I put too much oil in my 95 Civic today and.

TASIACUESTA

MEMBER
1996 HONDA CIVIC
200,000 MILES

I put too much oil in my 95 civic today and drove it 5 miles before I noticed thick smoke coming out the exahust. I went back home and called my mechanic. He had me drive 2 miles to his house to change my oil and before even looking at it he told me I had blown my valve seals and needed them replaced and this would cost me 200. There is no difference in the driving of the car, the smoke from the exauhst is gone. What are the chances I could have blown them in the 15 miles I drove after filling too full of oil? I think he may be trying to rip me off.

7 Replies

FIXITMR

MECHANIC
9,990 POSTS

Sounds dumb, to give him the benefit of the doubt, if smoke is gone your back to square 1? No way excess oil could damage seals that I know of.

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Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 AT 3:10 AM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,742 POSTS

Valve guide seals aren't under pressure. They simply deflect oil that is draining back from the top of the cylinder head. What typically happens when the oil level is too high is it gets air whipped into it from the spinning crankshaft. Air compresses and prevents the oil from doing one of its jobs; that is isolating moving parts. That doesn't necessarily have to result in engine bearing damage right away. It's more likely the oil overloaded the oil control piston rings. Proof of that is that excessive exhaust smoke. That smoking may continue for a while. There's going to be oil in the exhaust system and that will take time to burn off. There's no reason to stop driving the car now once the oil level is corrected. If it's running okay, give it a few days to clear up.

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Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 AT 3:16 AM

TASIACUESTA

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Ok awesome! Thanks. Yeah the smoking is cleared up already just from my drive to work this evening. I just got the feeling he was trying to rip me off since I'm a girl and was stupid enough to over fill. Thanks again!

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Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 AT 3:20 AM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,742 POSTS

Be careful with the generalizations. Three of my top students were girls. Well, ... They still are! The guys in my classes had a lot of respect for them.

I have a lot of respect too for anyone who tries to learn more about the complicated machines we trust to get us back home, and who isn't afraid to try to work on them. Holler back when you need more words of wisdom.

By the way, be thankful you don't have a diesel engine. They will run on the oil that runs past the piston rings when it's overfilled and you can't turn them off safely. I saw one die a slow death across from the shop I was working at in the late '80s. That was caused by a guy who thought he was supposed to check the oil level with the engine running. By the time I got there with a handful of wet rags, bubbles were coming out of every gasket. Had anyone had the presence of mind, it had a manual transmission and it could have been stuffed into the highest gear to snuff the engine. Don't know what eventually happened to that car.

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Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013 AT 3:35 AM

TASIACUESTA