Where do you keep the oil level on your dipstick?
- Thread starter Soft Cars
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I would be cautious running over full. Depending on actual crankcase capacity over filled oil can get aerated by the crank and run hotter oil temps. I’d rather be half quart under than half quart over. On our old circle track cars running half quart lower than pan capacity dropped oil temps as much as 40 degrees.
For me on street vehicles if it’s between the lines I don’t worry but if it’s close to add I usually will if it’s convenient.
For me on street vehicles if it’s between the lines I don’t worry but if it’s close to add I usually will if it’s convenient.
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There or above. I never have to add oil so after a OC is where is stays through the whole OC and prefer it at 90% to a touch above full mark at all times...
There or above. I never have to add oil so after a OC is where is stays through the whole OC and prefer it at 90% to a touch above full mark at all times...
At oil change I fill to the full line. If during the OCI the level drops to half way between the full/add I refill with a half quart. All of my engines are lower capacity so I've never liked letting them get too low. When I do an O/F change on the '16 Nissan Versa I refill with 3.2 quarts and it isn't uncommon for it show slightly overfilled. All the other cars have a capacity of 4 quarts so I figure if I let them get a full quart down I'm running no more than 75% of full capacity.
BlueOvalFitter
Site Donor 2023
The factory owners manual states that my 2007 F150, 4.2 V6, holds 6 qts. of oil with filter. This is the 3rd F150 with the 4.2 V6 that l have owned.
With 6 qts. of oil the dipstick reads half way on the cross hatch section. I NEVER have added more oil to reach the top of the cross hatch section.
With 6 qts. of oil the dipstick reads half way on the cross hatch section. I NEVER have added more oil to reach the top of the cross hatch section.
So , after three pages of " This is what I do .." , what did you decide ?
Depends. In theory, anything between min and max should be fine.
The Saab H engines I had drank no oil when driven sensibly - only when feeding them lots of rpm and boost for extended periods of time would they burn oil (read Berlin-Munich 4 hours door to door). The one time I caught my B202L drinking oil in "normal" operation it turned out to have burnt a ring (we later found that the ECU was faulty and would not enrich under boost). After the rebuilt, that engine returned to not drinking oil. I once did a 20.000km OCI (for science!
) with no fill-up, and the movement on the dipstick equated to roughly 0.5 litres. (No short tripping, no fuel in oil as per UOA, so no hidden consumption masked by oil dilution).
Still, I religiously checked the dipstick (and all other fluids) at least every second fill-up, and before each long-distance-trip. (This practice was, after all, what allowed me to catch the issue before something went catastrophically wrong).
The B205 in the 9-5 drank oil - 1 - 1.5 litre per 10.000km. B205 and B235 are infamopus for this - Low-tension rings and dubious PCV system probably at fault.
The Opel v6 (C25XE/X30XE basically the same engine - 54° GM v6 with 2.5 and 3 Litres displacement) in my old 9000 Griffin and in the wife's 900 NG both drank/drink a bit more. They always need some top-off oil during an oil-change interval (15.000km) - how much depends on the driving. Usually I get by with one to 1.5 litres.
I like to keep the wife's v6 at least over the halfway mark between min and max, to ensure a margin of safety. She would not check oil on her own... and she likes to gun it on the Autobahn.
For the two new cars I do not have a expected values yet (not enough km driven under our ownership). The Alfa checks oil level electronically upon each startup. I've found the dashboard display and the dipstick to correlate enough that I might some day in the future decide to trust it.
The BMW will warn you when oil is approaching min levels. So far it has not triggered this warning yet. As of now, I don't trust this (yet) and keep checking oil on the dipstick with every second fill-up or so. Oil level has not moved in the 200km since the last oil change, which surprised me a bit. Perhaps we got lucky and got one of the few M54B30 without ring problems (knocking on wood). Fuel dilution masking consumption can be practically ruled out, as this car is fitted with a LPG system and is running on petrol only during start up and when WOT.
