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Huge problem with overfilled oil, looking for best approach....
I spent days looking at old posts and thought I'd make a post myself.
I have a buddy who overfilled his engine with so much oil (like 4 oil changes worth) and never drained a single drop. So much oil that at least a quart came out of the tail pipes. I don't understand how the hell this could happen but it did and now I'm trying to help with the aftermath (tons of sludge in the head) and figure the best approach.
What I plan to do is:
*Remove intake, have machine shop clean.
*Remove heads, have machine shop clean and while they are in there swap out the valve stem seals.
*Install new manifold gaskets.
*Install new valve cover gaskets.
*Install new head gaskets.
*Install new spark plugs.
*Install new valve stem seals.
The entire exhaust from manifolds back will have to be swapped. I'm going to have to pay super attention to the timing, I know that for sure.
Am I missing anything, does anyone have any advice, has anyone gone through this before or know what I should and as importantly, what I should NOT do?
It's just a daunting task and the collective group here always offers invaluable advice.
The exhaust should blow out eventually. But yeah nearly all gaskets and seals might be a good idea.
Is your buddy in his right mind? Only add, no drain??
Jeepers creeper dude you have no idea. It gets even worse than what I explained but I'm just trying to help the poor kid get his car back together. The look of fear on his face kind of reminds me of myself way back before I could turn a wrench. You know, back when everything was a problem only a dealer could fix for thousands of dollars.
He re-used old gaskets, didn't torque the bolts back down, didn't follow a bolt torque pattern, left some stuff literally finger tight, driving around after draining the tranny and not refilling, motor had more than likely 20 quarts of oil in it etc etc etc...
I'm really surprised the car even ran the short amount of time it did. Talk about a real world true statement of how robust GM motors are, or just powertrains in general in this day & age/
There's oil in all of our intakes from the PCV system. The excess will run through, so no need to take it off or to a machine shop. If you really really want to take it off just take it off and tilt it a bunch of directions and pour the oil out. If you want to go further pour some degreaser in it (i like the purple power stuff at autozone, either the castrol brand or knock off brand, bother are great) and swish that around and wash it out with a water hose. But every intake I pull off of LS motors pours oil out on the floor if I move them around, it's why I've got into the habit of not tilting them when I pull them off.
The excess in the exhaust will burn off.
I'd run it at the right oil level to see if there's really any major damage or not. Sounds like this person is going to have a lot more challenges than just with his car lol.
There's oil in all of our intakes from the PCV system. The excess will run through, so no need to take it off or to a machine shop. If you really really want to take it off just take it off and tilt it a bunch of directions and pour the oil out. If you want to go further pour some degreaser in it (i like the purple power stuff at autozone, either the castrol brand or knock off brand, bother are great) and swish that around and wash it out with a water hose. But every intake I pull off of LS motors pours oil out on the floor if I move them around, it's why I've got into the habit of not tilting them when I pull them off.
The excess in the exhaust will burn off.
I'd run it at the right oil level to see if there's really any major damage or not. Sounds like this person is going to have a lot more challenges than just with his car lol.
i agree with this. Drain to proper level and run it
I've done that--started draining oil, stopped draining, got distracted by the kids or something, and then went back and added oil. Then ran the car and was like wtf... smoke everywhere.
And guess what. It was fine. Drain it and refill to the proper level. It's not the end of the world. Unless he ran it for 5000 miles like that.
Thank you for all of the advice everyone, I truly appreciate it. It didn't even dawn on me to just drain the oil and run it as is to see if it'll be alright. The kid said he had the heads off way back when and never used torque specs, re-used all of the old gaskets and did EVERYTHING your specifically not supposed to do so I just assumed I'd give it a once over, clean everything, new gaskets/seals and make sure everything is torqued down to spec. I think I want to see if it'll run as is though as everyone suggested.
Well if he built it that way it's safe to assume it wont last long. But it may be worth just finding out and running it till it does give up then rebuilding. Who knows, may last long enough to get him to another car or, hate to say this but based on watching my son and all his bs, it may last him long enough until he wrecks it or destroys it.
