Technical oil overfill

[iraklas]

I've posted the query in the 500 section but i wanted to get your guys' opinion as well.
I checked my engine oil and it was overfilled by half a quart. I have covered about 600 miles since the last oil change. During the last 50 miles the car when i tried to start it up, was a little shaky and the engine light was flashing for a few seconds. This happened 2-3 times only on start up. The scanner wrote "ignition failure". My question is can this happen because of the oil overfill? And if yes, why dit it happen after 500 miles after the oil change and not straight afterwards? The car has only 1300 miles on the clock.

 

[multispoke]

I've posted the query in the 500 section but i wanted to get your guys' opinion as well.
I checked my engine oil and it was overfilled by half a quart. I have covered about 600 miles since the last oil change. During the last 50 miles the car when i tried to start it up, was a little shaky and the engine light was flashing for a few seconds. This happened 2-3 times only on start up. The scanner wrote "ignition failure". My question is can this happen because of the oil overfill? And if yes, why dit it happen after 500 miles after the oil change and not straight afterwards? The car has only 1300 miles on the clock.

Background with iraklas is that the oil was changed by the dealer (he did an extra one because the engine was new - smart move ). But the dealer wasn't too smart in overfilling it. Oil levels were re-adjusted. Got some symptoms of the guys with the 1.2s and is looking for re-assurance that whatever has happened to date is not going to haunt him going forward.

 

[iraklas]

Anyway i think the first symptom if anything is damaged will be a blow-by of oil past the piston rings thus resulting in excess oil consumption and loss of compression in the cylinders. So i think i should know sooner or later hopefully before the 5 year warranty is up (4,5 years to go).

 

[multispoke]

Anyway i think the first symptom if anything is damaged will be a blow-by of oil past the piston rings thus resulting in excess oil consumption and loss of compression in the cylinders. So i think i should know sooner or later hopefully before the 5 year warranty is up (4,5 years to go).

I reckon if nothing has happened at this stage - you're all right. But someone else with some real technical knowledge should be able to confirm this.
Re the warranty its a 3 year one. first 2 years with fiat (no quibble) and the 3rd with the dealer (you have to work a bit harder with this one). If yours is the esseesse model and the upgrade is fitted from the start I think it's only 2 years in total.
You're probably able to buy an extended warranty for the A500 - it can be bought on the standard 500 but there's probably a bunch of conditions.

 

[iraklas]

The dealer stated that all Abarths sold from 1/1/2011 will have a 5 year full warranty. They agreed that they would give me the 5 year warranty as well although mine was bought on November 2010.

 

[multispoke]

The dealer stated that all Abarths sold from 1/1/2011 will have a 5 year full warranty. They agreed that they would give me the 5 year warranty as well although mine was bought on November 2010.

The only Fiat that I 'know of' that got 5 years was the Bravo and that was for a very limited time period in either '08 or '09. I had 4 years on a 2008 500 sport but this has been reduced to 3 for a '09 500 car onwards. I'm amazed that you got a 5 year on a A500 and if you have it in writing I would be delighted for you. As they say 'verbal is not worth the paper it is written on'.

 

[grimwau]

:idea: It might be that different countries have different warranty periods.

Regarding the overfilling of oil the only problems that I would envisage would be excessive crankcase compression that could cause oil mist to be forced via the breather to be burnt by the engine which might have shown up as blue smoke from the exhaust when engine under load.

Extra pressure could also affect the integrity of certain oil seals. Also, the crankshaft webs would splash more oil than normal up the bores which might also lead to a little excess oil being burnt.

I think that the other problem may have been co-incidental and now that the corrrect oil level has been established unless you have any signs of an oil leak I think you are perfectly safe.

p.s. When I had my 500 1.3MJT the dealer put in 4ltrs of oil (2.8L usual) and that is rather more worrying as it would be detrimental to the DPF as well as the engine could carry on running after turning the engine off.

 

[multispoke]

:idea: It might be that different countries have different warranty periods.

Thanks Tony for clarifying the excess oil issue for iraklas . I knew there was something different on 500s other than the 1.2 - it must have been the MJ.

Re the above I had a vested interest in knowing when the warranties 'ran out'. As you know in Ireland, having no Abarth dealers means you are 'on your own' in that there are NO warranty covers. With no Abarth dealers (including N.I.) A500 cannot be purchased and if there are imported there's no where to get them officially serviced. If one was sourced you have to nearly buy a new one ! and hope that nothing major goes wrong.

On the warranty terms for the A500, I 'drew my information' for the UK from the thread below...
https://www.fiatforum.com/abarth-500/265532-a500-ordered-today.html

 

[grimwau]

During the last 50 miles the car when i tried to start it up, was a little shaky and the engine light was flashing for a few seconds. This happened 2-3 times only on start up. The scanner wrote "ignition failure". My question is can this happen because of the oil overfill? And if yes, why dit it happen after 500 miles after the oil change and not straight afterwards? The car has only 1300 miles on the clock.

iraklas, did you ever get a definitive answer to why this was happening or has it rectified itself now?

 

[iraklas]

It stopped as soon as i refueled. I don't think it was because of the oil overfill because it stopped behaving before i realised it was overfilled.