How much damage was done if my car was overfilled with oil and had thick white exhaust and gear changing problems?
Asked by evt Jul 24, 2015 at 06:17 PM about the 2005 Nissan Sentra
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
Today I had a bad oil change- I left the shop and my car was having problems changing
gears (automatic) and there was thick white smoke coming from the exhaust, I drove
maybe a mile before turning around and returning to the place. They said that they had
overfilled my oil, he fixed it and now my car is running fine. But still, My question is- how
much damage did this potentially do to my car? I have a 2005 nissan sentra with over
119,000 miles on it.
14 Answers
How much overfilled was it?
http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/214883 9/overfilling-oil-worst-case-scenario
Certainly at the very least this is hard on catalytic converters, but it would be only a guess if it caused damage. I would not return to that place for service in the future.
He didn't tell me by how much, but I noticed pretty soon after pulling out that something was wrong. I don't know if that helps.
If the engine was overfilled too much, like way too much, the crankshaft will dip in to the oil in the crankcase, in the pan, and whip it in to a foam like a blender..causing loss of oil pressure. Then the PCV will try to suck out the air from crankcase - like it's supposed to do - and cause the white smoke from going through intake vacuum. What the heck? They forget to drain before re-filling? Talk about incompetent. But as for the shifting problems, don't know. But chances are since you went right back, and now (I hope) you have the right amount of oil, no damage. But they should have refunded your money for original oil change. Let me take a wild guess...Jiffy-Lube? They do have an intensive employee training program. Lasts 3 minutes.
Thanks Bob, I filed an incident report with the oil change place so that there is a paper trail in case something happens, the manager said that my car would be fine since I didn't drive it very long, though I don't really have any faith in his judgement
Fordnut -of course it was jiffylube, first (and last) time I ever went there too!
I would doubt you will have an issue, but you never know. It is good that the issue was documented. Things like this is why I do all my own service work.
Hey guys, joemom's link works if you get rid of the space between the 3 and 9. Can't have a space.
http://community.cartalk.com/discussion/2148839/overfilling-oil-worst-case-scenario
Would you advise going to my trusted mechanic to check that my engine is ok?
No- he will wonder why? you didn't take it to him- I'm wonderin' too-
You want have any problems with this unless it repeatedly over filled. You did right going right back. I've about 33 year s of auto experience. I fill it will be okay.