The Saab H engines I had drank no oil when driven sensibly - only when feeding them lots of rpm and boost for extended periods of time would they burn oil (read Berlin-Munich 4 hours door to door). The one time I caught my B202L drinking oil in "normal" operation it turned out to have burnt a ring (we later found that the ECU was faulty and would not enrich under boost). After the rebuilt, that engine returned to not drinking oil. I once did a 20.000km OCI (for science!
) with no fill-up, and the movement on the dipstick equated to roughly 0.5 litres. (No short tripping, no fuel in oil as per UOA, so no hidden consumption masked by oil dilution).Still, I religiously checked the dipstick (and all other fluids) at least every second fill-up, and before each long-distance-trip. (This practice was, after all, what allowed me to catch the issue before something went catastrophically wrong).
The B205 in the 9-5 drank oil - 1 - 1.5 litre per 10.000km. B205 and B235 are infamopus for this - Low-tension rings and dubious PCV system probably at fault.
The Opel v6 (C25XE/X30XE basically the same engine - 54° GM v6 with 2.5 and 3 Litres displacement) in my old 9000 Griffin and in the wife's 900 NG both drank/drink a bit more. They always need some top-off oil during an oil-change interval (15.000km) - how much depends on the driving. Usually I get by with one to 1.5 litres.
I like to keep the wife's v6 at least over the halfway mark between min and max, to ensure a margin of safety. She would not check oil on her own... and she likes to gun it on the Autobahn.
For the two new cars I do not have a expected values yet (not enough km driven under our ownership). The Alfa checks oil level electronically upon each startup. I've found the dashboard display and the dipstick to correlate enough that I might some day in the future decide to trust it.
The BMW will warn you when oil is approaching min levels. So far it has not triggered this warning yet. As of now, I don't trust this (yet) and keep checking oil on the dipstick with every second fill-up or so. Oil level has not moved in the 200km since the last oil change, which surprised me a bit. Perhaps we got lucky and got one of the few M54B30 without ring problems (knocking on wood). Fuel dilution masking consumption can be practically ruled out, as this car is fitted with a LPG system and is running on petrol only during start up and when WOT.
Between the marks. If it uses oil, I might try to time it so that it is a quart low at OCI time--why add if I'm just going to throw away?
I prefer it closer to the full mark, but I don't track my car, TBH mine would be fine as long as there is oil on the dipstick, let alone above the min mark.
I prefer it closer to the full mark, but I don't track my car, TBH mine would be fine as long as there is oil on the dipstick, let alone above the min mark.
14Accent said above, "I'm a bad bad man... I keep the level......half a quart low. Sometimes, 2 quarts."
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's not a good practice.
To the OP: Don't use 14Accent's method.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's not a good practice.
To the OP: Don't use 14Accent's method.
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Usually on the full mark. Right at the top of the hash marks.
My car calls for 3.8 quarts, I pour in 4 quarts plus whatever is left in the engine so I’m always a little over the Full mark. And so far it stays at that level for the entire OCI.
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Being as Kia engines are so finicky I put 4.5 quarts in - the spec is 4.25. Oil lines up a little over full. Doesn’t use oil (yet) so no adding over the 3750 mile change interval.
My wife’s Suburban uses about a half to a quart between oil changes (7,500 miles). I check it monthly and top up when it gets low-ish. Not enough samples yet but it seems to use less if I keep between the add and full vs keeping at the full mark.
My Raptor doesn’t use any oil between changes (5,000) and I check it monthly.
The Corvette doesn’t use much if any but only goes ~2,000 miles between changes.
My Raptor doesn’t use any oil between changes (5,000) and I check it monthly.
The Corvette doesn’t use much if any but only goes ~2,000 miles between changes.
Always full to monitor leaks and consumption. Minor benefit is higher oil level in the pan for the oil pickup as well.
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