Overfill oil in northstar, keep reading bad stuff

[cl1986]

My wife called me last weekend when she went to her parents house and said the "check oil level" light came on. I told her that when that light comes on it needs 2 quarts of oil. We just got back from CO, 22 hour round trip, then she drove 4 hours. I wasnt very happy about loosing 2 quarts of oil in that time. My eldo usually just drips on the floor and doesnt use much oil at all.

Turns out i just checked the oil level today and the 2 quarts she put in made it way past full. Its past the brown reader and on the cable.

Ive read bbob saying overfilling a N* is really bad. Whats the deal. Did i hurt anything. I also read the overfilling a 4.9L if perfectly fine.

And why did my light come on if it was only 1 quart or so low??

[Spyder]

A problem with the sensor, most likely. If its overfill, drain some and call it good. If nothing is damaged now, it won't likely be from it in the future...overfull oil can cause a frothy oil mix when the crankshaft dips into the reservoir, which can cause havoc in the engine...but its not something that will go unnoticed if it happened, and its unlikely to happen unless you were running it hard. It'll be fine, don't worry!

[BeelzeBob]

Relax, you haven't hurt anything.

The oil level sensor in the oil pan can be "fooled" if the vehicle is parked overnight on a slope or slanted surface. If it was a quart low and parked on a slope it is possible that the oil running to one side/end of the pan simply fooled the sensor.

Really, the thing to do is to put the vehicle on a level surface and check the oil with the dipstick to be sure as to how much to put in in the future.

Drive it and forget about it. The engine will probably "use" that extra oil above the normal fill rather quickly but nothing will be hurt.

Overfilling the Northstar is not recommended as it leads to rapid use of the oil above the full mark but that is the only problem (unless it is grossly overfilled...) Consistent topping off of the oil level or consistent overfilling to keep the sump "full" tends leaves a false perception of high oil consumption as that excess oil will be burned off quite quickly in most cases.

[mcowden]

The oil level sensor can go bad as well. Mine is toast and every time I start the car I get the "CHECK OIL LEVEL" message, even though the level is just fine and it has been parked on a level garage floor all night. The sensors are real cheap and easy to replace. It can be done without draining the oil, but I'm waiting until my next oil change to avoid the potential mess.