Just bought a mint condition 08 Fit from a buddy. My daughter had the oil changed at a dealer while out of town for a year. I go to check the oil when she comes home to visit and it looks like it is at least a half quart above the top dot (max fill indicator).

Question is: Do I fully seat the dipstick when checking the oil or just push it in till it it touches?

If I fully seat the dipstick, it looks half quart too full. If I just let the dipstick in until it rests on the top of the tube, it seems at max fill.

BTW...I hate to let anyone, especially dealers touch my cars, guess this is why?

Thanks,
Fit Noobie

 

make sure the car is on a flat surface. let the car cool at least a few min. pull out dip stick, wipe off oil, dip the dip stick, count to 5, then pull up.

when i check my oil i do it in the morning before cold start so that the oil is back in the pan. i dont have to wipe off the oil on the dip stick either. i just pull up and see.

 

Fully seat the stick.

I run the engine, shut it off, then check level right away.
If it sits several minutes the level indicated can rise a bit as oil drains down inside.

You can find mediocre workers in just about every profession.
What do you do for a living?

 

fully seat it, if the car is on level ground then probably they did over fill it a bit, get some thin enough plastic tubing that will go down the dipstick tube and remove the excess. "quarter of an inch or 8th of an inch refrigerant tubing at lowes or home depot" is what Blackstone labs recommends: Blackstone Labs look at "sampling with the pump" though their pump costs $35, i would think you could just siphon, though it will be slow and a little awkward. i believe over filling can cause frothing, be bad for mileage, and potentially damage seals. it is easy to accidentally overfill a bit. maybe they did not change the filter but used the volume that is correct with a filter change ( though i think the filter only holds about a 5th of a quart ) I would correct it, and like you, do not like other people working on my car if i can avoid it.

 

After a marginal jerk (called a junior Honda tech) overfilled my car by almost a quart at stealership 4 years ago, I stopped going to the dealer. Had to pull the extra oil out using 1/4"OD tube and large syringe; it took close to an hour to get oil to the normal level.

 

Another way to remove some oil is to remove the oil filter and dump the oil out of it. 'Course the Fit's filter is small, might have to do this a couple times.

Unlike ezone, I let the oil drain back for 15 - 30 minutes before checking the level. More repeatable results....

 

Spare time is not something we normally have an abundance of in a shop.
Some people seem to expect an oil change to be done in 15 minutes or less.
Gotta adjust procedures and compensate accordingly.

 

I totally understand where you are coming from.

I'm not picking on you, but couldn't this result in an indicated overfilled condition if re-checked 15 minutes later? (Not by a quart, though, that IS excessive)

a little over the FULL line doesn't hurt anything in any case.

 

Where on the stick is it exactly? A pic would help. A minor overfilling isn't going to hurt anything.

As someone else said, though, if you're way over-filled (like a quart), pull out the dipstick, insert some tubing (any flexible tubing you can throw out afterwards), suck on the other end until the oil's almost at your mouth, then stick that end in a container. Pull the tubing out of the dipstick tube when the amount of oil you want out has been evacuated.

 

Oh yeah, so I aim for just a scosh under the full mark.

 

Not to offend anyone but :
Most shops are filling from dispensing pump so it is hard to accurately measure 1/10 of the quart (unlike if filling from 1 qt bottle)
if there is a line 30 minutes waiting the oil cools down (I guess it does not matter much now when thinner oil is used)
the drained oil goes directly to the drum, it could not be checked for sludge or metal shavings