off-topic help

hey guys, i posted in the mazda section, but wanted to ask the people I "know" on the Isuzu forum as well.

Here's the thing, a coworker of mine was following me home to use my internet(hers isn't hooked up yet) and we made a stop before we got to my place. She ran into the leasing office and I waited in my car. Her protege was smoking from the engine bay, bad.

I asked her about it and she said she just had work done and an oil change. We took it across the street to our complex and proceeded to my place for the internet. I told her not to drive it and I gave her a ride today. I looked at it earlier expecting to see a missing oil cap or dipstick.

It was worse, I checked the oil and by my estimations, she is about three quarts too full. Not good. I told her to call them tomorrow and get a tow, but it may be too late.

Any idea what was causing the smoking? Anybody know the correct capacity? I think I may advise her to call and explain the situation to the place that did the work. Will be hard to get them to admit the error, but that is a huge mistake.

marc

ps, sorry isn't isuzu related, but i'd like your opinions.

hey guys, i posted in the mazda section, but wanted to ask the people I "know" on the Isuzu forum as well.

Here's the thing, a coworker of mine was following me home to use my internet(hers isn't hooked up yet) and we made a stop before we got to my place. She ran into the leasing office and I waited in my car. Her protege was smoking from the engine bay, bad.

I asked her about it and she said she just had work done and an oil change. We took it across the street to our complex and proceeded to my place for the internet. I told her not to drive it and I gave her a ride today. I looked at it earlier expecting to see a missing oil cap or dipstick.

It was worse, I checked the oil and by my estimations, she is about three quarts too full. Not good. I told her to call them tomorrow and get a tow, but it may be too late.

Any idea what was causing the smoking? Anybody know the correct capacity? I think I may advise her to call and explain the situation to the place that did the work. Will be hard to get them to admit the error, but that is a huge mistake.

marc

ps, sorry isn't isuzu related, but i'd like your opinions.I would tell your friend to have the transmission fluid level checked as well as the engine oil level corrected. If the place she had the work done did thought they were doing an oil change, it's likely that they may have pulled the wrong drain plug. Actually it's probably just as likely as them filling the sump with 3 qts too much oil. To put that in perspective... the wife's Civic takes 4 qts., so I would think a Protege must have an oil capacity close to that. If it's a manual tranny it's even easier to do since it's likely filled with 5W20 or whatever the sump is, and one would think that a "mechanic" would at least question why ATF was pouring out of the oil drain.

thanks for the response. The tranny fluid was OK I believe, I'll check again, but the dipstick did have red on it. I didn't pay too much attention to it though.

marc

With that much oil the pressure was probably pretty high and pushing oil out of any gasket or seal it could. Most likely the valve cover gasket and dripping onto the exhaust manifold.

With that much oil the pressure was probably pretty high and pushing oil out of any gasket or seal it could. Most likely the valve cover gasket and dripping onto the exhaust manifold.It is my understanding that having too much oil in the sump doesn't increase oil pressure. it can actually decrease it since the oil foams as it contacts the crankshaft. This frothy oil doesn't pump well and can result in oil starvation and overheating.