Holy Smokin Dipstick Batman!

[Dominic]

Its kind of funny, after running down the road for a good while really heating the oil up nicely (200 miles or so) - if I pull off the road immediately and pull the dipstick I end up with a lot of steam coming out the dipstick hole...

Is this normal? Anyone else have this happen? It doesn't seem to cause any issues its just something I noticed one day

 

[Patman]

I've had this happen on a few of my cars, most notably the Mustang GT that I had with
the Paxton supercharger on it.

 

[jjbula]

Aren't we supposed to check the oil level on a cold engine??

contact oil lever checker's anonymous for further info.

I believe a hot engine will "steam" from the oil filler cap as well.

 

[Patman]

I always check my oil when the engine is cold, or at least well cooled down. My dipstick handle,
even though it's plastic, gets super hot! I have tried checking my oil level with just a 5min wait after a hot shutdown, then compared it to a reading from overnight, and the level is exactly the same for me either way.

 

[dbrowne1]

My VW owners manual specifically says to check the oil when the car has been brought to full temp and after letting it sit for 3 minutes (so run until warm, then shut off, check 3 min later).

 

[VaderSS]

The main byproduct of combining HxCx(Gasoline) and O2(Oxygen) is CO2(Carbon Dioxide) and H2O(water)...

[ September 09, 2002, 09:27 AM: Message edited by: VaderSS ]

 

[Dominic]

I wasn't attempting to verify the oil level, only the oil quality at temp - normally I don't fiddle with hot dipsticks unless I need to

However my owners manual does state to check the oil once the engine is fully warmed up

.

 

[jjbula]

I definitely stand corrected, didn't know about the warmup recommendations.

It makes sense, how else would you check the oil at fill up on a long trip?

 

[deepsquat]

I went on a 500 mile drive last week, at a gas stop check the oil and the dipstick was hotter then all get out...strangly enough I checked the tranny level too and the fluid was warm to the touch ...I would guess maybe 100 degrees. I though it would be a lot hotter traveling 75-80 for several hours.

 

[VaderSS]

The primary producer of heat in an automatic transmission is the torque converter. When the TC is locked, they run pretty cool.

 

[PandaBear]

Yeah, it happens to my car too. After a 50 miles drive on freeway speed (80mph) and immediately check the oil after shut off, if the outside temp is low there tends to have steam comming out of the dip stick hole.

It should be normal since in winter our breathing has steam too, i would imagine a hot engine who has H20 as byproduct will have steam come out. That's why they have PCV in engine so the will burn off those vapor instead of leaving them in the engine.

At least you would rather the steam come out instead of having them in your engine right?