Oil Change 2nd gen overfill at dealers

never heard of it. is that the excuse they are giving you for overfilling?

 

Nothing special about the engine from an oil-change point of view. It's essentially an Echo / Yaris engine.

The place that changed your oil is blowing sunshine at you!

 

There's a couple of things you can do (if you've given up on getting the pros to fix the level):

1. Assuming you have the capability to safely raise the front end: you can loosen and back-out the drain bolt till it's almost free, then just tilt it very slightly, holding it in place, and trickle out a cup or so into some sort of pickle jar with gradations. Then re-torque.

2. With some slim tubing and a vacuum source, you can pull some oil out via the dipstick tube. Hooking up the vacuum to the kind of bottle arrangement they use for brake bleeding is a convenient method.

 

Wow that is one lame excuse from the oil change guys. Doesn't happen!

 

I bring my oil in. 3 & 1/2 bottles worth. I keep the extra 1/2 in a spare empty oil bottle. You can't overfill if you only give them 3.5 qts.! I also provide my own filter, I only get charged labor and oil disposal fee. Well worth the money since my lower back has become scrap!

 

Three quarts is perfectly fine; no fiddling with partially filled bottles and no worries about whether the oil change monkey estimated accurately.

 

This is exactly what I do, except I only give them 3 qts. As long as the oil level is between the two pips on the dipstick you're fine. Three qts puts the level just slightly above the half-way point.

 

I had the dealer overfill mine today - oy. The tech used exactly 3.9 quarts (gave me back the extra) and it's still over by a 1/4" or so. I'm not going to sweat a few ounces of oil but I won't let them make that mistake again. 3.5 quarts and that's it.

 

I'm still not sure what you're trying to say but let me attempt to translate.

"The computer at the store shows 3.9 which is 3 tenths too much.
Correct. 3.9 Quarts is too much. 3.5 to 3.7 will get you pretty close to full. It's probably better to be slightly under the top dimple than to be slightly over.

"The oil shows full at start up check"
The oil is not checked at start up. You should never try to check the oil while the engine is running.

Not what you meant? Perhaps you meant to say that the oil shows full if you check it immediately after filling with 3.9 quarts? That sounds about right. All engines requires some time for the oil to make it's way down to the sump before you can get an accurate dip stick reading.

Also note that you should run the engine for a minute or so after an oil change to make sure everything is primed. You should then wait about 15 minutes for all the oil to drain back before checking the stick. You should then wipe the stick and re-insert it to get an accurate reading.

 

Well, this most recent oil change marks the 3rd time a Toyota dealer has overfilled my oil. I didn't have a ruler handy but I'd say it's somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2" inch past the dimple after the car has sat for many hours.

1st time was Central Toyota in LA, 2nd was Toyota Sunnyvale (I used to go there regularly and liked their service dept) and now this 3rd time it Capitol Toyota in San Jose. I'm going to have to go back there to have them remove the excess.

When I went in, I even told the service advisor several times to not overfill and that it's happened to me before. She assured me they don't and that they had something to the effect of equipment that dispenses measured amounts (measuring gun?). I don't remember her exact words.

 

You've already received other replies to the effect that the engine oil level will take some time to rise up to its ultimate level since the oil is viscous and takes its time to drip down into the crankcase. Typically, 3.7 quarts are required so that the oil level will approach but not exceed the top dipstick dimple.

It is likely that the oil change tech spilled some engine oil on the exhaust manifold which burnt off and caused the smell noted by your wife.