How to read oil stick while using synthetic

[msparks]

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Originally posted by Patman:

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Originally posted by msparks:


Depending on the size of the engine, you should wait at least 5 minutes for the oil to drain into the pan to get a semi accurate reading. I never add oil unless it is down around the add mark which is almost a quart. Usually my oil level is between 1/2 and 3/4 full.

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Why wait until it's down a full quart? That means if you've got a 5 qt sump, you're running your engine with 20% less oil than it's capacity, and putting a lot more stress on the oil that's remaining. With my dipstick on my Firebird, it's got holes in it to help show the level better, and as soon as the top hole is empty, I add 100ml of oil to bring it back to the top again. I just can't bear the thought of waiting until my level was down a full quart, or even a half a quart, before topping it up.

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Because why take a chance of overfilling your vehicle, that can be just as harmfull as running low. I would definately never let it fall below the add mark.

On the BMW, I never ran it to the full mark and it only held 4 quarts. Why because if you ran it up to the full, it would burn oil, or deposit the excess into the airbox.

As far as being anal, I would add 2-3 oz anytime the level in my BMW would fall below 1/2 way.

 

[Patman]

I don't see how adding a tiny bit of oil a little bit at a time could run the risk of overfilling though? If you do it the way I do it, adding 100ml whenever it's slightly low, there is no risk whatsoever of it being overfilled. Besides, most engines have quite a bit of leeway in that regard, even if you're 1/2 quart over the capacity in most engines you wouldn't be dangerously too high, your BMW was the rare exception to the rule. In the LS1 f-body for instance, the manual calls for 5.5 quarts but I know a lot of autocrossers who add 7 quarts to their LS1s to prevent oil starvation. GM engineers have told them it's totally safe to add this much oil, it's still not at the point of overfilling.

I just think that in the long term, your engine will last longer if you keep the oil level at the highest safe point you can, compared to always letting it go down a quart and having it down by 20-25% of it's capacity, which will just increase the concentration of wear metals and increase the oil temperature needlessly.

[ April 15, 2003, 09:34 AM: Message edited by: Patman ]

 

[turbochem]

Well, checking the engine cold every time is consistant. Then again, you could just be consistantly wrong about the oil level in your engine!

j/k.....a little.....

I actually do both, depending on if I'm leaving for the day, or at a gas station.

I know the level with be different by ~1/4 qt. depending on the method. Since most dipsticks (not including you guys), have 1 qt. between the H and L marks...I feel that either method is sufficient to keep it "between the ditches," as my dad would say.......

Been doing both since '93!! Top that!!

 

[jason07-1zzfe]

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Originally posted by msparks:
Because why take a chance of overfilling your vehicle, that can be just as harmfull as running low. I would definately never let it fall below the add mark.

On the BMW, I never ran it to the full mark and it only held 4 quarts. Why because if you ran it up to the full, it would burn oil, or deposit the excess into the airbox.

As far as being anal, I would add 2-3 oz anytime the level in my BMW would fall below 1/2 way.

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Are you talking about the E30 325i? I think you said you have one. I have not noticed that on mine. I've always filled to full when I change and try to keep it there, occasionally it went 1qt low. I've never noticed a difference in consumption rate related to oil level. Definitely never got any oil in airbox. I'll keep a better eye out on consumption though.

 

[msparks]

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Are you talking about the E30 325i? I think you said you have one. I have not noticed that on mine.

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No I had a BMW Motorcycle a R1100r

[ April 15, 2003, 01:38 PM: Message edited by: msparks ]

 

[jason07-1zzfe]

I know one of the Amsoil guys has one...

 

[tadaima]

Thanks everyone, your responses has given me a good handle on how I should read my oil dipstick. I think I will stay with the cold AM dip stick check, wish they made my camry with a higher oil capacity, don't like having only 3 3/5qts, making my car having a low tolerance for oil level changes. Burn a quart and there goes about 30% of my oil.

 

[jsharp]

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Originally posted by Patman:

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Originally posted by sprintman:
Can I add to that? I remove the dipstick at night in my Sube 2.5 Outback letting the Redline easier egress from the tube. Check in the morning. The Subes have the worst dipsticks to read from any vehicle I've owned by the way.

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My second 5.0 Mustang had the worst dipstick of any car I owned. I simply could not read the level at all, when I pulled the stick out it would show oil all the way up the stick. That car had a Paxton supercharger on it and probably burned a quart of oil every 2000 miles towards the end of the time I owned it, but then again I changed the oil much sooner than that in the last few years I had it since I wasn't driving it much more than 500-2000 miles per year.

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Don't know what year your was but mine has a level sensor in the pan. The light stays on after startup if the level is 1 quart down...

 

[Patman]

The 5.0 I'm referring to was an 87 Mustang GT, however the previous owner replaced it with a brand new engine from a 1991 Mustang (this was in 1991 that I bought it) and he probably didn't hook up the oil level sensor right because it never did work. I often wonder about those sensors, do they honestly come on right when the oil is a quart low, or is it more like 1.5qts low?