can we refill oil thru the dipstick?

[StiMan]

hi,

on my mates 99 wrx, he has the normal oil fill hole plugged up, coz of aftermarket intercooler piping, his OEM oil refill oil hole had to be removed.

now the only easy way of refilling the oil is putting the oil thru the dipstik....

is there any probs with doing this?

i was worried that there may be too much oil in that area and the oil will rise back up and into the manifold...

 

[SteveD2]

I wouldn't think there would be a problem with that, although I don't know too much about the oil flow in an automotive engine.

 

[hannaco]

Shouldn't be much of a problem. If you think about it, the way most automatic transmissions are filled, is through the dipstick tube. Just do not try and fill it too fast.

 

[Ken4]

Use a funnel & just add oil slowly.

I noticed on my friends Saab 900 Turbo, they have done away with the oil filler cap. They have a huge looking dipstick where you add oil & check oil.

 

[eljefino]

Chevy cavaliers from the mid 80's have this dipstick/cap/filler combo. The dipstick is 1/2" in diameter instead of the usual 1/4" to help the oil slide down.

You might find yours fills faster if you heat the oil up in a double boiler beforehand.

 

[javacontour]

You guys are going at this all wrong, after you drain the oil, just flip the car over and fill it through the drain hole in the oil pan, put the plug back in, and flip the car back over the other way...

TB

 

[Al]

I don't see any problems-but I would look at getting a funnel that has a diameter close enough to the dipstick hole that you could use a piece of tygon tubing to hold it on and not have to use a smaller funnel which slips inside the tube and pinches down the flow.

 

[slalom44]

Filling the car through the dipstick tube isn't a problem, since the dipstick goes straight down to the oil pan. The problem will be back pressure. If you can remove a PCV valve or something to relieve the pressure, then you will be able to fill it up much quicker through the dipstick tube.

 

[JohnBrowning]

Well, I do not know who did his work but my car would not go back to them! The least they could have done was reloate the oil fill opening!! Did they at least put a silicone joint at each end with threaded clamps with quick releases? If they did then he can simply remove the tube to fill in a normal fashion!

What they should have done if they wanted it to look a bit more refined and tricked was machine a nice hole in the valve cover. Then weld a large aluminum nut to the head. Nickle plate and polish the whole thing then hard chrome it. Then you use a large fine thread SS bolt and scalop the edges!! You would put an o-ring on that as well. This makes it easy to hand tighten and it would then match all the SS plumbing!!

 

[JohnnyO]

I don't see why not, but it would take a while. Depending on how far the dipstick tube goes into the pan, you might not be able to fill it all the way. I'm guessing here on the siphoning effect.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

StiMan, I agree with the above post just to do it slowly and relieve pressure if possible to allow for a quicker fill.

I was thinking about Ford's 3.8L engine design of the last 15-20 years. To answer your question in relation to this engine, I think you can just add oil to the coolant jug as the coolant and oil seem to mix no matter what happens in this motor. I've seen too many of these, including my dad's 95 Sable had the head gaskets replaced. Two weeks later he threw a rod. Luckily, he knows a mechanic who did the motor rebuild for not too much $$.

 

[doyall]

I drain the oil from my boat using a hand pump that has a long tube that is run into the dipstick hole. Could be reversed with no problem. Get a drill operated pump and you could probably fill it up quicker than pouring it through the normal oil filler hole.

 

[csandste]

Is this like the gynocologist turned mechanic who did a valve job through the exhaust system???