Little Oil Can Showing.

[mumof4]

Ok..i know this has been covered so many times but i can t find the answer to my little problem.

An hour from home yesterday the oil level warning came on with the pic of the oil can...check oil level.

So pulled over at the next service station and checked it..it was at the minimum..all the garage had was 1l of oil for the turbo diesel engine...10w-40, so i shoved that in.

The light stayed on all the way home.

when got home, i checked the oil and it was showing way above max..hubby said it was a false reading as the engine was still hot.so decided to wait till this morn.

This morn it is still way over the max mark..that is after being stood all night on a level surface and the oilcan is still showing and so is the check oil level warning.

 

So...why did it show minimum when i checked the very first time..then after only putting in 1l it shows 1 cm above the max mark on the dipstick when engine stone cold?

 

I dont want to put any more oil in in case it goes boom and knackers the head gasket.

 

Could it be a sensor stuck???oil filter naffed???or just a light lit when it shouldnt be???or summit a whole lot more serious???last thing i need is a knackered engine!!

[Justice]

Could be the oil pump :lol: or big ends on the way out.

[raymac]

the first thing to do would be to get the oil down to the correct level as if it is a cm over the mark there is way to much in there, then i would try a new oil light switch as this could have failed. hope it's the switch let us know how you get on :lol:

[mumof4]

but i only put 1 litre in when it was showing min!..how could it show min then over max with 1l!!..it takes about 5litres dont it?

[raymac]

It takes about five litres when drained, on min about a pint or half a litre should bring it back to norm, when you pulled over to check oil did you let engine stand fir a few mins to let all the oil drain back to the sump and did you dip it on level ground? if it is on level ground now and is showing over the max by a cm you will need to drain some .

[johnb80]

Isn't 'the oil can light' oil PRESSURE and not oil level? That being the case I'd be tempted to take the bulb out and get rid of the car unless it's a duff switch or a short in the wiring to the switch.

 

Regards - JB

[mumof4]

no i didnt let it stand a few mins..well it was stood a few mins wen i went into the shop..but hubby checked it b4 we went away and it was on min but no light

[raymac]

hor far have you driven it since the light stayed on?

[mumof4]

No jb..ive had the oil pressure light on before..this def says level...ive had the oil press warning before,,this is different.

just says to check the level

in the manual it says depending on equipment fitted as to what warning you get

i have also had before the oil press stop motor warn b4..that was wen it was empty.

[mumof4]

it hasnt gone off.

we were an hour from home,,,,,,,its stll on

could it be then that ive put too much in?

[raymac]

well if it was the oil pump and you drove it for an hour the engine would be banjoed by now so would be inclined to try a new switch and see how it goes but drain the excess oil as this could damage the turbo and cat if it has one fitted.

[mumof4]

Banjoed????but it ran ok this morn wen i had to take youngest to the docs

[mumof4]

Its been suggested that i can suck out the excess oil through the hole where the dip stick goes.is this possible?

[Guest neil_wiles]

I would suggest the use of a suction tube down the dipstick hole to remove the excess, it might be easier than you removing all the undershield etc.

 

 

Suck it out !

[raymac]

Sorry banjoed around here means knackered :rolleyes: if it is running ok then i would try switch but make sure you drain the oil back to the correct level ;)

[mumof4]

um....where would the switch be?

 

 

so technically..i overfilled the car.i thought that min meant nearly empty thats why i poured the whole lot in

[mumof4]

You want me to suck oil out of the car??????that would get the neighbours yakking!

[raymac]

best thing to do when topping up oil is pour a little bit in at a time and read the stick each time this way you will get correct level although it will take a bit longer .

[mumof4]

Ok..i've learned a very hard lesson here..hope that i havent damaged the car at all....i am assumeing now that the level warning is still on as there is too much oil in the car

 

Once ive sorted the oil..is there anythig i should be listening or looking for that will tell me if there are any problems?

[tim-spam]

Are we talking about oil level or oil pressure?

 

If it's the oil pressure warning light, the chances are that the engine's had its day, but, unless the actual oil pump is u/s, I would have expected the oil pressure to have recovered enough to extinguish the warning lamp with a cold engine. In addition, if the oil pressure is that low, I doubt whether you would have been able to drive the car for very long before engine seizure.

 

If it's the oil level warning light, check the oil level using the dipstick. If that measures OK (or too high!), it would suggest that the oil level switch (or its wiring) is suspect - to change the switch will involve dropping the undertray (not difficult, despite what some say) and draining the oil - you should probably do this anyway, as you have overfilled and have used more than 1/2 litre of non-pd oil. I always carry 1 litre of pd oil next to the jack - I have never needed to use it so far, but it's a good idea just in case.

 

By the way, the difference between absolute minimum and maximum on the dipstick is around 1 litre, and the oil level would have to be below the minimum for the warning lamp to show.

[mumof4]

Yes its level im on about....in your last para..if what you say is true..then 1 litre would not overfill it??if as you say the diff between min and max is about 1 litre?

the garage didnt have any other oil at all..it was either that or oil for a petrol engine.

[Guest neil_wiles]

So without one of these mumof 4 is going for a straw.

 

http://oilsucker.com/product.html

[tim-spam]

Yes its level im on about....in your last para..if what you say is true..then 1 litre would not overfill it??if as you say the diff between min and max is about 1 litre?

If you had left the car to stand for a few minutes, you would have found the level to be above the bottom mark on the dipstick - otherwise, 1 litre would not have overfilled it.

 

So, it seems as though the level switch, or its wiring, is the problem. You should still drain the sump though.

[mumof4]

right.after much experimentation on getting the excess oil out through the dipstick hole with straws and tubes,i finally decided to disconnect the battery and see if that helped.

It did. the light is now off and no more oil level warnings.

Thank god for that. :rolleyes:

 

 

Thanks for all the advice and helpful hints. ;)

[raymac]

Don't forget to drain that excess oil out :rolleyes: