Oil level went UP

[Run]

On my grand caravan I recently switched to full synthetic. Currently 147000 miles on it. I know my van consumes a bit of oil between changes so this is not what I expected.

Current fill is Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 with 1600 miles on it. This oil seemed to darken faster than conventional. Most notable color change happened a week ago. Coincidentally the level went up. Only thing I can think of was when I went for a long weekend drive. Did I just release a bunch of sludge?

I'm also considering headgasket problems but I haven't seen any signs of trouble yet.
No odd tailpipe smoke.
No unusual smell in the oil or coolant.
Vehicle runs good and no overheating.

 

[OVERKILL]

Does the vehicle get short tripped? Does the oil have a fuel smell to it? Could be fuel dilution.

 

[Run]

Lots of short trips during the week. Long trips on the weekend. I can't smell any fuel in the oil. At least not that my nose can pick up.

 

[spasm3]

Oil getting darker is probably it cleaning, especially if you usually run conventional. I think oil level is hard to judge unless you only check it when its sat for a few hours.

 

[i_hate_autofraud]

I check the real oil level when stone cold, ie before I start the car in the morning. If you drive and take a break even for an hour the level won't correct.

Dealers routinely overfill engines 'just enough' to get you to the next oil change, so you never realize you should top up once in a while. The markings on the dipstick allow overages by design.

Watch your levels over the next while each time checking when stone cold, it will drop eventually, oil usage but also PCV systems and crankcase venting systems suck up a significant amount of oil vapors and burns it off, make that inevidible! 2,000 miles from now it should drop a quart and into range on the dip stick.

Also found on some engines the orientation of the dipstick as inserted into the dipstick tube made a difference too! Try it and see!

 

[JC1]

How much oil did you put in the crankcase? It appears to overfilled by about 1 quart. I wouldn't worry, I'm sure your engine will use a bit of oil. Maybe the new oil is doing a bit more cleaning. Just keep an eye on it.

 

[Merkava_4]

What's happening is the dipstick tube is wiping one side of the dipstick and depositing that oil onto the other side of the dipstick; creating the illusion of rising oil.

 

[Rolla07]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
What's happening is the dipstick tube is wiping one side of the dipstick and depositing that oil onto the other side of the dipstick; creating the illusion of rising oil.


I think this is it..

To me it looks like you didnt wipe the dipstick once and reinsert and remove it again.

 

[53' Stude]

Merkava is right as I've witnessed this at work on couple cars this past week

 

[crazyoildude]

The oil is doing it's job at cleaning and as for the rising oil if its not anti freeze it could be like merk said.

 

[SatinSilver]

It's prob just cleaning. I was concerned about color after going 10k miles on some TGMO. But a UOA came out stellar with super low wear metals. Go worry about what new beer to try out next.

 

[Merkava_4]

I totally made that up and you guys think I'm right.

You guys are a victims of my imagination.

 

[crazyoildude]

On the 2016 Hyundai Santa Fe 3.3 if you check the oil you will get a correct reading but if you check it again it looks like it is more oil on one side of the dipstick.

Make up your favorite 6 numbers and PMM them to me maybe they will hit...lol

 

[edyvw]

I would dump oil and put another batch of PP 5W30.
If it is same it could be read out (maybe car leaned a bit etc).
But, if you were running conventional all those 147K, it might be the case that you had a lot of deposits that are picked up by synthetic oil. This is just speculation. Also, pay attention on leaks etc.

 

[demarpaint]

Check it first thing in the morning, parked on level ground. Pull the dipstick and read it, that will be your most accurate reading.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
I totally made that up and you guys think I'm right.

You guys are a victims of my imagination.

Lol that's exactly what I thought when I read your comment "He's so full of [censored]"

 

[Run]

I'm baffled my this phenomenon. At the same mileage I would have to top up the oil. That was on conventional. I will say the engine is the quietest on the PP.

 

[edyvw]

Originally Posted By: Run
I'm baffled my this phenomenon. At the same mileage I would have to top up the oil. That was on conventional. I will say the engine is the quietest on the PP.

Replace it since that oil picked up bunch of deposits left by conventional oil. Put half a liter to maybe 0.3 liter less and then what manufacturer recommends.
Oil level above max can cause CAT damage.

 

[LeakySeals]

The darkness using a synthetic is normal. Better cleaning, better suspension of small particles. Other oils stayed clean because the dirt sank and settled on the engine surface. Consider a higher efficiency synthetic media oil filter, not sure what you're using now.

The level.. Like others said go out and check cold.. And then hope you mistakenly overfilled somehow. Because the only thing that would make it abnormally high is a bad head gasket. Monitor coolant levels.

 

[HerrStig]

It needs a Fram Ultra. Maybe two.