Here’s Why You Must Be Extra Careful While Filling Oil in Your Car

Too little oil in your car’s engine can prove to be far more dangerous than you think. It can lead to your engine becoming pretty hot pretty quickly. In the worst-case scenario, it can even lead to increased friction between the moving parts of the engine. This increased friction can cause the moving parts of the engine to stop moving until lubricated properly.

Similarly, too much oil can also prove to be far more dangerous than you think. Excessive oil can lead to the foaming of the lubricant. When this happens, the lubricant loses its cooling ability. Further, your car’s engine will find it difficult to push this frothy oil to the parts that need it the most. This, in turn, will inevitably lead to parts of the engine as well as the engine becoming damaged eventually.

The tricky question, therefore, is: exactly how much oil should you put in your car? Well, the answer to this question will vary from car to car. So, the first thing you must do is pick up your car’s manual and look for answers in it. However, as a general rule, no car requires more than 4 to 6 quarts of engine oil.

So, what happens when you pour too much oil into your car? The excessive oil will eventually find its way into a pan placed underneath the crankshaft. When this pan becomes overfilled with oil, the crankshaft adopts the motion of a high-speed blender and converts the oil into foam.

The crankshaft moves whenever the engine is moving, and its movement compliments the movement of the engine. For instance, if your tachometer reads 2,500 rpm at 75mph, this essentially means that your crankshaft is doing 2,500 complete revolutions every minute.

Overfilling does not only mess with various moving parts of your car’s engine but it also increases the oil pressure, which in turn, leads to excessive pressure on seals and gaskets that do the essential task of not letting the excessive oil leak out. This excessive pressure eventually damages seals and gaskets.

So, what causes overfilling? Sometimes, technicians at repair shops pour oil directly from bulk containers into the engine. Ideally, one should use quart or gallon-size containers and pour oil only after measuring it exactly. Similarly, sometimes, technicians keep holding the pump trigger for way too long, which, in turn, also leads to excessive oil entering the car. Lastly, this is a mistake that even the best car experts make. While pouring oil, they do not check the dipstick. Those technicians who check the dipstick do not wait long enough for the dipstick to show the correct reading, which often leads to the technician pouring more oil than needed by mistake.

So, how should one pour oil the right way? Here is your answer: check the dipstick when the engine is cold and the vehicle is flat on the ground. When your car is in this position, you will get the right reading. If the dipstick shows your car is slightly overfilled, do not worry too much. Your car can easily handle slight variance from the ideal standards. However, if the dipstick shows that the engine is overfilled by a quart or more or if you see foam on your dipstick, get a technician to drain the oil and refill your car again properly.

Time to Visit Your Fraser, MI Auto Repair Shop?

Feel free to stop in and visit Car Guys Auto Center today or give us a call at (586) 285-4444!  We would be happy to answer any auto-related questions you may have.  We are located at :

Car Guys Auto Center
32639 Groesbeck Hwy
Fraser, MI 48026