I have recently made the mistake of putting too much oil in my Fiat Uno after thinking that the oil light that was coming on all the time was indicating that my oil level was low. I have since found out on this particular model it means that the oil pressure is faulty if the light comes on. After filling up with oil I came to start my car and all I get is a clunk sound and nothing else. The engine will not start at all. Can anybody agree that the following I've been told is true. Some one has told me that because there is so much oil in there the pressure has built up and the moving parts can't move and thats why my engine wont fire up, and the thing i need to do is drain the excess oil to achieve the right level and everything should be ok". Or have I got a more serious problem here. Please help soon because I'm at my wits end because unfortunately I'm not very clued up about cars, as you've probably gathered. Cheers.

right mate, u need ot undo the sump plug and drain quite alot of oil out ur engine by the sounds of things! having too much oil in your engine is just as bad, infact prob worse than not having enough! basicly, theres too much oil and therefore causing too much presure with inturn stops the engine components from working. u may be lucky and get away with minimal damage if u drain it out now, but dont try starting it again until u have done this. good luck

Dunc

Cheers for that advice. I did try to start the engine about 5 or 6 times befor I gave up. Would this have caused any more damage or am I lucky? Obviously I didn't know what was wrong with it so I tried a few times just in case it did!

i cant imagine it will have done too much damage but im not goin to put money on that! u may find it hard to start once u have drained the oil, but just keep trying and it should in theroy fire up eventually.

Dunc

well if it's too much you can bend a conrod or damage the sleeves. due to to much oil pasing the rings and through the breather. had the same problem on a merc and it cracked the sleeve.

Cheers guys for all your suggestions.
Am having so much trouble getting the damn sump plug off now to drain the oil it is really begining to anoy me. I'm hoping that after all this, and if I finally get the plug off that it sorts the problem out. If it doesn't any other ideas?!?!

go to halfords and get a breaker bar,bout £20 for a edecent lenth.this allows you to lever a decent torque without the risk of slipping.trust me there worth there money.
when re tightening it dont go he-man with the torque

remove plugs and see if they are wet with oil. clean them and return them. if oily, you could of forced oil into the cylinders, headgasket has gone, oil seals on valves pushed out etc. i doubt it though. clean plugs, drain oil. put just under correct amount in [ dont forget, filter will have oil in]. fill it up gradually, let it settle before putting more in. then try and start it.

Ok have drained the oil and still no life in the girl. The engine isnt even trying to turn over, just making a sound as if somethings stuck. The same sort of sound that you get if the starter motor is not kicking in when the ignition is turned. Need more help please befor I fork out loads of cas to get it fixed. Cheers.

go with sumplugs post 1st.then you can go from there

Might be obvious, but if the starter solenoid is just clicking and the starter isn't turning over the engine, are you sure the battery has enough charge in it? You might have made it go flat during the previous starting attempts.

You could also check to see if the engine has seized. With the car on level ground, put it in third gear, take handbrake off and see if you can push the car and see if the engine will turn. You can also do the same thing by using a ring spanner on the crankshaft pulley (car in neutral, handbrake on).

Removing the plugs will make this easier by reducing the compression.

If the engine turn over with no problems, then you either have a flat battery or the starter motor is buggered.

Find the problem by a process of elimination!

I think Chas is onto a good thing here - removing the spark plugs should make the engine easier to turn, and using jumper leads should prove whether the battery is at fault.

The starter motors are not infallible - but quite easy to remove, take apart, and inspect.

At least FIAT engines don't have liners, so you can't have 'cracked a liner', though there may be damage such as a sheared oil pump drive. I think the cambelt would break first.

Hey, there's a horrible possibility, but fortunately only possible if you have an Uno 60 or 70 (1116cc or 1301cc, non-FIRE engine). On these, the oil pump is driven by the cambelt (the same pulley also drives the distributor). Maybe take the distributor cap off and try to turn the rotor arm. It should turn only a small amount (in one direction). If you find little resistance, then my guess is that the oil pump (encountering great resistance) caused the cambelt to break, and now the clunk is the sound of a stuck-open valve hitting a piston (it will be bent by now, I've had it happen to me during an attempted engine start! The cylinder head had to come off, but luckily I had a spare valve handy.)

Or, the cambelt breakage could have been coincidental. Whichever, I think when dealing with a seized engine, it's worth making sure that the cambelt is not broken. Maybe just take off the yellow belt cover and check.

If the cambelt cover is black, or blue, then you don't have a 1116cc or 1301cc engine and much of the above will, happily, not apply

-Alex

Hey guys. Good news. The problem did turn out to be oil in the spark plugs so all has been cleaned up, a new oil filter put on and the car starts no problem. Cheers for all you advice and getting me up and running again. Cheers