Slight oil overfill

[tchalikias]

Took the 200 in for an oil and filter change.

I checked the last oil bottle (elf oil in dealerships here comes in 1 litre bottles, so they used 6 bottles) and there was half a litre left.

That means they used 5,5 litres where Renault state that on average the engine takes 5,35-5,4 litres. Sure enough, a dipstick check with a cold engine showed the oil level around 3mm above max. I estimate the engine is overfilled by 150-175ml.

Should I be worried about this and go have the excess oil drained? Or should I leave it like that?

I know that excess oil is burned through the breather valve - but thats not good for the catalyst, is it? Or am I nitpicking?

 

[ben_r1]

It shouldn't be a problem, but you'll have trouble trying to burn of synthetic oil as it doesn't evaporate or fume up.

For what it's worth though I'd correct it, a thin brake bleeding hose down the dipstick hole and either suck the excess up or use some sort of hand pump/syringe.

There is a risk of damaging seals on older engines.

 

[tchalikias]

Well my OCD got the better of me so I had the excess oil drained out. As I had calculated, about 100-150ml was drained.

I just measured the oil level with a cold engine (as per the manual), now its right on the max line

From now on I'll be telling the dealer techs to only use 5 litres of oil and the rest 0.4 lt I will take care of myself.

P.S. Back in my Megane II days I remember dealer techs 9 times out of 10 filled it up with 5 litres of oil even though the service manual stated 4,8 litres as the proper quantity when replacing the oil fiter. Oh well.

 

[Ed...]

Thats rediculous.... Just a lac of care and attention i hope you have complained

 

[sideways danny]

thats a very small amount, renault engines are notorious for using oil anyway so i wouldn't panic. If it was a litre over then you'd need to drain it. As it is you're relying on a french dipstick to not lie to you......good luck with that

if it was really bothering you, you should have just pulled the filter off, and put a new one on

 

[tchalikias]

I didn't rely entirely on the dipstick, I knew the quantity of oil the dealer used (5,5 litres), sucked out around 150ml and the oil level is where it should be (5,35 litres in the engine as per the service manual).

If it was easy to reach, I would have pulled the filter, however Renault have placed it in a location only Mr. Fantastic can reach without lifting the vehicle!

@Ben: I always used fully synthetic 5w-40 oil on my Megane II (Elf's high end Excellium line) and every time I took out the throttle body for cleaning I saw signs of oil fumes - the breather valve sends oil fumes through the throttle body and into the engine. If synthetic oil didn't fume even a little bit I don't think they would have put a breather valve on a car that can only be run on synthetics... but then my knowledge of motor oil properties is severely limited.

 

[ben_r1]

The crankcase breather system is primarily for fuel fumes that escape through the piston ring gaps, which is then recirculated through the inlet to burn it off for emissions. some oil will pass through on older cars. CTRs on the other hand drink more oil than petrol lol.

 

[Foxspeed]

I didn't rely entirely on the dipstick, I knew the quantity of oil the dealer used (5,5 litres), sucked out around 150ml and the oil level is where it should be (5,35 litres in the engine as per the service manual).

If it was easy to reach, I would have pulled the filter, however Renault have placed it in a location only Mr. Fantastic can reach without lifting the vehicle!

@Ben: I always used fully synthetic 5w-40 oil on my Megane II (Elf's high end Excellium line) and every time I took out the throttle body for cleaning I saw signs of oil fumes - the breather valve sends oil fumes through the throttle body and into the engine. If synthetic oil didn't fume even a little bit I don't think they would have put a breather valve on a car that can only be run on synthetics... but then my knowledge of motor oil properties is severely limited.

its not "oil fumes" its piston ring blow bye - this goes in to the sump/engine casing and is then vented back to the inlet via the breather on the top of the engine - also known as pcv positive crankcase ventilation - the fumes just collect oil on its way to the breather as such - as long as its not dripping with oil it will be fine as the engine will be designed to run like that

 

[tchalikias]

Thanks for clearing this out. For some strange reason the most common technical term here in Greece for the PCV valve can roughly be translated as 'oil fume valve'.:blink: