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THE LOBBY A gathering place. Introductions, sports, showin' off your ride, birthday-anniversary-milestone, achievements, family oriented humor. |
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#1
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Used car dealer purchase - oil overfilled. Why?
Hi all,
I bought a car sight unseen a few months ago (76 cutlass salon) from a dealer in Florida. Ran good. I didn't even check the oil. Drove it maybe 100 miles. Leaking pretty good from the rear main, so I drained the oil and pulled the pan (can do in Olds unlike Pontiac) to replace the rear main seal. When I emptied the drain pan into some jugs, it turns out there was maybe as much as 10 quarts in that sucker. Question is, was this conspiracy or incompetence? Could the dealer be overfilling oil like that to mask some type of engine problem? I guess I'll learn the answer once I get it all back together but I'm doing a ton of greasy work on my back in a cold garage. Hope I don't end up with a knock or something on start up. Thanks. Attached some pics just for fun
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1969 Judge, 4-speed, CR/Parchment, Quasi-Survivor, #'s match - under restoration |
#2
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The dealers mechanic could be using a pump from a large barrel and over filling by accident. Plus they may never check the oil level....maybe going by the gauge on the oil barrel.
Over filling will cause higher oil pressure.....hiding something? Or it could be complete incompetence. |
#3
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I'd be taking a peek at those rod bearings while you can see them......
I'd speculate that there was a bit of bearing noise and the dealer overfilled the pan to mask the noise. Ethical? No, but they're a used car dealer, so ethics are most likely NOT a priority.
Thirty-plus years ago, I had a friend's family that had an early 1940s Ford dump truck they'd retired and only used to help haul off yard waste and such things. It knocked a little bit, but if they overfilled the pan by about five quarts, no knock (or at least no 'audible' knock). The owner's son - my friend's dad - even cut off the dipstick, shortened it and brazed it back together to indicate the 'new' oil level, which was about at the pan rail..... It also used quite a bit of oil, so when the family changed the oil in a daily driver, they saved it to recycle through the old Ford. Ran and ran and ran and ran. One of those 'fill the oil and check the gas' deals. I think they did change the oil filter every couple years......... GOOD LUCK! |
#4
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My guess would be it was a mistake, no real way to know for sure.
Are you doing this in San Diego? Cold garage? My garage is 20 degrees today, how ‘bout yours? Check ALL your fluids before you drive it again…..
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" Darksiders Rule "
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#5
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My guess. Someone forgot to drain the old oil before installing the new oil.
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#6
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Let's hope so!
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1969 Judge, 4-speed, CR/Parchment, Quasi-Survivor, #'s match - under restoration |
#7
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Possible oil not draining back from heads? Not sure how open the oil return is on a OLDs. Or like Goatracer1 say's forgot to drain old oil.
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'68 GTO '69 Corvette '75 Cadillac Coupe Deville TOM |
#8
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Olds have a fairly slow/restricted drain back from heads, opened up more for those who use HV pumps. Of course, that amount of oil would be finding leaking everywhere and from valve covers and main. Does it look like older oil? Can be hard to say, generally car dealers with give them a fresh set, especially if they know there's an issue. How about under neath, caked on with loads of old dried oil, or fresh weeping only? Look like chassis has been blasted for tidy-up? Perhaps they checked the oil with it running! Hopefully, a simple (not sure how) error and that it only exposed the mail seal on the way out anyway.
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#9
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A bad fuel pump can pump fuel into the crankcase......you didn't smell any gas did you?
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#10
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Put the right amount in, and calibrate the dip stick. Duh but you know thaat.
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#11
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I bought my 71 TA from a dealer, got it home and started going over things. There was 9 quarts of oil in it not including the filter. The car smoked pretty good. I don't know if it was the oil but after an oil change and some best of my ability tuning she runs just fine.
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" Is wearing a helmet illegal" Mike Kerr 1-29-09 |
#12
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The lube tech at any automotive related business is most often the least experienced, and lowest paid, of any position the shop. The result of that is overfilled, underfilled, wrong oil weight, stripped drain plugs, incorrect/loose/overtightened filters, etc. Drain, refill to the correct level per the mfg, and see what you have
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If it ain't broke, fix it 'till it is |
The Following User Says Thank You to limejudge69 For This Useful Post: | ||
#13
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Quote:
Otherwise I'll have the best looking oil pan for a motor with issues.
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1969 Judge, 4-speed, CR/Parchment, Quasi-Survivor, #'s match - under restoration |
#14
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Wrong dip stick
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🧩 Burds Parts, Finding those Hard to Find PCs, no Fisher Price Toys Here Just Say No To 8” Flakes F ire B irds 🇮🇱 |
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#15
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Olds V8s of that vintage usually hold closer to 6 quarts full, so don't panic too much.
I'd say the drain-back holes are not likley to be plugged if it's a 'decent condition' or low miles engine. It would be sucking the oil through the valve guides and burning it, if that were the case. Anyway, a good look inside the rocker arm compartment should reveal any sludge problem. Most likely, it was previous owner incompetence, or a sloppy quick lube 'mechanic' that caused an over full crankcase. I know there are still plenty of people out there who think it might be a good idea to add a quart of oil occasionaly, just because they have an old car, or that's what their grandpappy always used to say, etc. etc. etc. |
#16
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The Following User Says Thank You to Dennis H. For This Useful Post: | ||
#17
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I also have worked most of my adult life as a mechanic, and can think of only 1 time when the thermometer was only getting to around 10 degrees during the daytime, and my garage had a dead car in it, so I would have been lying in the snow to change my oil before a lengthy trip to NC, that I allowed someone else to change my oil in my car. I finally bought a lift last year, so I guess as long as I can remember to drain the oil first, and refill it, I extended my years of changing my own oil. Hopefully the climate zealots don't outlaw petroleum during the rest of my life, just turned 71 on Saturday........... I also have seen the grease monkey in a shop screw up oil changes with disastorous results, many times over the years. Goes back to the ancient adage, If you want it done right, do it yourself............ Nice thing about using by pass oil filters is, the time you can safely extend oil changes, and put off buying the overpriced oil currently. The price on TP is still under a dollar a roll...........LOL To the OPs question, likely a mistake. If the oil is up to the crank it's going to be whipped into a aerated smoothie, and aerated oil will cause as many problems as running it low for oil. I can't really think of any mechanical deficiencies that overfilling the crankcase is going to cover up. One of the first things I do when considering buying a vehicle is pull the dipstick out, and remove the oil fill cap to look at the bottom of it, and get a visual under the valve cover, if it's not baffled. Olds engines of that vintage have a tendancy, to coke the oil under the valve covers around the heat crossover in the intake manifold, especially if oil changes are neglected, This will also plug up the oil returns in the heads. I've seen many Olds (260/307/350) with that problem over the years.
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Brad Yost 1973 T/A (SOLD) 2005 GTO 1984 Grand Prix 100% Pontiacs in my driveway!!! What's in your driveway? If you don't take some of the RACETRACK home with you, Ya got cheated Last edited by Sirrotica; 01-22-2024 at 12:21 PM. |
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#18
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This has been a number of years, but I had a friend from high school who managed one of the oil lube stores. He broke his right hand in an accident, but was able to still run the store. He asked me to come by after hours to change the oil in his car because he didn't trust any of the guys who worked for him with changing the oil in his personal car.
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#19
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