the service to get it wrong. (unlike the bunch that I bought it from).

I didn't realy believe it so I checked it again and again.

it does two 90 minute, 45 mile runs a day at 2K to 3K revs. It doesn't get pushed, really. Maybe once a month I'll accelerate up a slip lane in third gear to blow the cobwebs off.

What should I be looking for in terms of signs of damage?

How p'ssed off with the dealer should I be?

 

[googies]

VERY pissed off, its a very basic measurment and check to be made!! There is a safety factor equated into the design of engine components and seals (gotta love studying to be an engineer!), dont know of what factor it is, probably in region of 1.1/ 1.2?????could be totally wrong, but sounds good without making the engine overweight, i.e. spec given as can handle 20bar, can actually handle 24bar etc???? Ramble over.......