This may be a dumb question, but I don't know what else to do. I just changed my oil in my '01 A4 1.8tQ. I drained it, changed filters, dropped four quarts of oil in (capacity acc. to manual is 4.3Q), and started my car. Let the car run for about 3 min. Acc. to my dipstick, my oil level is high. Any thoughts??? I'm rather beside myself. Could the dipstick get shoved down somehow and be sitting too low in the oil pan? I don't see how oil could have not drained out... I'm scratching my head on this one. Its probably a dumb reason that I'm overlooking. What should I do?

 

yea i recently changed my oil and dropped 4 quarts in my car and it was just right. Was the filter full when you took it off and I hope you made sure to take the gasket off the old filter before you put the new one on.

 

Yup - filter was full. I don't know what you mean about the gasket though - gasket is still on the old filter...there isn't a seperate gasket from the filter, is there?

 

No there isn't a separate filter.

Are you in US or Canada. Canadian qt are larger than US Qt.

If you are really overfilled you can drain out some with a cheap siphon.

I thought that the fill on these cars were 3.8 QT.

Is this the first time you changed your own oil? Do you have a tiptronic transmission? Many people mistakenly drain their transmission rather than their oil.

 

Did you drain the oil first ,put the plug back in, and then remove the filter. When you remove the filter some oil drains back into the pan.

 

When I change my oil, after most of the oil drains, I chase out the last with a bit of the new oil. I keep going until I see new oil coming out of the plug. Sure, this might not fix your problem but you'll get more old oil out. Did you try to drive the car, instead of just idling it?

david9999: his profile says he's in Fort Wayne IN

 

Although I can't be certain, I believe the plug was out before I changed the filter. But, I'm talking almost a quart of oil over (so the dipstick says). So I don't think it could be residual oil from the filter. My only guess on this is that the housing could have been pushed down somehow if someone really jammed the dipstick down... and therefore the dipstick is reading incorrectly... I can't think of anything else...
This is the first time I changed it myself (I've only had the car for ~6 months, and had it changed by dealership the first time. When I checked the oil after the dealership changed it, it was high and I drained oil out. It was about as high as it is now, so I'm thinking they did the same thing - put in 4 quarts and just didn't check the dipstick.
So, now I don't know what to do....[sm=dontgetit.gif]

 

I did a headgasket job on an old Cressida this weekend. I let the oil drain overnight, and it was still draining the next day and into the afternoon.

My point is that there is a lot of oil in engines that doesn't drain. You don't need to wait a long time because a little old oil won't hurt you, but always underfill and check your oil as you add!

 

I've had the same problem on some other cars, but not my Audi. When I first came across it, the professionals I asked said the dipstick is not a precision instrument, so go by how much the motor needs, not what the dipstick reads. Especially if the dealership changed it for you, and it read high. I'm guessing they would not overfill it. Now that it's happened twice for you, I'd mark where it is on your dipstick, and not go by the grooves. It's doubtful you've overfilled it.

Now if you had a sludge problem, that may cause it to read over-filled even though you've drained all the oil (probably not a quart, though). But I think the dealership would have figured that out when they changed the oil.

 

4 quarts is too much. Mine always tops out just short of 3.7 quarts, and yes I have some sludge but your going to be high with a full 4.


incidently, how high is the oil? Like really high or just over the mark?