Maserati Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Garage Forums

Costly oil overfill mistake- beware!

Jump to Latest
1 - 20 of 53 Posts
M

MASER-5

· Registered
Joined
·
4 Posts
Discussion starter · #1 ·
i've got an '06 Gransport which suddenly lost power at about 85 mph on highway, with "slow down" indicator and engine light coming on. Pretty much undrivable due to low power.
Dealership eval shows "airflow meter malfunction due to oil overfill.... 4 quarts over".
Basically I made the costly and stupid mistake of checking the oil level immediatley after turning the engine off, and not while it was running (this was how i did it with prior ///M cars). I've added about 3 quarts this past year, thinking I was doing a great job of taking care of the car, when I was actually poisoning it.
Bottom line, as most of you probably know already, is to check the oil level after the enging is completely warmed up, AND is still running. I would have loved to have been told this a year ago and now a couple $K earlier. ...lesson learned for me, do your homework before assuming procedures are the same across different car brands.
 
#5 ·
That is ABSOLUTELY the correct way to do it. Any car with a dry-sump lubrication must be checked that way. That wold include the 4.2l cars excluding the QP auto (wet-sump).

The owners manual explains it, and there was a recent thread on why it's inadvisable to go to somewhere like Jiffy or EZ for an oil change. They are more likely to overfill

Essentially, the oil is in a tank outside the engine whereas most cars have oil stored in the sump at the bottom of the engine. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_sump
 
#6 ·
Sorry to hear about your troubles when you were trying to do the right thing! This was one of the first things the dealer I bought my car from told me or I would probably have done the same thing knowing that European sports cars always burn some oil - especially the Italians from experience. It does say so in manual as well, but then again who reads it page to page. Reason is that it is a dry sump lubrication system. The oil is pumped up into the engine every time you start it - actually I think the process starts as soon as you open the door.
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#10 ·
So what was the damage that was done as a result of the overfill. Was it a replacement of the Mass Air Flow sensor (doesn't seem right).
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
Discussion starter · #12 ·
the damage was from "oil being sucked through the vaporizer into the intake plenum and ruining the airflow sensor". that's the description from the tech. so far, about a $1,700- mistake, and i'm sure there will be add-ons.
i'll kick myself over this for a long-time, especially since i was confident i was doing the right thing. my M5 was dry-sump as well, and i always checked that oil level immediately after turning the car-off (under one minute per instruction). i wrongly assumed all dry-sumps are the same, and just hadn't heard of having to have a car running. i actually think i did read that section of the manual when i bought the car, but my over-confidence made me trust my past habits more. total bonehead!!!!!
anyway, thanks for the input/support guys. i've always considered myself a "car-guy", so this is especially painful to swallow. i think i'll tell my wife it was some "italian car glitch". i couldn't take the embarrassment of telling her the truth!
 
#14 ·
*MaSeRaTi* said:
So you're saying the correct way to check the oil on these cars is to do it when warmed up with engine running?......... :confused:

I have never heard of such a way to check oil. Definitely does not sound right to me....... but this will be my first Italian.
Click to expand...
All dry sump systems are checked while warm and running... Oil in wet sump systems are checked with the engine off.... It matters not if it is Italian, German, Japanese or anything else.
 
#17 ·
Forgive me for asking...but, what's the advantage of a dry sump over wet sump?
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
#19 · (Edited)
Vincenzo said:
Forgive me for asking...but, what's the advantage of a dry sump over wet sump?
Click to expand...

When cornering at high rates the oil in a wet sump in the oil pan will gather on the side of the pan, thus the oil pick up is left without oil and the engine starves for oil, oil pump cavitates. The dry sump pumps the oil out of the tray as fast as it enters the pan, thus the oil is always available to put back into the engine even when cornering hard, accelerating hard, etc. because the reservoir is full and the pump will not cavitate during those same forces because the reservoir always has some oil in it whereas the pan may not, plus the pan has room for the oil to pool on the side of the pan due to G forces and the dry sump pickup pan doesn't have that room... Also because the oil is not pooled in the pan it will not be splashing on the crankshaft during hard acceleration, cornering, etc which means less restriction and more horsepower, etc... Dry sump allows for more control of the oiling system, better cooling since oil is also used for coolant, not just lubrication, it also allows for better filtration in race cars, where more than one filter is put inline in the system.

Small Block Chevy's were famous for losing oil pressure when pushing corners hard.. Aftermarket oil pump pickup tubes along with scavenging systems were built to fix this problem, along with larger oil pans so that more oil would be in the system all the time and with the larger pan it can be kept away from the crankshaft... In the old days before oil pumps were efficient and blocks didn't have all the oil passage ways they used to have dipper connecting rods which has cups on them to pick up the oil out of the oil pan and splash it on the crank and cylinder walls for lubrication purposes...
 
Save
Reply Quote Like Like
1 - 20 of 53 Posts
About this Discussion
52 Replies
29 Participants
Last post:
Jason@ Enzo`s Atlanta
Maserati Forum
posts
447K
members
45K
Since
2003
We’re a forum to discuss the Maserati Coupé, Spyder, GranTurismo, Ghibli, Quattroporte and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
GranTurismo Coupe, Spyder, GS QP5 2003-2012 Modern Maserati New Member Introductions