Realized I was overfilling my oil by a full quart for 8 months

I have a 2000 Civic that I got last summer and I thought I was doing everything right with the oil changes. Every time I checked the dipstick it looked perfect but my engine started making a weird tapping noise around 55 mph. My neighbor who works on his own truck came over and asked when I last changed the oil. I told him I did it two weeks ago and he looked at my dipstick and said it was way too high. Turns out I was filling it to the top of the crosshatch mark without warming the engine first so the oil was draining back slow. He showed me the proper method of wiping it clean and checking it cold and then after idling. I had been running a quart over for 8 months and probably messed up the seals a little. Has anyone else made this simple mistake with their first car? I feel pretty dumb about it honestly.

3 comments

3 Comments

west.casey1mo ago

The distributor seals really are the first to go when you overfill, like you said. I had a buddy with a 97 Integra who overfilled by half a quart and his distributor started leaking oil onto the exhaust manifold within a month. That neighbor probably saved you from a much bigger headache than just a valve cover gasket. @davidkim is right about old Civics going crazy with leaks if you push them too far on oil level. Once you get oil leaking past the cam seal it can get into the timing belt and cause all kinds of problems down the road. Your neighbor showing you the cold check method is honestly the best advice anyone can give a new Civic owner. That tapping noise you heard was probably the crank slapping the oil into a foam because of the extra quart, which just beats up the bearings over time.

davidkim1mo ago

Man that neighbor is a lifesaver... I've seen old Civics blow valve cover gaskets from overfilling and it turns into a whole mess of oil leaks everywhere.

the_thomas1mo agoMost Upvoted

Overfilling usually blows out the seals on the distributor or cam seal before the valve cover gasket goes. Your neighbor was still right to flag it though, just a different failure point that oil leaks from.