Oil change goes awry...now what?
 

Ugg.
Did routine oil change yesterday. All went well until the part about starting the car to put last four quarts in.

Started car, went to back and oil was shooting out of oil filter area.

Shut car off (took about, what, 15 seconds before I could get back to driver seat), but by that time much of engine bay was oiled down but good and oil all over garage floor.

Reseated a new filter, poured one quarter in non-running car, restarted and added rest of case (four quarts). Oil level needle did not move, dipstick showed nothing.

Now...

I don't know how much oil is in car. It appeared about three quarts made its way to garage floor. So the question is: Do I go out for more oil and add it to running engine or non-started engine? I do not want to overfill to cold engine and do not want to run an engine that may have only five or so quarts of oil in it.

Or, do I drain it all again and start over (and spend another $80 on oil and filter)?

just a quart of oil can cover the engine and the floor, it probably looks worse than it is, and I doubt you lost more than a qt.
Dipstick/gauge won't register until the car is fully heated with ~ 10.5 Qts. IIRC

For piece of mind, play it 100% save and drain all of the oil and start-over spending another $80 on oil and filter. Make sure the engine is all the way hot before checking the oil level. I wouldn't take any chances (but maybe that's just me) :)

I'd bet you didn't loose more than a quart. The car will run down a quart or to. I would go ahead and finish doing the 10.5 quart, get the car hot and add oil until the gauge is half way. I wouldn't throw the oil you have in there out. Make sure the car has oil pressure and it should be ok.

Laker, Yellow:
No fears about running an engine to hot with possibly only five quarts in it??

If you are looking for a true piece of mind, drain the case and the tank in a clean pan.

Fill your qt. bottles with the oil. This will answer your question on how much oil is in your car.

Then pour the oil back in and add any if necessary.

If re-using the oil concerns you, box it up and send it to me :-)

I would pour in the rest of the remaining oil, run the engine to get up to temp, and slowly add half a quart at a time. Frequently checking the gauge and dipstick. Even if you're down 1-2 qts, there's still plenty more in there.

Only 5 qts circulate the engine until the thermostat opens.

New drain pan with spout is only ten bucks and its not like you wont ever use it again..just make sure that there are no remnants of plastic in it..
That said I would go ahead and let her get warm and proceed accordingly..

As laker said it probably looks worse than it is , one quart of oil spilled looks like a few gallons!

the more I think about this, Frank993C4S is right, just start over. It's not worth it, if there's any doubt

If you start up the motor now , do you have oil pressure ?
If so you have enough oil in it to run the motor .
Let the motor get up to temp then add oil till the needle just comes of the peg .
Just getting it up to temp is not going to cause it to overheat .

If you want to see if the motor will pick up oil pressure w/o actually starting the car, then pull the DME relay and crank the car. It should register oil pressure just from cranking over.

Update
 

Update on the 4-day oil change:

Opted to start over but with same filter. Opened up all the plugs and drained. To be safe, used all new oil.

All went well. Added seven quarts, started car and began adding more until needle moved. Stopped and took car for ride.

Well, must have not let car warm enough before adding final couple quarts and, all oil must not have drained from first fill.

During drive, needle shot to top and would bounce between pegged and 1 o'clock. No smokescreen so dodged bullet.

Headed home, let it sit overnight with plan to be to drain off a couple quarts from crank case. Well, couldn't get plug back in (they get slippery when covered in oil!) and ended up draining entire crank case. Warmed it up correctly this time -- 10 minutes at idle and the around the block five times -- and added until needle crept into white.

All that's left is the cleanup of the engine bay.
Suggestions on that?

And thanks to all for advice.

wipe excess with old rags, then simple green and hose down with water

sounds quick .. must have been a hot day ... was the oil temp at 9 o'clock?