Question About Oil Volume.

[Cristobal]

In a six cylinder engine like mine, when it is running and warmed up, in theory the galleries should be full, and there needs to be enough in the sump for the oil pump to operate.

How much oil do you think is on the walls, the other moving parts, and draining down from the heads? By volume?

I reckon maybe 1/3 of a quart.

Your thoughts?

 

[zach1900]

Originally Posted By: Cristobal
In a six cylinder engine like mine, when it is running and warmed up, in theory the galleries should be full, and there needs to be enough in the sump for the oil pump to operate.

How much oil do you think is on the walls, the other moving parts, and draining down from the heads? By volume?

I reckon maybe 1/3 of a quart.

Your thoughts?
I'd say more like "a" quart. Why?

 

[Charlie1935]

It's according to the thickness of the oil and RPM of the motor.

 

[Cristobal]

I just wondered about it. It is likely one of the reasons why a small overfill of the sump usually causes no harm to most cars.

 

[riggaz]

It depends on engine size and design, some engines have oil coolers which hold oil obviously, some cams run in a bath of oil and some don't etc.

The head will drain to certain extent depending on design, oil pump, oil filter, bottom end oil galleries stay primed due to the anti drain design of the sump, pump and filter.

There are too many variables to have a definitive answer for all engines

It will tell you in the owners manual what the capacity is so next time you do an oil change just measure what you get back in vs what comes out, should be very small if you leave it to drain long enough.

Oil drain off is the reason you get the engine hot before you drop the oil out, hotter thinner oil drains off the engine internals better/faster so you get more used oil out.