Oil overfill: O.K. or death?

[duane b]

Originally posted by oregonloyale

Not wanting to replacve your oil, just because it is dark outside just seems lazy.

Who you callin' lazy Willis?!?

I bought a newer car so I wouldn't have to work on it. If I thought for one minute that Subaru Legacies needed to be worked on constantly by me or anybody else I wouldn't have bought one. My Isuzu Trooper has been the most trouble free car I've ever owned. I've put 90,000 miles on it without ever so much as changing the oil. I take it in and let someone else do it because my time is more valuable than that. Don't get me wrong, I've owned tons of cars and used to change the oil in every one of them. But I've lost the appeal of getting oily and greasy and having a mess on my driveway. And having a bunch of used oil filled milk jugs all over the place. When it costs me $20 to change the oil from somewhere else it's not worth my time to do it. If you're interested you can come up to Seattle and change it for me and I'll pay you $20 if you think it's worth your time. I just don't think it is. I am more than happy and capable of doing repairs that will save me $$$ when I do them myself. I'm pretty good at brake jobs and replaceing starters, alternators, batteries and all that stuff that is not worth paying someone else to do. But changing the oil just is not worth my time. Especially since I don't have a garage, the weather sucks, it's dark except for the weekends when I'm home, I make enough money to let someone else do it, and the waste factor is pretty high. Since I work for an environmental company I will say that burying yuour waste oil in the back yard is NOT a viable option. Oil seeps down into the groundwater table and since it floats it travels very far very quickly. So if you do your own oil changes take care of the waste in an environmentally sound manner which means take it to a recycler. Thanks for all your responses and advice and remember:

just because you like to spend time working on your car doesn't mean everyone else does. There are millions of Subarus on the road and I don't think everyone of them is owned by a backyard mechanic. This website is an awesome resource but keep the name calling to null.

[oregonloyale]

No worries man , wasnt calln names just thought that oil being the life blood of the car and the fact that the garbage company ,in oregon ,will pick it up curbside if in a milk container isnt that much work , especially since one would want to make sure that something as easy as an oil change is done right.

I was just raised this way and theres nothing wrong with that .

Good luck on your endeavor and I hope all turns out well?

[intrigueing]

Did you ever check the differential level?

 

Not changing your oil yourself because it is not worth your time is fine. I had the same opinion as you, and have since changed my position back to doing my own oil changes - after a place changed the oil on my wifes brand new car and did not tighten the oil filter. The headache of one mishap is worth a lifetime of doing my own oil changes - only my opinion.

 

We don't care if you fix the problem yourself - take it somewhere. You talk about buying a car to be reliable, yet drive it under conditions that could likely cause any car to sustain significant damage.

 

You asked advice on here if it was safe to drive or as you put it "Oil overfill: OK or death?" - the opinions you got were that it is an extremely bad idea "death" to keep driving the car, and yet decide to still drive it. Get the car fixed immediately or take a cab - it could save you thousands of dollars.

 

Let us know what happens.

[duane b]

I went to check the diff fluid but, I don't have a dip stick. I don't know if I have an exremely basic model Legacy or what . There is a place for a dipstick but it's got a plug in it.

 

I made an appointment at Firestone and told them the problem so they will check it out on saturday.

 

Side note: Didn't mean to get testy but I don't like to be called lazy! I work 50 hour weeks, then come home and work on my house. That's where I prefer to put my time. It's my investment. I've found that working on cars isn't my idea of a good time anymore. My hope is one day to build a garage on my property then I may do the more mundane car jobs but at the moment I'm pretty busy doing other things.

 

I did ask for opinions and advice and the general consensus of the board is it's not a good situation. A couple said it's very bad but the over all feeling I get from you guys is that I think the car will survive until saturday. If something bad happens I will definitely let everyone know and hopefully everyone will learn from my mistakes. Or we will find out that it's not a serious situation as some might think. Not having enough oil is death to internal combustion motors everyone should know this since oil IS the life blood but in my situation, new owner to a subaru motor which is a special design I just wasn't sure that too much oil would blow the motor apart or whatever. But since nobody has said that they have had had this happen from too much oil I will take my chances. I appreciate all the responses. Thanks.

[duane b]

Testing to see if this attachment works:

[intrigueing]

My main concern is not that the oil is overfilled, but the differential is empty. Most people know that a 4 cylinder engine does not take 8 quarts of oil - leading me to think the diff was drained, then again most people should pull the dipstick and check the oil level after an oil change.

 

I would demand to be in the bay when they look at your car. If the diff is dry - damage has been done and they shoud compensate you, and not just by refilling the fluid. Might not be a bad idea to bring your brother in law as a "witness". I wish you the best.

[duane b]

That's a great idea about the bro-in-law as a witness!

Do all legacies 4eat have a dipstick for the front diff? Because mine doesn't. It looks like I could put one in easy enough if I could find on at a junk yard. I think that's an awesome idea on Subaru's part to make it easy to check other fluids besides oil and autotranny fluid. Do they use a dipstick for manual trannies as well?

All of the other 4x4 I've owned, you crawl underneath the car, open the filler hole, stick your finger in the first knuckle. If you can't reach oil, you're pretty low. It's a pain that not many people do very often. If all you had to do is check a dipstick when you check the oil there would probably be less worn out drive trains. Thanks for all the responses. The car won't be driven today and it goes straight back to Firestone tomorrow. I think we will survive.

[hawksoob]

I know on mine (96OBW, 2.2L) there is a dipstick for the tranny oil/front diff (same), but the rear diff requires the finger in the hole method.

[frag]

Duane, is it possible you're not looking at the right place for the front diff dip sitick?

Just in case, if you look over the right (passenger side) fender at the right side of the trans , just behind the engine and the bell housing and if you look carefully and push aside a few hoses maybe you'll find it. If your oil dip stick has a yellow handle, the front diff dipstick also have a yellow one but it has not the same shape, rather like a big eyelet rather than a straight and flat handle like the oil dipstick.

What makes me think you're not looking at the right place is that this dipstick could not be replaced by a bolt.

Hope that helps.

[forester2002s]

Duane B: In your very first post, you said that: "the oil was about twice the amount needed on the dip-stick!"

 

I wonder whether you meant that the level on the dipstick was above the 'full' mark, by about the same distance as between the 'low' and 'full' marks?

 

If so, that would only indicate an overfill condition of about 1 litre (1 US quart).

 

That would be a far cry from twice the correct amount of oil in the sump.

 

Is that what you meant?

[duane b]

Originally posted by frag

Duane, is it possible you're not looking at the right place for the front diff dip sitick?

Yes that is very possible. I finally found it covered in dirt and so it wasn't very visible. Like I said before it is dark when I get home. The diff fluid is fine the tranny fluid is fine.

FORESTER2002s:

yes you are correct that the amount on the dipstick was twice the distance from the bottom of the dipstick to the full mark.

I have since took it back to Firestone, they changed the oil and filter, checked all the other fluid levels, appologized and gave me $11 off the oil change so for me all is well again. There seems to be no adverse affects to the car. Thanks for the responses on this board.