I had my oil changed by MINI service I guess 1700 miles ago. I decided to check it today and it seems like the oil level is way above the top ball on the dipstick. Seems kind of weird right? If in fact there is too much oil, what kind of damage could have happened in that time?

 

Well, if they wildly overfilled it so that the level of oil in the pan comes up to the bottom of the crankshaft, the crankshaft can "whip" the oil into a foam, which doesn't pump well through the passages, or lubricate well. You usually *really* have to overfill it for this to happen, like putting in an extra two quarts or so.

I think the entire range of the textured part of the dipstick is only about a quart, so perhaps they didn't overfill it by very much.

 

My whole dipstick is textured, do you mean just the part between the 2 markers? If that's only a quart then they overfilled it by close to half a quart.

 

Sorry - it didn't dawn on me that this thread was in the 2nd-gen forum, and that the dipsticks differ.

Yes, the range between the two markers is usually around a quart. If they overfilled it by half a quart, it shouldn't hurt anything.

 

I agree. If you were really worried, you could get another oil change. Or if you have a topsider, you could take some out yourself.