I have a 2008 rx8 with 85000 miles. At 70,000 miles the engine was replaced under warranty.

cant post this in any other forum because im new

Recently the check engine light came on, and I assumed it had to do with an oil change, which i did about 1.5 weeks later.

Incredibly stupid mistake 1: I read a guide incorrectly and filled 5qts of oil in the car.

Incredibly stupid mistake 2: I figured out I overfilled but drove for the next 2 days anyway

Incredibly stupid mistake 3: I was at work yesterday and the car was smelling like burned oil/rubber and the car wouldnt start. I thought it was flooded so I followed the deflooding tutorial and the car eventually started and i drove it home. the traction control light came on when i was driving straight. maybe unrelated but probably not

Incredibly stupid mistake 4: i got in the car and it started fine this morning, i made it to petsmart and then when leaving to go to autozone to get the CEL read, the car wouldnt start and theres a puddle of oil on the ground under the engine.

I got it towed home.

there is a small amount of oil in the intake which i read can be caused by overfilling

im going to be trying to fix this myself, so the first thing im going to do is clean the MAF and the filter. the oil says its at 3/4 so im guessing the rest is in the petsmart parking lot....

What possibly could i have done wrong?

spare the idiot comments because trust me i already know

also hi im new here

 

Welcome,

And, yeah, maybe some issues here. First, get the extra oil out. Then clean the intake, including the MAF and air filter. You probably want to check the plugs as well. And, if you can, clean as much oil off of stuff as you can. This way you have a chance of seeing a new leak, as opposed to the old leaks.

Then go for the start. Might be worth while to toss in coils as well. The autozone ones work, and have a life time warranty.

If you got the CEL code read, post it. But likely not a huge deal at this time. There are a lot of little things that will set that, and it drove until the over fill.

Once it is running, just let her idle. This will start working on the oil that may be all through the intake. Once warmed up, check for leaks. There is a separate light on the dash for low oil, check the book to see what it looks like. If that comes on, shut down right away.

This should get you started.

 

thank you for the quick reply. when i was attempting to start it today, the car wouldnt even sputter or come close to starting. yesterday when it wouldnt start it would sputter and die until i eventually got it running. I have to go to work shortly so i might not be able to do a whole lot of tests today but i will be waking up tomorrow really early and try everything i can.

 

also assuming the engine is filled with oil, how do you recommend doing the first thing you asked, which is draining out the extra oil? the dipstick is sitting at 3/4 right now

 

hey garrett: first off, welcome to the club.

sounds like you know you screwed up a bit with overfilling the oil but I don't think you're in too bad of shape.
04Green pretty much nailed it so just follow his advice and let us know how it goes.

it's going to be a P.I.T.A. to clean all that oil well but it'll help diagnose whether there's still any remaining issues (leaks).


keep us posted.

 

garrett: you could just loosen the drain plug a bit and pour some out. hell, do a quick oil change while you're down there if you want.

MAF sensors do not like getting any moisture what so ever on them so I don't doubt the car freaked out when it got oil on it.
As for not starting, could be fouled spark plugs? you can get under the car to check those but I usually just jack up the front left, remove that wheel and it gives me more room to work.

hope that helps.

 

I have removed the MAF and the tube that im going to refer to as the "accordion tube". It's connected to the maf.

Anyway, the MAF is surprisingly pretty free of moisture (I know how sensitive these can be, is there a correct way of cleaning it other than just sticking my hand in with some paper towels or is that okay to do? )

the accordion pipe however definitely has its fair share of oil in it. I'm going to drain a little bit of oil from the drain plug (which by the way seems to be the origin of my leak)

next up i'm going to check out the spark plugs

also a little bit more about myself, I also own a 1989 911, and a 1964 karmann ghia... both with their own fair share of issues, not to mention the fact that i have experienced the disaster of overfilling the 911... you'd think i'd have learned by now...

 

ive jacked the car up and it appears that the leak is coming from a gasket around the oil pan (?)

there is a STRONG smell of burned rubber underneath the car

 

If it's at 3/4 it already puked out all the extra oil...so no need to drain it 😎

Clean it up.....and like everyone said see what happens.

I would pull the plugs and see what they look like. They may be full of oil and fouled. If it was cold and overfilled it can push oil all over the place that normally wouldn't happen.

It should all burn off....

The other option is a pull start and a smoke show....I wouldn't expect it to idle when it first starts...give it gas and get it warmed up and burn off the extra oil

 

You should use electrical contact cleaner. It is available in pressurized cans from auto parts stores. That sensor being covered in oil may be preventing you from running.


As for the burning smell... Look for burned oil on hot components. Some Simple Green and a brush are your friends.

 

Also, the MAF sensor cleaning is not just the little bulb looking thingy, but the part up in the recess also.
You need to be sure the screens are in place.
You should check your air filter and airbox for oil, and replace the filter and clean the tube if needed.

 

Unfortunately after more investigation I've found that the line going from the coolant tank to the radiator is snapped. I never got a coolant warning light on the dash and I was watching intently the last time I drove it.

I tried pouring coolant in the tank and it immediately poured onto the ground. That's how I found the snapped line.

There's also coolant everywhere underneath the air filter box and I'm guessing is the source of the horrible burned smell.

Already assuming the engine is toast... not much I can find that would tell me otherwise.

I'm just confused as to why I never had the coolant light pop up. Literally NEVER appeared.

 

coolant sensor could be bad or disconnected, that sensor has been known to fail so some people disconnect it.
don't assume the motor is toast, that's a bad assumption. Until you compression test it, keep looking for fail points and address those as they are fairly simple (aka cheap) fixes.

 

took out the spark plugs and water and coolant trickled out of the holes

 

That... that sounds like it might be a blown water seal.

 

Yeah, not good. Sounds like it's rebuild time.
Sorry brother.