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Could this cause damage? Oil overfill!

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TheMidget69

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So i decided to add oil to the midget as it was a tad low. For some reason i forgot to check the oil level as I was filling the midget. The result: white/blue smoke is blowing out of the exhaust! I stuck my finger in the tail pipe and i had oil. My midget never had this problem. I checked the dipstick and oil was spilling out a bit.

I drove it for about 5 minutes, Could this cause damage to the engine?

I plan on draining some oil out of the midget tomorrow morning. I hope this ends the cloud of smoke.
 
Well, overfilling isn't good, but I doubt it could cause any serious damage in five minutes. Main problem is that if the sump is too full, the oil is hit by the crankshaft and foams, so it isn't picked up as well by the pump and doesn't move through the bearings as effectively. Also it's quite a shock to the crank and the rest of the engine.

If you're seeing oil in the exhaust and white/blue smoke, and it started suddenly, it sounds like something broke suddenly, so now you're burning oil and maybe coolant. I'd guess a blown head gasket, but there are probably other possibilities--I don't deal with this kind of problem much. Others, who have more experience with this kind of failure, may suggest other things that might have occurred.

Yes, it's a good idea to drain out the excess oil, but if it doesn't fix the problem, don't be too surprised.
 
Like Steve said, it could cause the oil to foam. The oil being splashed around more than normal could cause oil to become like a cloud in the engine and increase the internal pressure. Both of these situations might easily allow oil to be sucked out by the PCV system and be burned in the cylinders causing lots of blue smoke.

So draining the oil to the proper level might easily "cure" the problem. Hopefully it will and only leave the embarrassment. :wink:
 
FWIW, years and years ago I had an early VW Jetta where a shop changed my oil and overfilled the sump. I drove to work and noticed I was leaving a heavy cloud of oil behind the car. At work I took it to a different shop who did nothing more than change my oil and filter (again) and all was well... apart from an expensive service bill to diagnose the problem.

In short, take Tom's advice and drain out the excess oil. Expect a bit of residual oil to have found its way into places like the PCV system and that it will take a few days to burn its way out. You'll probably find all is OK.
 
After I refilled with 5 full qts and ran it that way for a number of months I did notice that the engine revved a little sluggishly. That was 4-5 years ago. I drained and refilled wit hthe correct amount of oil and Bugsy has run fine since and now revs properly without the crankshaft dragging through the oil.
 
Overfilling will allow the crankshaft to hit the oil, cause oil foaming and will make the engine sluggish. Bubbles in the oil can affect oil pressure.
 
Hi everyone thanks for all the help. I no longer have the thick smoke coming out of the tail pipe.

This afternoon I drained all the old oil and added new oil, replaced the all the spark plugs and oil filter.

The midget is driving well :smile:
 
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