***edited to include detail about being nearly on empty and fueling up a full tank at a Race track on Sunday morning. One day before problems began. Car drove fine for about 50 miles after fueling up, then problems arose the next morning***

I'll preface this by saying I'm sure I screwed something up, but I have no idea what. My Kia has a small oil leak that was discovered by my mechanic on my last oil change a few weeks ago. He said it was likely from the head gasket? No oil is on the floor of garage where I park, but he said to just monitor the oil level every couple weeks and add as needed.

Yesterday I checked the level and it was in the middle of the full and low level on the stick so I bought a 5qt container of oil and proceeded to add some. Problem is, I think I added a bit too much because when I checked the level it was about 1/2 inch above the full mark on the dipstick.

I drove the car about 40 miles with no incident after this last night. My wife then drove it this morning about 20 miles to the mall with no problem. However, on her drive home she said anytime she went to accelerate hard, the car would lurch and struggle and feel like it was "missing" or about to stall.

I come home and we go to leave for church this afternoon and the car struggles mightily to start. Finally got it started and tried to drive out of our street but every time I accelerated I felt the engine struggle, so I turned back to house and parked it.

The ONLY other things I did to the car yesterday along with adding the oil was running it through an automated car wash, and that I attempted to diagnose the problem I was having of the illumination of the A/C fan speed knob flickering and being dim. I had checked the fuses inside the car first and noticed this big yellow fuse at the bottom of the panel was only half in. It's the large yellow one in that picture.



I pulled it out entirely, which caused the lights to go out, and then inserted it back in all the way. The fuse isn't labeled in the diagram on the fuse cover and it has a "2t" or "st" on it...Can't tell which?? So I'm not sure what it does.

Is this involved at all?? I'm stumped as to why the car drove fine yesterday evening after I added the oil and messed with the fuse, and then earlier today acts up on my wife after she had already driven 20 plus miles. And now it's almost un-drivable, unless I only accelerate gently.

I did check the oil cap and dipstick to make sure they were both seated properly, and I also verified I got the right oil for my car, which I did.

Any guesses, guys?

Is the check engine light on?

Any smoke coming from the tailpipe?

No check engine light and didn't notice smoke but it was dark this evening and so I'm not positive if it's smoking any from the exhaust

None of what you posted seems to add up. Can you describe more precisely what you mean by the engine "struggling" when you drove it?

A true misfire would trip the check engine light, as would most internal engine problems.

Also, how's the idle right now? Normal or rough?

The engine seems to idle fine. I can drive it, but if I press down hard on the accelerator, the car feels like it's hesitating and lurching and won't accelerate rapidly....almost feels like it's about to stall out. If I just drive and gently press the accelerator, car seems to run fine.

The other symptom is the car struggles to start. It cranks numerous times and then finally starts. We never had that before except for a time a few months ago when we ended up needing a new battery.

I haven't tried to remove any oil. I honestly don't do my own oil changes and am unsure how to remove any oil.

I've been constantly on Google searches and nothing adds up. Like you mentioned, a misfire would appear to bring a CEL and no check engine light has come on.

I'm not sure what a misfire feels like, but like I said, if I try to give the car any serious gas and put my foot into the pedal, it does not want to accelerate quickly and feels like it's "hiccuping".

I agree with hypeiv. I don't exactly know how too much oil would cause this condition but I remember an Expedition I used to own with variable-valve timing that was sensitive to oil pressure. I would think a timing issue would reveal itself with a CEL (and likely a rough idle).... But hard starts may be consistent with this type of problem.

Spending $40 at a quick lube place or just doing it yourself is a cheap thing to try and won't hurt anything.

Ok, I'll take it tomorrow to get oil changed...maybe that'll fix it.

Only other thing I realized I did yesterday was change the filthy cabin air filter behind the glove box. That probably has no bearing on anything, correct??

I'm really just perplexed how we drove a couple different times for about 50 total miles without incident after I added the oil, etc....and then randomly it starts acting up like this

Nah, cabin air filter isn't related. Honestly, I think the extra oil is probably a red herring too.

Jack Cheese said:

---

Nah, cabin air filter isn't related. Honestly, I think the extra oil is probably a red herring too.

---

Any chance that large yellow fuse that I mentioned in my OP that I noticed was only halfway in and subsequently pulled out and pushed all the way in could be related? I assume not....just grasping at straws.

when you ran it through the car wash, did it do one of those undercarriage sprays?

Likely is too much oil. Pressure too high.

Just went to turn it in in garage. Took awhile to actually start and idled really rough for about 30 seconds with the tachometer really fluctuating, then started idling fine after that.

Not going to bother trying to drive it until I can take it somewhere tomorrow. Was hoping somehow it would start up fine and be ok this morning.

My best guess is that variable-valve timing is reacting poorly to the wrong oil pressure but you're right... Odd that it drove ok for a day before showing these symptoms. Maybe one of the oil injector screens blew out (if it is equipped with that) and messing up the idle and low end acceleration. I'm just guessing based on some issues I researched on my Expedition a few years ago.

1ags is MUCH better equipped to help diagnose a problem like this, though. Good luck, friend. Car trouble at Christmas ain't fun. Keep us updated.

It's possible, yes. Can't remember which car wash option I selected. Could the undercarriage spray have messed with something?

Hey FDX, one other thing I thought of. The rough idle, hard start is also consistent with a really dirty throttle body. I don't know if overfilling the oil could have led to some sort of vacuum condition that gunked up your throttle body, but that is another straightforward service you can do yourself to rule out. Be sure to use throttle body cleaner (not brake cleaner) and try to find a YouTube specific to your vehicle to show you how. Shouldn't be too hard but some cars you have to be a little careful about how you handle the throttle plate so that you don't mess up the electronic throttle control.

Tried to start car this afternoon and this time it idled very rough for about 30 seconds and the CEL came on. Plan to try to take it to AutoZone to have code read tomorrow, as I don't have a reader.

Could this be as simple as bad gas? I did fill up the tank on Sunday morning at a Race Track...tank was almost completely empty. Problems started on my wife Monday morning.

As a side note....my lovely wife is notorious for waiting to fill up until the tank is nearly dry, despite me trying to get her to not let the tank dip below quarter of a tank. Sunday I get in it to take us to church and we had less than 30 miles to drive according to the mileage remaining.

Update:

Looks like problem was bad fuel. Bought a code reader off Amazon and it pulled up a P0087, low fuel pressure. Bought a bottle of HEET and put it in the gas tank. Let it sit a few hours and turned it on. Engine started fine and the rough idle was gone.

Cleared the code and drove it for about 40 minutes to get the ECM to start learning again and it seems to drive fine. Might get the fuel filter changed just as a precaution

Very relieved. Thanks all and stupid me for forgetting the important detail of fueling up right before problems started occurring.

Good deal, would not have guessed that.