May have put too much oil in wife's car

[sunshinewelly]

My wife's low oil light came on so I decided to top it up. I put one litre in and measured and level was just below the low level. Warning light still remained lit. Went to put dip stick back in and the tip broke off. Seems a common issue with peugeot dip sticks. I then put approx just over another litre in but warning low level light still lit. I have around one inch of orange plastic at end of dipstick and oil level is not over that but obviously the actual min max part is gone. Is the car safe to take to local dealer about 10 miles away. The low oil level is still lit so it's likely an error.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

It should burn off, usually have smoke coming out of your exhaust.

 

[Vita]

The tip didn’t go back down the dipstick tube did it?

 

[Terminal_Boy]

It should burn off, usually have smoke coming out of your exhaust.

These days, the oil breather line goes into the air filter housing, so you can end up clogging up the air filter.

 

[grudas]

Hopefully the tip didn't go down the dipstick tube? If it's metal expect damage

You can overfill a bit and get away with it but 2 litres may have been a bit too much.. especially in a small engine that takes 4 or so.

 

[BUDFORCE]

If you want to make sure, drain all the oil out,go get the manual, measure the amount you put back in.

 

[bainbridge]

It's common on small cars for there to be exactly 1 litre between the low and high level on the dipstick, so adding a litre at the low mark will likely put it at the correct level.

If the bottom of the stick fell down into the sump then it's unlikely to do any harm because it wont pass through the pick up into the oil galleries.

What's concerning is the engine being 2 litres low on oil. Is it high mileage? If so I'd be inclined to disable the oil warning light, buy a new dipstick and just run the car on that basis with regular oil checks.

If it's low mileage I'd get the source of oil consumption established before getting any other work done such as oil sensor etc.

 

[Hades]

Either it's been running with 2L too little oil (which is bad) or you now have 1L too much oil (which is also ). I'd be inclined to not drive it, get a new dipstick, then drain the oil and fill it to the correct level according to the new dipstick. If the oil light is still on then the sensor is faulty (not a big deal) or there is a blockage somewhere (which is bad but unlikely).

 

[Drumroll]

Or get one suction pump and remove the excess.
Always remember to top up oil slowly, and allow time for eh oil level to settle.
For a miracle, don't ask me how, my brother put about 3 litres on his 1.2 Peugeot 208. The excess was such that after, while driving, the extra pressure popped the oil lid off. Now the miracle: no damage.
I would recommend to remove the excess, but would be better to drain and fill up with the correct quantity. I reckon it's about 3.5l.

 

[Conscript]

Regarding the oil light, its usual for these not to go out straight away. It does so on ours...light comes in when oil level is at the low point of the dipstick, but even after topping up to the max mark, the light doesn't go off for a few miles.

 

[grudas]

Regarding the oil light, its usual for these not to go out straight away. It does so on ours...light comes in when oil level is at the low point of the dipstick, but even after topping up to the max mark, the light doesn't go off for a few miles.

yeah, they do check the oil when the engine is at temperature

 

[red eye]

My wife's low oil light came on so I decided to top it up. I put one litre in and measured and level was just below the low level. Warning light still remained lit. Went to put dip stick back in and the tip broke off. Seems a common issue with peugeot dip sticks. I then put approx just over another litre in but warning low level light still lit. I have around one inch of orange plastic at end of dipstick and oil level is not over that but obviously the actual min max part is gone. Is the car safe to take to local dealer about 10 miles away. The low oil level is still lit so it's likely an error.

Time to get dirty. You need a container that can measure at least 6 liters, 5 if it’s a petrol. Find out oil capacity and put back in. Remember you still have oil in the filter housing so depend on where you get your info from take that into account.
I can check for you just need reg or model year and engine code.

It’s a pug so you should have level on the dash when you first start up looks like 000___ for half full. Not the best way of checking as a faulty sensor and report half full when the dip stick shows full.