How far can I drive with 1 gallon too much oil?

Question

I have way too much oil in my Acura TSX. Do I need to take care of it without turning it on or can I drive it to a service station?

If I need to do it in place, I don't have the ramps or a pan or the daylight left and my wife needs the car in the morning. Can I siphon the oil out of the top? If so, what type of tubing won't be dissolved by the oil?

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If you want to laugh, yes I'm an idiot. The car's been great for years and years and I've never been good about checking the oil. Just regular oil changes and there's been no problem.

The second to last oil change, they sold me on synthetic and said I'd be good for a year. Well, after a year and many miles, turned out the engine was almost dry! Apparently "one year" was a bad recommendation. No damage done, but close.

Anyway, now I've been anxious about running out of oil, so I checked it an saw very little oil on the dipstick. Since it's been so long, I'd forgotten what to expect - "that's a long piece of metal with nothing on it", I think. So I get a big jug, enough for a full oil change, and empty into my engine. Only once the oil level doesn't rise nearly as far as I expected do I realize I made a mistake. My only excuse is that the dipstick level indicators are very subtle on the TSX, just two holes. I was looking at the big bends (what are they for anyway?).

Answer 1

You haven't wrecked the car but you should get the oil down to the appropriate level.

If the oil isn't hot, almost any sort of plastic tubing can be used for siphoning. It's easiest to go in via the dip stick.

Remember not to use the "suck start" siphoning method as you don't want a mouthful of oil. If you have a long enough piece of tubing, you can stick the excess down the dipstick tube, put your thumb over the end, pull out the slack (that is now full of oil) and you'll have an immediate siphon.

Also remember to siphon the oil back into the original container - you might as well keep it until you do need it.

My vote is that you take care of it yourself - I hate letting other people know that I made a goof, especially if I can fix it myself.

Answer 2

You can cause permanent engine damage by significantly overfilling the engine with oil. If the crankshaft and connecting rods are contacting the oil, they will whip air into it and cause it to foam. This happens when the oil level is too high. Foamy oil may still work as a barrier lubricant, but it does NOT have a high film strength. The air bubbles that make it foamy will compress under pressure, and metal parts will touch other metal parts that they normally shouldn't.

Many people racing cars with stock oil pans will overfill by a quart or sometimes a bit more, just to prevent oil starvation under high RPM or high G-forces. I think more than a quart is asking for trouble unless you're familiar with the crankcase and oil pan geometry and know you can safely add more. The main thing you want to avoid is filling up past the bottom of the windage tray, which is the panel that prevents oil from being blown around by air pushed by the spinning crankshaft.

I would not drive a car that's overfilled by a gallon.