I hadn't added any oil for couple of thousand miles and had noticed my gage was not coming off the bottom reading at idle. I added 1qt. No problem. On the 7 miles to work this morning, I start seeing much smoke and the smell of oil. Get to the parking deck and there is lots of oil on the right side heat exchanger and after 10 minutes, a pool forming underneath! It was dark in the deck so I haven't gotten a good look as to where it's coming. The gage is still sitting slightly less that halfway.

Most of the smoke seemed to be from outside the exhaust, lots of oil in the engine compartment. I didn't notice any problems when I added the oil last night.

Any thoughts?

 

Overfilled with oil and it's dripping on heat exchanger and/or mufflers. No damage just a mess.

 

keith, got my new car last week and did the exact same thing, bummer but it burnt off after about a day or so, seems that the oil has to be poured a half litre or so at a time...glenn

 

You'll read it here many times, but use the dipstick to check your oil level, not the guage. My guage usually stays at the bottom, despite the fact that my car is full as indicated by the dipstick!

 

My guage is the same, just out of the red when appears full on the dipstick. Oil must be added very little at a time when the car is at fully hot running temp and standing on level ground, add about 1/4 a quart and check dipstick, keep doing that until the dipstick is reading full/max......a PITA but the only safe way to avoid overfilling..........I was also told by somebody that overfilling will cause sooner that expected SAI failure as the oil somehow gets into system and burns on...is that fact or fiction??

 

Also note that most of our oil fill tube expandable filler necks (you know, the thing you pull out from the tube where the oil fill cap locks down) are falling apart and will send oil right down to the heat exchanger.

 

Definitely check your oil with the dipstick. If the gauge isn't moving, your sender may be bad.

 

Happens at least once to anyone that owns a 911. Remember the dipstick top mark is max, anything over that is overfilled. Personally, I keep mine either at 1st line, make sure that car is hot and level and than maybe add 1/2 quart and it brings dipstick to middle level. There is so much oil in a 911 that one quart "low" does not do any harm, imo.

 

Over fill, you need take out the one qt. Measure with the tip stick and add if needed. Don't rely on gauage it take time for the gauge to be operational at time.

 

I poured the oil in pretty quickly and it seemed to go in without problem.

Big questions is the car is not in a very convenient location to drain off a quart.

Should I be OK with driving it home the 7 miles and then pulling a quart? Or should I absolutely not drive it until lowered. Are the SAI an issue on 95 model with ODBI?

Thanks to all for the quick responses.

Keith

 

You don't have to drain it. You need to go to an automotive parts store and put syphon. It is about 7 to 10 bucks. Make sure you have an empty bottle or oil can as you will syphon the oil out into the can or bottle. It is easy and you should be okay. I would not drive it.

 

First verify that you did really overfill it or just drip it on the heat exchangers. The oil take a while to burn off.

I can't see being a quart overfull for 7 miles doing any damage, we have been overfilling them for years! You may want to get a fluid extractor and suck t he oil out from the top as opposed to trying to drain from below...that just sounds like a huge mess in the making.

 

The 993 95 cars having OBDi do not know about SAI issues.....forget them and be very very very happy!

 

95 car won't have an SAI CEL because the OBDI system doesn't check it, so don't worry about that. You probably overfilled as most have already said, but you also never want to just dump oil into the car when filling...it will oftentimes drip out and get all over everything...you need to be very slow when filling it up otherwise this will be a common occurrence anytime you top up on oil....also, definitely check the dipstick when checking oil as many people's oil level indicators are not accurate.

 

The fill tube could have a faulty seal and the oil didn't all make it into the tank.

Messy job, but I have spilled oil there myself. Go get a couple rolls of paper towels and get intimate with the engine from top and bottom.

I finished with a damp towel of alcohol to clean the film off. Be careful not to ignite yourself!

Marv