Ah, not that bad. You'll feel better when it's done.

 

true

OP, you can have your thread back now

 

All the stuff I have read about over filling your oil says that an extra 1/2 quart won't hurt.

 

Does this information specifically pertain to the Civic engine or to other engines? Can you provide a link or reference?

 

yea i just did a search
"Since the oil level will be slightly lower when the car is running, due to the fact you're pumping it through the motor, I would say in MOST cases a half court is just fine."
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...&Number=935284

"You can overfill a car quite a bit (more than a quart) before there'd be any chance of it causing a problem (which would be indicated by foam on the dipstick)."
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=28896.0

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...130235&fpart=1

 

Based upon what I have been reading, for it to cause any harm whatsoever, the crank would have to be submerged (not fully, but part of it) in the sitting oil for there to be a problem. This is because the churning of the oil by the crank would cause the oil to foam, and heat up.

So the real technical question would be, is an extra 1/2 quart in a D16 enough oil to make the crank partially submerged in the oil?

I'm going to drain it a little just for piece of mind, by just loosening the bolt until oil trickles out and then slowly draining some of it and then retightening and measuring oil level, repeating these steps until it is right on the money. But, the above mentioned question would be very useful information to know.

 

i had a friend's dad who is a mechanic do my first oil change and he actually used 4 quarts for my car. and when i do bring it to him he says 4 quarts is enough. so i'm guessing if a professional mechanic uses 4 quarts then i'm guessing it's ok.

 

Well, the links above are chat forums where you don't really know how knowledgeable the people are. I guess you can run the engine with a half quart too much; however, I also suspect that the dipstick has a precise line for full for a good reason. I'd still recommend that, in the future, it would be most prudent to fill to this mark and not higher.

 

yea, true
check out the post under the one you quoted, you probably missed it because i was typing while you typed this

 

Yeah, in addition, foaming is only one problem caused by overfilling. The excerpt inserted in my earlier post suggests that the higher oil level also increases oil pressure, which can play havoc on the seals.