My daughter took her 2014 Ford Explorer Sport with 3.5L Ecoboost engine to a repair shop a couple of days ago because her Oil Pressure Light was coming on at idle and her engine light came on. Her car was making a muffled tapping noise as well. Anyway, the shop found that her oil had been overfilled by at least 2 quarts. They drained off 2 quarts which placed the oil level at the very top of the “safe zone” on the dipstick. After they drained the 2 extra quarts, they started the vehicle and now the tapping/knocking sound became more prominent. The engine light code was P0016. That shop said that the place that changed her oil last overfilled it with oil which most likely caused the reason for the engine light code. When I called the oil change place…of course they said there was NO WAY we could have over filled her oil because they have 2 people look at the dipstick. I said that doesn’t mean that 2 people looked at it that day though and the fact is…there was at least 2 quarts too much oil in the car. He suggested that my daughter or someone added oil to the car and I explained that my “privileged” 32 year old daughter has never added a qt of oil to anything in her life and doesn’t know how to. Anyway, the oil change shop said that the codes was for timing issue and that could not have been caused by over filing with oil and that I would have to pay to have the engine tore down to find out what the actual problem is. My question is…can the car having over 2 quarts too much oil…cause damage to any of the timing components? Also, the shop she took it to the other day found that the turbos suffered damage also. She can’t afford to replace all of the timing components and/or a new motor. I just find it odd that the oil pressure light started coming on a few days after the oil change and then the engine light followed about 30 days after oil change. I told her to park the car until she was able to get it to a shop. Please help with any info you may have on this subject. THANKS!
From your mechanic.com
What causes the P0016 code?
- The camshaft timing is out of position due to the timing chain jumped teeth.
- The camshaft phaser is out of position due to problems with phaser.
- The oil has flow to the phaser is impeded from having an incorrect oil viscosity or partly clogged passages.
- The Oil Control Valve (OCV) has a restriction in the OCV filter.
What are the symptoms of the P0016 code?
- The Check Engine Light comes on.
- The engine may have a reduction in power or start hard.
- The engine may run erratically, stall, hesitate, or run rough.
- The engine’s fuel mileage will decrease.
Quite possible the engine is sludged up preventing proper oil circulation.
I doubt this but possible, the overfill cause the oil to foam and reduce oil pressure.
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If the oil level was high enough the crankshaft would have made contact with it and churned it into foam. I suspect this is what happened. Unfortunately, your “privileged 32 year old daughter” compounded the problem by continuing to drive it once the oil light came on. As you can guess, that shouldn’t happen right after an oil change and it’s a definite red flag.
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