4.0t Double Oil Amount!!
 

Well, I think I may have done the mother of all screw ups with the most basic of maintenance.

After getting the message I am at min level, and to add 1.5 quarts, I was changing the oil on my 2014 A8L 4.0t - freezing cold day and LOTS of my mind for other reasons. Undid bolt on bottom of filter, let the oil out, pulled filter out, let the oil drain into recycle container. Wife called me to talk - I came out from under car, spoke with her, for 10 mins came back and just thought in my mind I had emptied ALL oil, which I had not.....Just the filter oil. Big recycle container was heavy from boat end of season change - so was heavy when I moved it and didn't set off any alarms

Replaced the filter, and added 8.3Q of oil - which conceivably was on top of +-6.5-6.7 quarts in the engine --------I am sick to my stomach as I'm writing this. Buttoned everything up and was going to check the electronic "dipstick" when 30 seconds after starting starting making noises, sputtering. I ran I not car and shut off. Smoke coming out of pipes and engine bay..... I ran through my mind and concluded the scenario above had to be what happened and was confirmed when draining the oil again. Once empty, I replace filter and added another 8.3. I want to try and start but figured this was best place to consult, and no matter what - overnight drain

Please be kind, as I cannot already cannot believe my utter carelessness and stupidity to make such a basic mistake.......And would value any opinions/next steps......I am thinking the absolute worst - hoping for the best

I'm guessing from the lack of responses - I'm FUBAR

I would check Sparks make sure they are clean. Also seafom in the engine to run and clean it as best as possible. I don't think any of us had any issues like that before.

If it started once, and you have now placed the correct amount of oil in it, then I personally I would try to start it again. At this point I don't think there is much to lose, but I'm certainly no expert. I'm not sure what the Seafoam would do for you. I've used it before, but not for anything such as this.

Likewise, I would probably just start it if I were in that boat. If the lower and mid pan area couldn't handle the volume, oil level could have been way up under pistons. But unlike hydrolock on the compression side, oil would more likely just push out where it could, which is probably the PCV/oil vapor system. So, it might have eaten a big dose, since PCV then blows/sucks its vapor into the cylinders to burn up. To get at PCV to evaluate further would be a lot of disassembly on the 4.0T, which you could painfully do.

I would more inclined to run it and see if it goes back to normal idle, but its a dice roll. If running stays sucky after a few minutes, pull all plugs and clean them for starters. Maybe also a heavy Techron dose. Won't reach intake valves or tract on an FSI motor, but will still go through injectors into cylinders. But may be too delayed over course of a tank of gas to change things much.

Having run a C5 4.2 that had a damaged block in one specific cylinder, would burn a quart of 20W50 every 500 miles, and would foul that one plug every 3-5000 miles, amazingly it could still pass smog (even blowing some smoke..) and it never toasted the cat on that side. Thus, fingers crossed since you got the double fill out right away, so it may be ok. Other watch area might be seals if it overpressurized, but is so it's over and done and can't do anything now. Just monitor consumption in coming miles if it settles back down, plus maybe pull belly pan in 500 or 1,000 miles and look for obvious seal leak trails--especially if it is using oil at greater levels and it isn't smoking out the back. If it does smoke out the back after this teething phase to straighten out or you find seal leaks, then more toward FUBAR.

Tried starting - turned over a few times. Heard a little noise that is not normally there. Engine light came on - EPC came on - said battery was basically dead??? and wouldn't turn over anymore... I'll run a scan when I get home tonight. Will try and pull plugs and see what they look like. Charge the battery and try again - but the stress ball in my stomach is telling me what I think I already know....can't begin to let myself off the hook for something so dumb, stupid and careless.

Any other thoughts - or any other guidance on potential course of action if the motor is FUBAR. What course of action would others take? I changed out my 383 Small Block Chevy motor myself in my boat - but this at face value is a daunting predicament...

Battery charge and maybe a can of ether (starting spray)--just to get it first fired. Plugs could well be oiled up some. But if oil is in pcv/oil separation area and you don't disassemble, it could logically take some minutes of running to pull through the worst of it. Thus if you do plugs preemptively, they could just get oiled again in that next minute or so of running.

I advised Seafom because it thins out oil. You have mix of old and new oil in the engine still. My method is not sophisticated but it might just work. I would buy four bottles of Seafoam, I would add 2.5 of them to the oil (that would be three times required amount) and one bottle with gas. Take sparks out clean them and inject some seafoam directly into the chamber, charge battery and try to run car for up to 5 min or when you will start hearing louder than regular knocking. After initial 5 min turn her off and try to start again. If she starts up let her run again for 5 min if knocking is not too loud. After that oil should be ready to be changed again which I would advise. It will cost extra money to change oil again but I think it is worth it.

Worst case is oil got dumped down a cylinder intake and hydro-locked the cylinder bending the connecting rod. This doesn't necessarily mean engine is damaged but COULD be. I would definitely pull the spark plugs to see if any cylinders have lots oil in them. With plugs out, rotate the motor by hand to see if there are any physical stoppages. See if any cylinders have obvious pistons that are lower at top dead center which would indicate a bent rod. If all looks ok. Remove the oil in cylinder, intake, turbo duct line, anywhere oil could collect, clean the fouled plugs and try to restart.

Or take it to a competent mechanic.

Don't destroy yourself over this. I have a friend who had a Ford 3/4 to diesel. Ford's have the blue def and the gas filling receptacles located adjacent to each other. He put two gallons of blue def in his diesel tank. It didn't end well.

The point is, others have done similar things. It is why checklist discipline is so important in piloting an airplane.