I’m only 20 years old. Built my first motor when I was 17, but built a lot of other things before that Including rebuilding my muncie 4 speed and I made a lot of mistakes along the way. But I always made sure to find a book or manual or YouTube video to find all the torque specs and tips and tricks to help. I learned everything I know about cars from reading, I read everything automotive to learn, I suggest he picks up some LS books and start reading to learn the ins and outs of this motor to do it properly. Not torquing the heads idk, it doesn’t seem to me that it’ll last long that way.
Id be tempted to retorque everything, do an oil change and see what happens.
If it blows a head gasket. ....you were planning on rebuilding anyway.
If hes that uh-hmm uninformed about cars, did he actually pull the heads or the valve covers.
did he actually pull the heads or the valve covers.
Sadly yes, he didn't remove the bolts in any specific pattern, didn't use new gaskets, didn't torque anything down, didn't follow bolt patterns when reinstalling. Hell some bolts weren't even finger tight.
He's the type of guy that watches a few YouTube videos and figures he can swing it on his own to save some cash but he has ZERO patience. In the matter of 4 minutes, his father and him asked me how I planned on re-filling the tranny fluid and as I explained myself, mid sentence the other person would literally ask me the same question as if they weren't listening to me answer the very question the other person asked. If they don't say anything they can't keep eye contact for 30 seconds and pay attention, mid explanation they walk away or ask another question, ask the same question etc...
It's so frustrating because the want help, want to know whats going on but won't listen, pay attention or take my advice. It is literally like talking to a short attention span 4 year old.
I told them they have to tighten bolts down in a pattern, to a specific torque spec, they need gaskets, seals and things have to be done in order. I was told "well we didn't have to do that the last 2 times the car was taken apart", my answer "well that's why you are dumping almost 2 quarts of oil from your exhaust, have sludge and your spark plugs are dripping with oil". They didn't understand and still think I'm being overly careful and cautions for good reason but it's not reaaaalllly necessary. Mind you I'm doing this with 2 wrenches and probably 30% of complete socket set....in the dark. No tools, no light etc... I made a list of stuff for the kid to buy and told him I'll come back to help when he provides proper tools & lighting. haha
They are starting to come around, I don't know why I care I just think it's because I miss being around cars and I want to work on something so bad that I'll just deal with the annoyances along the way as long as I get to turn a wrench.
You guys are the best, thanks for all of the responses!
Sadly yes, he didn't remove the bolts in any specific pattern, didn't use new gaskets, didn't torque anything down, didn't follow bolt patterns when reinstalling. Hell some bolts weren't even finger tight.
He's the type of guy that watches a few YouTube videos and figures he can swing it on his own to save some cash but he has ZERO patience. In the matter of 4 minutes, his father and him asked me how I planned on re-filling the tranny fluid and as I explained myself, mid sentence the other person would literally ask me the same question as if they weren't listening to me answer the very question the other person asked. If they don't say anything they can't keep eye contact for 30 seconds and pay attention, mid explanation they walk away or ask another question, ask the same question etc...
It's so frustrating because the want help, want to know whats going on but won't listen, pay attention or take my advice. It is literally like talking to a short attention span 4 year old.
I told them they have to tighten bolts down in a pattern, to a specific torque spec, they need gaskets, seals and things have to be done in order. I was told "well we didn't have to do that the last 2 times the car was taken apart", my answer "well that's why you are dumping almost 2 quarts of oil from your exhaust, have sludge and your spark plugs are dripping with oil". They didn't understand and still think I'm being overly careful and cautions for good reason but it's not reaaaalllly necessary. Mind you I'm doing this with 2 wrenches and probably 30% of complete socket set....in the dark. No tools, no light etc... I made a list of stuff for the kid to buy and told him I'll come back to help when he provides proper tools & lighting. haha
They are starting to come around, I don't know why I care I just think it's because I miss being around cars and I want to work on something so bad that I'll just deal with the annoyances along the way as long as I get to turn a wrench.
You guys are the best, thanks for all of the responses!
