Burning oil after belt and oil change

AlanHunter · Post by **AlanHunter** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:32 pm

I had timing and auxilliary belts changed last week + an oil change at a local garage. THe Bongo is going well and sounds a lot better, but now there is a smell of burnt oil from the exhaust. There are no obvious external oil leaks.
I have been back and they agree there is a problem and have agreed to take a closer look, but don't think they could have done anything to cause the problem. There was no smell before it went into the garage and the coincidence is too great.
Today I checked the oil level, having found a piece of level driveway. The oil reading on the dipstick is approx. 13mm above the full mark.

So now, advice please.
How significant is the overfill. Could it have caused the problem? Could it have caused any other problems I don't know about yet?
Shall I let the oil level gradually right itself and ignore the smell?
Shall I drain the excess off myself?
Should I get the garage to do it?
Is there anything else I should be looking at?

Thanks.

Post by **Simon Jones** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 2:39 pm

I think there have been several messages about overfilled engines & gearboxes recently (try a search). The general opinion was that too much can be as bad as too little - it can cause excess pressure to build up. In a recent thread (within last 14 days) someone used a large syringe & tube to suck the excess out the gearbox filler - might be worth trying something similar.

dandywarhol · Post by **dandywarhol** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 4:22 pm

Get the garage to do the job properly Alan, after all, you paid them to do it.
13mm is quite a lot of extra oil in a sump of that capacity and could be splashing onto the bores and getting burned, causing the oil smell.......hope they didn't charge you for it

tigger · Post by **tigger** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 11:04 am

DandyW is right - a significantly overfilled sump can lead to oil being forced past the rings/seals and burned in the engine, giving that burning oil smell. Try to establish exactly where the smell is coming from - is it obviously the exhaust? What colour is the exhaust smoke - visible grey-blue smoke when you rev is generally a sign of largeish quantities of oil being burned.

One thing - bear with me(!) - did you make double sure when you dipped it that the ground was totally level (both ways), the engine was not running, and not piping hot? When you got a level that seemed too full, did you clean the dipstick and try again a couple of times to double check? The reason I ask is that even the most incompetent mechanic should be able to get the oil level right on an oil change!! If it's definitely too full, I'd find out from this site or from the manual the correct quantity (from memory 6.7 litres if filter is changed - but I may be wrong) get them to do the job properly and for free using that info and then never use them again!

Final point. Whenever I change my oil, no matter how clean and careful I am, I notice the occasional whiff of burning oil when it's running for around the next 500kms or so. Then it goes. It's not the engine burining it - must just be skets of oil that get on an exhaust part or something despite my care, and burn off gradually. Pretty sure it's not serious - it's always done it and I've had it for 2 years.

Cheers

tigger

AlanHunter · Post by **AlanHunter** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:50 am

Thanks for the good advice. The garage drained and relevelled the oil yesterday. All seemed fine after that but I will keep it under close observation for a while. I suspect they rushed the job, not allowing sufficient time for the oil to settle before checking the level.

Bongoflyer · Post by **Bongoflyer** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 6:24 pm

Alan,
Sorry to worry you but that may not be the end of it, too much oil in the engine can blow the seals, so if you notice a drip on the drive where there wasn't one before...you'll know why.