Overfill oil - What damage occurs?

[tomrinbellingham]

What kind of damage can result from overfilling the crankcase with oil? Hasn't happened yet, but seems easy to do (I can't see thru that glass!) and, once done on the road, inconvenient to undo.

[Davis]

Unless you grossly overfill, the extra will get blown out the vent and into the airbox.

 

It's fairly easy not to overfill it. Drain oil, put in 3.75qts, ride 6000 miles, repeat. Don't fret over whether it's on the dot. If you can see oil in the sightglass with it on the sidestand, just ride it.

 

If the sightglass is too fogged to see through, it's fairly cheap and easy to replace at your next oil change.

[Bob Palin]

It's fairly easy to undo, remove the oil filter and dump the oil from it into a bottle, dispose of at service station.

[Lawman]

dispose of at service station.

 

Be careful about that. The last time I poured my used oil out in a service station driveway the manager seemed really annoyed...

[OoPEZoO]

[quoteBe careful about that. The last time I poured my used oil out in a service station driveway the manager seemed really annoyed...

 

[Jim VonBaden]

One of our local club members drained 5.5 quarts out of his bike at a tech day, and another near quart out of his air cleaner.

 

No damage done to his bike.

 

I would recommend you try not to, but a half a quart too much wont hurt anything, and will likely just end up in your air cleaner.

 

Jim

[philbytx]

You may experience additional( ?) engine vibration due to the whizzing around bits hitting too much slippery stuff

[Rinkydink]

Best I can tell from this board "overfill 1 qt. or less and it cures surging and makes your tires last longer". TADT

[flyingreg]

Unless you grossly overfill, the extra will get blown out the vent and into the airbox.

 

It's fairly easy not to overfill it. Drain oil, put in 3.75qts, ride 6000 miles, repeat.

That's too much trouble. I have used the full four qts. each service (38K on the ODO) and the oil level does not exceed the site glass level. No blow-by into the air box, and no other problems. YMMV, of course.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

Where is the "trouble". I have a little 8oz flip tip bottle I scrounged from somewhere, used to hold shampoo or body wash as I recall. When doing an oil change, I simply fill the bottle from one of the quarts, cap it and put it in my saddle bag. A small funnel does help. Pour the rest into the oil filter and motor and off I go with a handy small container for the occasional top up. Actually I never really look at the oil level anymore. I just dump the bottle in at about 4K miles. Couple of oz either way just doesn't matter.

[mefly2]

[quoteBe careful about that. The last time I poured my used oil out in a service station driveway the manager seemed really annoyed...

 

 

... !!!

[flyingreg]

...<snip>... Couple of oz either way just doesn't matter.

My point exactly. I too carry a small container with about 8 ozs. for the road trip. But, in regular practice, I put the 4 qts. in the sump. The few ounces either way just doesn't matter. Of course, nothing wrong with not doing this either.