Oil high

Wondering if anyone else has experienced this. Bought this truck 3 months ago, already had to have a coolant gasket replaced. Now, oil level is high for some reason. I've put ~1,000 miles on it so haven't touched the oil since checking it when i purchased, and I just noticed this today as the oil light came on which prompted me to check it. Looks to be about a quart high for some reason even after it's been running. Wondering if this is something anyone else has run into.

 

Is it foamy, cloudy, milky? Does it seem like fairly new caramel/ amber oil.
A quart high sounds like you got antifreeze in it or something.

 

Did you remove dipstick, wipe it off, then insert it, then remove it again to check level?

 

The oil is barely dirty, looks pretty fresh. And yes, I wiped off the dipstick and checked a few times because I was surprised as well.

 

Was the level correct after the repair? Is the truck sitting level? And who did the last oil fill? Could they have changed the oil along with the coolant (head?) gasket? Did they change the filter? I've seen quick oil change places not change the filter but add enough oil for a new filter.

 

Try draining a cup or so from the pan into a clear glass container, mason jars work well. Be sure to get the first off in the jar, let it sit for a bit and see if it separates. Water is more dense than oil and will sit at the bottom of the pan. If all looks good, drain off the excess oil. Keep an eye on the coolant and oil level for a while.

Or if that's not your thing, take it back to the place that did the repair.

 

Is the engine running while checking? Should be warm and not running

 

So, since that repair I've probably put 400 ish miles on it; not much, but a good bit. I never checked the oil level after purchasing the truck until today. However, the Toyota dealership I brought it to did claim to have checked all fluid levels. I have not gotten an oil change yet, they didn't do it when they replaced that gasket.

I'll try to drain some oil to see if there is some water in it. Really hope that's not the problem, but I'm not sure what else it could be.

 

My dealer changed mine first time and I checked it few weeks later after it had sat all night and oil level was about 4 inches above the full mark!!! Took it back and they said it was overfilled (duh) and drained some out!! I’m not sure but suspect they may have not changed the filter but still added the 6 quarts but I can’t be certain!!

 

Pull your dipstick out, wipe it clean, wait 10 minutes, then reinsert and measure it to get the most accurate reading. The dipsticks on these trucks are notoriously hard to read due to the really thin weight

$52 0w20 oil Toyota/ exxon mobil Case of 6 Quarts Full Synthetic TGMO SN 0W-20 Oil

0w20 oil. If you pull the dipstick, wipe, then reinsert immediately and read it, it can cause some oil to wick up into the dipstick tube and cause an inaccurate reading. Waiting 10 minutes allows the oil to drain fully from the tube to get an accurate reading.

 

or do it in the AM before starting the truck, that's when i always check my oil for the reason you stated.

 

This is how I check oil on the Tacoma. Thin dip stick and clean oil is hard for my old eyes to see sometimes!

 

One reason why I like using royal purple. The dark purple oil is easy to read even when brand new and clean.

 

x2 this is the way to do it.

 

Thanks for the tips! I assumed oil was high which is why the oil light came on in the dash. I'll report back my findings.

 

Always mark the filter if someone else services your vehicle. One of the biggest ripoffs by oil changers is not replacing the filter

 

What oil light came on? I thought we have one for low pressure and low oil level? But they're not lights but warnings on the center screen. Never see one trip for too much oil?

Also, why'd you have a head gasket replaced if that's what you mean by coolant gasket? If it was a head gasket that was truly replaced they should have changed the oil at that time.

 

First of all, thank you all for your responses & recommendations. Second of all, I apologize for having wasted your time.

As it turns out, I may not be suited to own a vehicle from this decade; it's like a space ship to me!

When the light came on, my immediate thought was that it was a liquid (oil) problem so my first thing to check was the oil (see photo below). Once I checked & double checked, my oil was in fact about a quart too high, leading me to the assumption that I had something leaking into the oil, making it higher, and thus setting off the warning after having not done anything to the oil since purchase 3 + months ago.

It took a conversation (believe it or not) with my wife, who reminded me that her TPMS sensor was always tripping regardless of tire pressure. We never repaired it and simply do a manual check on the pressure every now and then. That's when I thought to check the pressure in my truck's tires and sure enough, one was sitting at ~20 PSI (way too low) whereas the others were nearly 40 PSI (too high). Turned the truck back on, and there were no longer any warning lights to find.

Upgrading from a 2005 Camry to the newest generation Tacoma apparently isn't the easiest transition for me! Picture below for dummies like me

 

There is a TPMS Reset button on the dash way below the steering wheel. Set your pressures and then hold that down until the TPMS light flashes and goes out. This will reset the low threshold.

 

Tacoman There sure are a lot of warnings, bells and whistles on these new vehicles!!
How did we ever drive without them?? I do like the back-up cam!