Quarts in crank case

[skewe]

I went to toyota dealership to change my oil.

I requested for castrol 10-30 as opposed to the bulk kendall 5-30.

They put in 4 quarts of castrol in my gen 4.5 - 4 cylinder (5sfe).
I know that gen 4.5 has a 3.8 capacity only.
The oil line is about 1/4 inch above the "F" line on the dip stick.

I asked them to drained it so that it does not exceed the "F" line.
The maser tech came out and said that it will not cause any problems.

Should i take his word for it?

Edit: Wordings revised

[touringcamry]

I'm not sure what your asking. The 5SFE takes 4 quarts of oil.

If you are askiing because they put in 4 quarts Castrol and 4 quarts Kendall, then you definitely have a problem and you need to drain out 4 quarts.

[skewe]

i revised the wordings

[smkdwnn]

drain it down to meet the full mark. Those guys at the dealership did the samething to my 1990 Camry and I had problems with my engine performance. In my case they filled 1 inch above the full mark. Anyway this dealership is going to get a shit score when corporate asks for a survey of this dealership. Good luck.

[touringcamry]

It should not be a problem. I've always put 4qts in.

[Tom 2000]

I usually change my own oil, except for major service intervals.

When I took my car in for 30K service couple of years ago, the dealer did the same thing you described.

So I drained out the excess oil, gave them a crap score on their survey they sent me.

I took my car in for 60K service (same dealer) in January. They got the oil level right this time. While I don't know if my one survey was enough to change their practice, I'm glad they got it right.

[skewe]

i have done all my oil change since i got my car 1.5 yrs ago

never received a survey

[Mike Gerber]

I also put in 4 quarts on my 98 5SFE engine. It barely reaches the full mark on my dipstick, but I use an aftermarket oil filter. The aftermarket filters may hold a bit more oil and that could be the difference.

Mike

[mspringer]

Originally Posted by Mike Gerber

I also put in 4 quarts on my 98 5SFE engine. It barely reaches the full mark on my dipstick, but I use an aftermarket oil filter. The aftermarket filters may hold a bit more oil and that could be the difference.

Mike

I don't think an aftermarket filter holds any additional oil (vs original). Most likely (because they work fast) they simply did not drain out all the oil. (I always let it drip for a while to get the most out that I can, but you never actually remove 100%.)
I would not worry about it. Cars are usually designed to handle a little extra oil. You could (in theory) end up with additional resistance in the crankcase (resistance in the crank turning), which could affect performance, although any affect would be slight, I would think.

Hot Rod Magazine has demonstrated the "additional oil = resistance" theory in the past, but their examples are usually on ultra high-performance engines at high RPMs.

[tatvamasi]

I do not see little over fill a problem.

[Corollacrazy42]

little overfill isnt bad.. but if its far off Ive read that can cause damage

[Cyorke]

I always put four quarts in teh 5sfe
if it is only over by a small amount then it will not cause any problems if they put an extra quart in then you may have problems with blowby and all that good stuff
dont worry about it
if you try to drain it out you will ned up loosing alot more than what you are wanting to drain out and then you have to get more oil to refill and all that crap.

[skewe]

I check today and it is about 1/3 inch above the "F line" on the dip stick..
getting worried cos i cannot afford to blow an engine as I am saving up for 90k maintenance (water pump, belts, idler, the whole 9 yards)

[Gary_602Z]

Are you checking it at the same time every day?(A hot engine will read different then a cold engine) If not you can get a variance in readings. The differnce between 1/3 and 1/4 of an inch is miniscule anyway.

Gary

[marc780]

Drain the extra oil out if you must, id change the oil myself since the shop is not satisfying you. Its sad but it seems l;ike almost everytime a mechanic gets his hands on my engine he breaks something extra. (Anybody else has this experience? Could it be my bad breath hee)
i think your concerns about oil level are right but i believe in using the exact grade of oil Toyota says. If they say use 5\30 but 10-30 is ok in warm wather, i might use 10 30, but the manual on my 02 camry v6 says "use 5-30, period." So thats what i use. They made the car, nobody knows better what oil to use, not me, not my mechanic, (id need to see a TSB to change my opinions on that).