Did you know that over filling your car with oil can cause it to blow the engine? – no jokes!

A colleague has just had a horrible experience!  His car had just been in at a garage for a service and the oil had been replaced.  When he picked up the vehicle he noticed that the oil light was on and so he called the garage owner over and discussed the problem.  The garage owner decided that a top up of oil was required, so he called one of the mechanics to bring more oil.  Some oil was added but the light still didn’t go off.  By this stage, the oil dipstick read over the “full” mark and the garage owner told the mechanic to pour more in…
The mechanic refused, saying that it was too full, but his boss was adamant that more oil was needed, so he ordered him to pour more.
The car was now full, the oil light was still on – but the light was explained away as “it needed to be reset, and he would do some research and call my colleague back.  But you can drive the car – no problem!”.
My colleague nervously agreed, but before leaving said something like: “(nervous agreement), I’ve had an engine blow on me before, so if anything happens, then it’s your responsibility to buy the spares and pay for the labour – everything!”

This was agreed, and he drove the car away with the oil light still burning brightly.

Needless to say, two days later, my colleague’s car’s engine seized and came to a grinding halt on the side of the road!

  

A few choice swear-words later.. he grabbed his cell phone and called the garage owner and explained the situation.  An obviously embarrassed garage owner apologised and made good his promise to fix the car.
He picked up the stranded family and is now ferrying them wherever they need to go: school, work, shopping, etc. until the car is fixed.

I would like to have seen that mechanic’s face when the car was towed back into the garage to be fixed!

Moral of the story: do NOT overfill the oil in your car – it could be very expensive!

Technical explanation:
From http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_happens_if_you_over_fill_engine_oil: “If you put too much oil in the engine, it raises the oil level high enough that the crankshaft touches it.  The crankshaft will whip the oil, aerating it.  This air in the oil will destroy your engine bearings.  The bearings have a very thin layer of oil on them which keep the bearing and whatever the bearing is against from locking up.  The air will remove the oil layer from the bearing and the bearing will then rub against whatever engine part it is used for.  The bearing will then be shredded and metal parts will go about destroying your engine.  Moral of the story, don't over fill your oil.”