dealer overfilled oil level–drove home 8 miles before detected–drained 2 quarts to get to “full”–drove 1200 mi to FL to find level way above full-had oil change in FL and found it still way above full–have driven 2500 miles since original incident with no operational problem–what happened to cause problem and what future concerns should I have if any?
It sounds like one of two things: either someone is repeatedly adding too much oil, or something other than oil is getting into the crankcase. You could have a coolant leak, or water or fuel might be mixing with the oil.
Check the oil. Does it look normal (thin, brown to black liquid)? Does it look like chocolate milk? How’s your coolant level?
In addition to the good points made by hoffmalr, I would add another possibility. Have you considered that your car might have the wrong dipstick? Yes, I know that this sounds improbable, but it is something to check at the Toyota dealership.
Incidentally, if your oil is being contaminated by coolant or anything else, this should be covered by your Powertrain Warranty. Check the appearance of the oil and report back to us.
considered your probabilities and have previously considier them and ruled them out but thanks for the suggestions
have previously considered and checked hofmaiers suggestions and unforunately they are not the cause factors but ur suggestion about the dipstick has not been pursued but I will do that asap–there are a lot of these models around so it should not be difficult to find one–thank you
ps–oil looks good-- no sign of external fluid/s contamintion or depletion in liquid levels of possible comtaminants
Who discovered that your car was overfilled with oil, and who drained the 2 quarts? Are you sure the dipstick read exactly full before you left for Florida? If it mysteriously increased during the drive, you’ve got a problem.
Your owners manual should tell you how much oil should be added during an oil change. I think you should go to a mechanic (not the dealer, not a Jiffy Lube, but an independent mechanic), get an oil change, and explain you think the car is being overfilled for some reason. Tell him how much oil should be added according the manual and request he fill that amount by hand. See whether the dipstick reads the level correctly - it should be at the full mark.
If the dipstick is corrrect, either people have been careless or you do have a contamination problem after all.