Picked a brand new Fabia 2 - 1.2L 70bhp on Wednesday - 9 miles on the clock. During handover, usual questions - "Have fluids been checked?" - Yes sir, definitely. So accept the car - drive home 40 miles - stick to own running in rules (under 55mph - 3000 rpm max) - everthing fine.
Sat morning, now 150 miles on the clock, on a whim decide to check the engine oil level (cold before first start) .
WHAT? ENGINE OIL BELOW MINIMUM MARK! - actually on the bottom bend situated about 5mm below the hatched area (the area the oil should be in) Several careful rechecks later, i.e. level ground, engine cold then warm, stood few a minutes etc. - the same result.
Phonecall to dealer - cant help until Monday as service dept closed but said the PDI should have checked it and cant understand whats happened. In the end I added about 0.7 litres just to get it to the halfway mark.
No evidence of leaks or oil being burned - engine is running sweet etc
Has anyone ever experienced an underfilled engine straight from the factory? I doubt that over 1 litre in less than 150 miles could be burnt off without seeing something.
And should I be worried about gearbox levels etc.?
.*******
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My guess would be that it was never checked during PDI, the box was just ticked by the guy doing it because 'its bound to have oil in it'.
It does make you wonder about the standard of the rest of the PDI work.
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It's quite possible that the factory only adds the minimum amount of oil - Nissans used to be delivered this way, and may still be.
You would have to think that the dealer might have missed something else, though I wouldn't expect the transmission cases to be underfilled by the factory - in general they are filled for life anyway.
I doubt that 0.7l is a problem - and it would be less to the minimum from what you say. Dipsticks are not deadly accurate and there must be a fair tolerance.
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Not engine oil in my case but CVT transmission fluid.
My first new car was a 1999 Nissan Micra with CVT. On collection the salesman pointed out the various bits under the bonnet. When the trans fluid was mentioned he said "you will not need to worry about that" or words very similar.
6 months later I checked the fluid and none was visible on the dipstick. It took one litre to bring it to the full mark. It seemed to run smoother afterwards but this may have been psychological. 18 months later it was stolen so I never knew if it suffered in any way.
Needless to say I check everything now.
mdj
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deleted at request of the the poster.
Edited by Pugugly on 21/06/2009 at 11:17
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What in fact are the results of overfill?
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@bintang
"the oil level must on no account extent beyond the range "A" (upper shoulder/marker). Danger of damage to catalytic converter."
@moderators
would you please correct my previous post regarding which engines are checked cold:
"Always check the oil level on vehicles with the engine 1.2l/44kW when the engine is cold. On other vehicles when the engine is warm. Otherwise the measuring result is in correct und(sic) oil could incorrectly replenished - risk of engine damage"
Above is a quote from page 184 of the owner's manual.
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Engines are not filled at the factory using the dipstick;a set amount of oil will be put in the engine.
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I wonder how one can guage the degree of over/undefill from the dipstick. Only if the dipstick goes right to the bottom is it possible to say, for example, that, if the "maxiumum" mark is 50mm up from the bottom of the stick and the oil level 60mm, then there is 20% too much oil. On my car, this would equate to about two thirds of a litre.
I once suffered a gross overfill, in a pre-war Alvis (which had limited rear view). There was no dipstick, only an internal float linked to an external rod gimmick. This must have been stuck and the servicing garage mislead. I was stopped by a police car and the driver said he had been unable to get level with me sooner on account of the smokescreen I had generated... There turned out to be double the correct amount of oil in the reservoir.
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overfill can result in damage to cat - My Octavia carries a sticker to that effect
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"Overfill can result in damage to cat - My Octavia carries a sticker to that effect."
I could stick that all over my Octavia and our three fat, lazy moggies wouldn't pay any attention. :)
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On a similar note, I had a Fiat Panda 4x4 until recently.
From new the gearbox was a bit noisy but not bad enough for me to worry about it.
Eventually, after about 2-3 years, I thought I would check the box oil level, and found I had to put in 200ml which represented 10% of the total fill.
There was no evidence of a gearbox leak at any stage, and filling the box to the proper level made it much quieter.
I suspect the box was underfilled at the factory.
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Whenever I get a car back from a garage after a service I always check the engine oil level, mistakes can and do get made, (misfueling, in another thread), even by the first class indy I use. I would definately apply this practice to a car that had been PDId, (by the workshop tea boy?).
Edited by Old Navy on 22/06/2009 at 09:10
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sounds like they never checked it , alot of new cars come with minimal oil
spose it saves 1000s over the years for the factory
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I have a bit of a problem, I can't check the Auto gearbox fluid on my Mk4 Mondeo, there's no dipstick. Apparently it has to be checked by the dealers. The Mk3 was the same and the only way to change the fluid DIY was to empty the old fluid out, retain it and measure it and put the same amount back in. So my dilema now, after reading this post, is how do I know if there was the correct amount in from the start ?
BTW the car is running fine, so I won't lose any sleep over it ;0)
FTR, what happens if you overfill an auto box, does it just leak out of seals etc. or does it do more permanent damage ?
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