[Meh]

Hey me again. Prob just my OCD, so here we go. But this is my first Honda V6 so not sure how sensitive they are to slight overfill....or would this even be considered an overfill lol.

I changed my oil as normal. Put in 5.5 quarts then started the engine for a few mins. Then shut it off and waited a few mins. Checked the level and topped it off as needed. Ended up using almost 5.7 quarts when all was said and done. The oil was exactly at the full mark.

Took it for a drive and all is good. Checked the oil in the morning again (cold engine). And it was slightly above the full mark.

Would this be considered overfilled? The owners manual says to check the oil after turning off the engine and waiting 3 mins. Which shows at the full mark for me. I am on a level surface.

A couple pics. First one is checking after an hour long drive. Waiting about 3-4 mins after turning off before checking. It's exactly at the full mark.

Second pic shows the level after waiting approx. 15-20 mins. Slightly above full (that's where it shows when I checked the next morning as well.)

Any thoughts are appreciated

 

[dvpatel]

Your owner's manual (page 685) clearly says 5.7 quarts with a filter change. You poured in exactly 5.7. I am not sure why you put in 5.5 and waited. I usually pour in what ever is specified and then simply check it.

At the end of the day, that slight above the mark is fine IMHO.

 

[mikidymac]

Your oil level is perfect when checking it just as the manual states so stop worrying.
The longer it sits the more oil will drain down and read a little higher, this is exactly why the manual says to check it at 3 minutes, not overnight.

 

[shrimpmoney]

That level on the dipstick is perfectly fine.

 

[WiiMaster]

I'm not seeing the overfill. Looks perfect to me.

With that said, the safe zone is somewhere around a quart over anyway.

 

[Juggawut]

FWIW the oil, when checked on flat level ground, is intended to read half-way between the max and min. Not at the top line, not at the bottom line. Your reading, however, is still in a safe range.

Technically you should check after the engine has been off for 15 minutes, but that rule is better applied to much larger engines or cold engines. A hot engine will drain into the pan much faster than a cold one.

 

[Meh]

Thank you all for chiming in!!

I'll stop worrying about it and enjoy the ride alot of great info and people on this site with all kinds of experience. Appreciate this forum 🙂

 

[DJVAN]

@dvpatel
Over the years I have not found the oil dipstick to be a very good way to check the engine oil level. Even though the manufacture of oil pans have them all stamped out to the same size, the dipsticks seem to be the one item for consistency. You just cannot stamp out the stem and the handle with the stop cap on it exactly. The maker can say it is 5.7 quarts for it to be full, however very few will say that is with the oil filter being full of oil or empty, before the 5.7 quarts in the oil pan. I fill to level on dipstick with oil, but also add oil in filter, it appears to be higher than the dipstick shows but I've never had any problems with my engines rejectin excessive oil in the PCV valve. Now on these smaller engines that is more important than the big engines on Tractor-Semi engine or any type of heavy equipment, as a quart would never make or break those engines. Most larger diesel engine have you leaving the engine running and check the oil level than. Most of the standby engine generators I worked on held 20-35 gallons of oil. Than on some standby engine generator plants, they have oil makeup tanks that use a storage tank (usually 3 gallons to 50 gallons, depending on the size of engine and expected run times). Their would be a oil regulator (mechanical float box) which would be below the bottom of the storage tank so it would gravity fill into the engines oil pan. This mechanical float box would be attached to adjustable unit-strut, which you could raise and lower in height to adjust for oil level that was in the oil pan. The engines that had these automatic oil feeder would start out be adjusted X amount of inches above the bottom of the oil pan for being level (where the float was equal to the height of oil in the oil pan and it would cause the float to seal of oil going in). They did not allow a lot of oil to enter in fast such as maybe a cup of oil in a hour time if needed. They almost never needed to be adjusted, as we would find from the maker of the engines the amount of oil needed in the engine pan to be full and they would supply us a figure like 7" in the pan. There was a line on the oil regulator to match up with this height. I have heard that they used these oil regulators on ships engine and gearboxes as well, just never got to see them in person.

I would also comment no matter what size the engine is, if the oil filter is straight up and down, to fill the oil filter to 90% full (for those with hands that do not shake 100% full. Leaving very little for the oil pump to fill in air spaces to get to all bearing and lubricated surfaces. Their is those engines that have a angled insert and some 90 degree insert to thread onto the engines, but for the ODY they are straight up and down. One of the biggest mistakes in changing oil filters is that some people forget to check the o-rings on top of the old oi filter as they have removed them to be sure they are on the filter. I have had to rebuild more engines from do-it-yourselves in changing oil. I always. always wipe the engine oil filter mating surface dry and apply 2-3 drops of oil on the oil filter o-ring dispersed out on the o-ring. How much do you tighten the oil filter by, most say 1/2 turn beyond when the the oil filters oil ring comes in contact with it's engine mating surface. Most of the time you cannot see the surface as they are recessed and covered by the oil filter. Tighten by hand until you can no longer tighten by hand than apply oil filter wrench and turn 1/4 turn more, unless it is a large oil filter than tighten 1/2 turn more.

 

[Raptor88]

Took it for a drive and all is good. Checked the oil in the morning again (cold engine). And it was slightly above the full mark.

Would this be considered overfilled? The owners manual says to check the oil after turning off the engine and waiting 3 mins. Which shows at the full mark for me. I am on a level surface.

Oil slightly above the full mark on a cold engine is too much oil.

AFAIK, the oil level dip stick is meant to be checked with the engine hot but turned off after a trip.

In the old days, when gas stations were full service, oil was always checked when the customer parked and turned off the engine to have gal filled. That meant hot engine turned off for about a minute.
Top line = safe driving level. Bottom line = add one quart of oil. (checked when engine is hot)

 

[0dyfamily]

I think he's fine. The former GM engineer who used to live across the street from me was fond of relating how these things are "engineered" for average Joe's like us.

OF