How any of you check you oil regularly (always check mine before any journey,just had the first 2 year service on my Autotrial Tracker/ Fiat 2.3 found that the oil level is 1/2 inch above max mark,it was serviced by a well known motorhome dealer and they never used genuine parts either.
Mully

You are recommended to check oil level every day but as I know my oil level never changes and as long as there is no oil puddle underneath I check mine once a month

Can anybody tell me if the oil level1/2 inch above the max line will it harm the engine,thanks Mully

1/2inch won't make any difference ,when we were teenagers we would overfill our engines with extra 1/2 gallon oil to make lots of black smoke , it didnot harm our engines, it was fun at the time but I would not recommend it on our motorhomes

robin123 said:

1/2inch won't make any difference ,when we were teenagers we would overfill our engines with extra 1/2 gallon oil to make lots of black smoke , it didnot harm our engines, it was fun at the time but I would not recommend it on our motorhomes

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Might be fine with an old low compression petrol. A diesel on the other hand can run away on its own oil if you try those shenanigans or hydrolock or the crank webs can aerate the oil causing oil starvation the turbo can be gone in seconds with inadequate oil.

That being said 1/2 an inch on the dipstick may be OK.

When the amount of oil prescribed in the manual is used and the oil change has been done quickly (it normally is) , the level is a bit above the marking on the dipstick. Not quite 1/2 an inch, but the vehicle may not have been completely horizontal; a transverse mounted engine shows a high oil level when it stands even slightly nose-down.
During operation some oil is on its way to the camshaft bearings and the turbine, so the actual oil level is substantially lower.

Going downhill or uphill on a 15% slope in the mountains also doesn't harm the engine.

With Benz, an oil level over full will trigger a warning so they must think it is not good. Even when on "full" cold, the expansion from heat will trigger the warning so it is considered important. I always fill to half way between full and "add" and have no issues.

If the oil is over full it could seep through to the clutch and make it slip, 1/2" is undesirable but its not enough to worry about - you could get that if the van is not quite level.

Years ago (1967) I bought a new Morris 1800 (landcrab). I seem to remember that the model had an engine problem (not mine thank goodness) and that the company (BLMH) resolved the problem by reducing the oil level mark on the dip-stick. Apparently with too much oil the pistons were over heating and foaming the oil, which did lead to some engine failures.I never over fill the oil on any engine, although I am sure that a few mm over the high mark will not do any harm, but don't overdo it. Geoff.

There is a level marked on the dipstick for a reason, too much oil can cause problems. I am from an era when we checked oil/water/fuel manually on machines every day, you'd get some bollocking if you didn't and something went wrong! A lot of the old plant I drove had dodgy battery/starters so they ran all day except for grub time when they were parked on a slope so the "hillman" starter was used to get them going! I still check my camper every day for oil/coolant/brake/PS fluid etc, when travelling, old habits die hard and you may just see something else when under the bonnet. I did over 9000 Klms in Europe this summer and NEVER saw any other camper being checked manually, hope all those electronic gauges work well for everybody! A quick look under the bonnet can save an awful lot of grief

Many thanks for all your replies I now have oil level on dipstick where it should be!!

digger58 said:

I still check my camper every day for oil/coolant/brake/PS fluid etc, when travelling, old habits die hard and you may just see something else when under the bonnet.

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Some years ago this habit saved me some considerable grief if not an accident.

I was overnighting in Maidstone services ready for an early ferry and noticed the brake fluid was unusually low & found a little pool of the stuff underneath by the front calipher from a rusted through pipe. Dual circuit brakes of course, so could easily gone unnoticed, but recovery/repair would have been a lot more hassle in France.

I still remember the floods of tears when I had to tell the excited family returning from the services that the Disneyland trip was temporarily off

There's no substitute for a manual check and quick look around!

robin123 said:

You are recommended to check oil level every day but as I know my oil level never changes and as long as there is no oil puddle underneath I check mine once a month

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I should check it a little more often than that as on a diesel oil levels can go up as well as down. Over fuelling can cause this and oil diluted by diesel can cause harm to the engine in several ways