What a couple of idiots! After explaining twice, time to leave and let them do their own destruction. It might take a car or two, but they learn eventually..
Sadly yes, he didn't remove the bolts in any specific pattern, didn't use new gaskets, didn't torque anything down, didn't follow bolt patterns when reinstalling. Hell some bolts weren't even finger tight.
He's the type of guy that watches a few YouTube videos and figures he can swing it on his own to save some cash but he has ZERO patience. In the matter of 4 minutes, his father and him asked me how I planned on re-filling the tranny fluid and as I explained myself, mid sentence the other person would literally ask me the same question as if they weren't listening to me answer the very question the other person asked. If they don't say anything they can't keep eye contact for 30 seconds and pay attention, mid explanation they walk away or ask another question, ask the same question etc...
It's so frustrating because the want help, want to know whats going on but won't listen, pay attention or take my advice. It is literally like talking to a short attention span 4 year old.
I told them they have to tighten bolts down in a pattern, to a specific torque spec, they need gaskets, seals and things have to be done in order. I was told "well we didn't have to do that the last 2 times the car was taken apart", my answer "well that's why you are dumping almost 2 quarts of oil from your exhaust, have sludge and your spark plugs are dripping with oil". They didn't understand and still think I'm being overly careful and cautions for good reason but it's not reaaaalllly necessary. Mind you I'm doing this with 2 wrenches and probably 30% of complete socket set....in the dark. No tools, no light etc... I made a list of stuff for the kid to buy and told him I'll come back to help when he provides proper tools & lighting. haha
They are starting to come around, I don't know why I care I just think it's because I miss being around cars and I want to work on something so bad that I'll just deal with the annoyances along the way as long as I get to turn a wrench.
You guys are the best, thanks for all of the responses!
I've dealt with a lot of people like that over many many years and good luck getting through. Most of the time they don't want to understand and 100% do not care. Their level of acceptable is so much lower than yours and that's where they want to be because "it worked just fine that way" and doing it right is "a scam". Essentially you'll be explaining yourself to people that are committed to misunderstanding you. Good luck trying, but honestly the best thing you can do is let them learn by letting them continue their bad choices and see for themselves where it gets them, they won't learn otherwise. If you fix it all up they are just going to destroy it because they don't value quality. Or they'll keep driving it into the ground and treating it like **** because they know someone else will come along and fix it all up for them. Guess who that is.
May seem negative, but you'll meet people every day that are just waiting to take advantage of some sucker.
@00pooterSS - Oh trust me I am on the same page. I am helping because the car is the only means of transportation for this kid, I feel bad for him, I'm itching to work on something and I feel like this is his chance to physically see first hand what happened as a result of his "dive in first ask questions.....nah don't even ask questions" mentality. I'm hoping this will open his eyes and he'll end up paying a shop in the future or at least change his approach.
Everyone deserves one chance right? haha. If I have even the slightest idea of how bad his car was going to be I would have told him I couldn't help for one reason or another.
You can't even make out the heads of the bolts hahah.
He wanted to use paper towels, a tooth brush and simple green. I told him if it wanted to go that route or approach anything on the car while I'm helping I need to step away from the project because I don't want to be blamed if the half hearted efforts made things worse and he thinks my ability to repair is to blame.
To be clear, I agree with helping everyone. But I learned not to put more effort into doing things for people than they are willing to do for themselves is all I'm saying. I still do over do it, but I dialed it back a lot and saved my self a lot of headaches.
Lead them to water, but it's up to them to do the rest.
If you lead them water and force them to drink, they'll resent you for forcing them.
Is that a Cadillac CTS? Looks like a 3.6 gm engine and similar to a CTS engine bay
And man. On motors that nasty inside the best thing to do is leave them as is. You start cleaning the sludge it'll end up in the pan and clog the pick up tube and boom it's over.
I would just tell him there's only so much you can do, God himself can't save that car from the owner.
Last edited by 00pooterSS; 12-06-2019 at 01:35 PM.
12-02-2019, 08:10 AM
Huge problem with overfilled oil, looking for best approach.... 
