Oil Change - Hot or Cold and Oil Level Check - Hot or Cold?

4 pages on how to pull a dipstick? Well done!
Check your oil hot or cold. If it is low add a little. Otherwise close the hood and drive on.

I hardly ever check my oil because it tells me I overfilled the crankcase. I already knew that.
 
#1 - neither...warm. As for me, I'll change it first thing in the morning and just give it extra time to drain out...beats getting burned.

#2- No, the manufacturer probably has taken that into account. Plus, the capacity stated in the owner's manual...I find to be low...I always have to add about 1/2 quart over the stated capacity to get to the top mark on the dip stick...even sitting for a long while.

#3- what??? If it did, I don't believe its a significant amount of expansion. In fact, I find that the oil level reads a little lower after driving because some of the oil hasn't settled into the pan. Hence, many will state that you need to let the vehicle sit for several minutes before reading the oil level.

Don't get so hung up on it...it is a relative reading not an absolute. How do you know your vehicle is sitting 'perfectly level' when you check it?
Hey Mr. OCD Grammar Engineer, it's DIPSTICK, not DIP STICK. :rolleyes:

dip·stick
/ˈdipˌstik/

  1. 1.
    a graduated rod for measuring the depth of a liquid, especially oil in a vehicle's engine.
    BTW, it's a NOUN.
 
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Think With Your Dipstick.jpg
 
ROLMAO, ..
Funny how this thread of all threads has gotten so much attention even the "grammar Nazi's are responding .. :LOL:


I can't say as I ever read anywhere that the dip stick coming from an auto manufacture caused an engine catastrophe. If there was one I would like to read about it. LOL IDK I don't read everything.


I want to know which exact "bean counter" from what auto manufacture over rides a development engineers design before it is approved by both the department head and the engineer and the engineering department who designed the part? LOL

this is fun itsa fricken dipstick, I mean is it that difficult to read and understand? Maybe that's where some of us Hot Rodders refer to a person that does not know much as a "DIP STICK... :p
hahahaha!

oh there are many BMW manufactured vehicles that have engine oil dip sticks
I own a couple 2002 and 2009 :p
NITRO, I like your reply. Keep on posting brother!
Oh, and be VERY CAREFUL not to misspell ANY words. You're being watched! :LOL:
 
NITRO, I like your reply. Keep on posting brother!
Oh, and be VERY CAREFUL not to misspell ANY words. You're being watched! :LOL:
hahahaha
I am the worst speller, terrible sentence structure and syntax that I know of? I shined in other area's of education and often had to have my papers prof read and corrected when allowed before submitting them. On forums generally when I am participating on a thread and a member starts correcting my bad English I know I made the point I was making and they had nothing to bring to the table anymore except being a Grammar Nazi on my responses. Oh I wrote this first on Open Office to be sure not to blunder responding to you. HA!
and
Thank you for your SERVICE !
 
hahahaha
I am the worst speller, terrible sentence structure and syntax that I know of? I shined in other area's of education and often had to have my papers prof read and corrected when allowed before submitting them. On forums generally when I am participating on a thread and someone start correctly my bad English I know I made the point I was making and they had nothing to bring to the table except being a Grammar Nazi on my responses. Oh I wrote this first on Open Office to be sure not to blunder responding to you. HA!
and
Thank you for your SERVICE !
🇺🇲 You're very welcome! 🇺🇲
 
Feh. I don't get the hullabaloo.

I have never done wrong changing oil hot in my rig. It flows fast and hard. I have a magnetic plug that spoils me. It will hold fast against any internals as I back it out with a wrench. Yeah, it has an aluminum pan, but the plug is strong enough to draw up against whatever ferrous material is just inside. Once I pull the wrench back, I back up the drain pan to catch the spill when I yank the plug out.

When it slows to a drop-drip-ploop, I stuff it back in and tighten to spec.

When hot and sliding the drain pan to the left up under the filter boss and cooler bypass, I'll spin off the filter. If it's cold, I get what's in the galleries and sitting right on top of the filter. If it's hot?

I get all of the above. 40 seconds later, you hear air glug through the cooler lines and then a burst of oil falls out of the filter boss to the tune of yet another cup, cup and a half or so. I won't get that out of her if she is stone cold.

I then spin on a fresh filter pre-filled with fresh oil. I put the rest of 6qts. in as described as part of my manual instructed oil service. Idle engine for a minute, leak check. Then run her full hot.

Then I do something else my manual describes... Check oil level full hot after a 25 mile blast down the highway on level surface after a 15 minute wait post shut down.

She always checks full, right up to sixth and final hole on dipstick doing this with the 6qts. the manual describes.

TL;DR: SRSLY - follow the service procedure as delineated by your owner's manual and don't overthink sh*te. Oil level is a range, not a specification. But if you yank your stick and see nothing? Better to overfill it slightly than starve it dry.
 
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Hey Mr. OCD Grammar Engineer, it's DIPSTICK, not DIP STICK. :rolleyes:

dip·stick
/ˈdipˌstik/

  1. 1.
    a graduated rod for measuring the depth of a liquid, especially oil in a vehicle's engine.
    BTW, it's a NOUN.
You forgot to mention the capitalization and punctuation as well...

but dipstick vs. dip stick is more understandable than then vs. then...although, not as bad as brakes vs. breaks...

While we are giving out info...

How do you use then and than?
The way to keep the pair straight is to focus on this basic difference: than is used when you're talking about comparisons; then is used when you're talking about something relating to time. Than is the word to choose in phrases like smaller than, smoother than, and further than.
 
You forgot to mention the capitalization and punctuation as well...

but dipstick vs. dip stick is more understandable than then vs. then...although, not as bad as brakes vs. breaks...

While we are giving out info...

How do you use then and than?
The way to keep the pair straight is to focus on this basic difference: than is used when you're talking about comparisons; then is used when you're talking about something relating to time. Than is the word to choose in phrases like smaller than, smoother than, and further than.
Omg is this a grammar forum? 🙄
 
I too don't think it really matters but I change mine hot for the main reason I don't do it at home but at a shop on a lift, so it's hot when I'm there anyway. This is every second oil change only as I do it myself (half the nominal interval) and get it done at the dealership alternatingly. I also do flush with one or two liters of cheaper but approved oil to help the old oil drain as completely as possible.
I always do check oil when cold in my garage on level ground, and on the Mini I try to remember to remove the dipstick the evening before to let the dipstick tube drain overnight as its dipstick is a real pain to read (I place a paper town over the tube). Not an issue on my others cars.
 
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