I have always heard it was bad, but why? What can go wrong and what is too much?!
Say it calls for 5qts with filter change. What would too much be? If you fill up the filter before installing, do you take the amount you put into the filter into consideration?

 

I myself and heard of other guys using an extra quart for racing...the myth is the oil pump being over worked when using too much oil...but if the oil is always semi clean and syn. you'll have no issue's..as do I

 

Hi, when an engine has too much oil it tries to get reed of it. The oil will usually leak down the valve guides and into the combustion chamber, this will cause the engine to smoke and the check engine light to come on and it can foul the plugs if it is a lot.

I have heard of some people who drive autocross style racing running a quart over full to make up for the loss of oil pressure when a car with an old style oil pan without a baffle pulls hard "Gs" But this is not a good practise.

Running over full is not that big a thing but it is not good.

 

That my friend makes very good sense...maybe I'll stick just over half a quart over full...

 

correct me if i'm wrong, but wouldn't having too much oil increase the oil pressure?

 

hmmmm, ok.. so what pressure is yours at normally?
Say.. 80mph in 6th if you have a manual..
I am at about 60....

As for what wrong it can do to your engine I still dont know.. except for the message above (thank you)..

 

so is it the increased pressure that causes the "leak"?

 

Crank will whip the oil into a froth, thereby making engine failure a possibility, foamed up oil wont flow very well where it needs to go.

As for as AutoX/RR guys, I'd rather run 1/2qt over than lose my engine, some spec series guys lost 3 engines because they are not allowed to run aftermarket pans, this was all in one day at California Speedway. Each type of car will have its own margin on what is "too much," when someone can't spell practice I'm not going to stop doing what has been proven to work.

 

Olay, I raised the flag. It shouldn't increase pressure. It will actually decrease pressure. I'll take you through step by step.

Fisrt of all do you know how they make mayonaise? The short explanation is that they whip up vegetable oil into a froth. It basically turns the oil into a gel.

When your oil level is too high, the lobes on the crankshaft beat it into a froth. This injects air into the oil. The froth doesn't flow as easily, the oil pump works harder because of the increased thickness, not because there's more to pump. The air in the oil also reduces the protection that the oil offers against friction. So the oil pump gets hot, wears out faster due to more friction and also pumps this mayonaise into the rest of bearings with the same effect there too. If the oil level is high enough the mayo can even blow out the PCV valve, as happened with a Civic I used to own before I decided to change my own oil from then on. That's when you'll start to see the blue smoke because of the expelled oil going through the intake manifold. This isn't very good for O2 sensors either. That's when your SES light will come on because the O2 sensors got gummed up (as my Civic did).

Now I suppose that extended operation of an engine with the oil starvation properties, described above, can wear out the valve guides too and that's why somebody's valve guides might have been leaking. Especially on an older engine. But by then the valve guides are the least of your worries.

I wouldn't worry about 1/2 to 1 quart over full when sloshing side to side. The last thing you want to do is starve the pump. But I wouldn't run more than 1/2 a quart over full on the road for day to day driving.

Hope that painted the picture for you. It wasn't intended as a flame BTW. But I don't want to have misinformation or incomplete information go as gospel. If someone can explain how you could get an increase in oil pressure by running too much oil, I'd like to see the step by step on that.

 

Well that's simple.................because there's more head pressure for the suction of the pump.

.................... in theory that's correct, but I'm totally joking otherwise!

I agree 100% with what you said above. That's along the lines of what I thought (but of course I waited for someone else to post the answer).

 

Yeah, Me too...

hehehheehhehehehe


thanks! Now to see how much is in there.. Cause I am running (and I know its risky) an amsoil oil filter that is super long.. Its so long its visible under the car if you look under.. its running a close second to being the lowest part of my car next to the cat/y-pipe.

I am only running it cause at the time its was the only one I had with me.. I will change it out this weekend with the proper amsoil filter..
So when you use the dipstick, and I am checking the oil with the car warm and running. How far above the hash marks is 1 qt? Or too much?

 

If you increase the fluid capacity of the filter and still put it the same amount of oil, the oil level in the pan will be slightly lower. So don't worry about the filter as long as it is compatible. Fill to the full line on the dip stick. Then add a half quart if you desire. To tell how much extra you have now, drain all the oil and measure how much you have with your wife's measuring cup. It's in the kitchen it the utensil drawer. lol just kidding. Just look at the dip stick and estimate how much it is over the full line. The distance from the full to the add line is 1 quart.

 

$hit ive been puttin 6 quarts in after a change.....i should stop that!

 

When I change my oil/filter, I put in 5.5 quarts. then in a week I add the other half and the level will be right at full. Works well and my oil pressure is good.

 

I believe the "proper" amount of oil for the LS1 is 5.5 quarts isn't it? So running with 6 quarts should only be 1/2 over?

And psychocabbage: I don't think you check ENGINE oil with the motor running............that's only for checking auto-tranny fluid (unless there's something I'm missing..........but how would you get an accurate measurement otherwise? ).