Re: engine oil capacity for late model SOHC 4.6 in Stang GT
My Chilton's manual says 5 quarts, and the Ford owner's manual says 6 quarts. I've learned in the past to never trust any printed capacity specs... they're never accurate anyway. So... can anyone tell me... how much oil do you need to put back into the engine after draining the oil and changing the oil filter? I'm in the process of doing my very first oil change on a Stang... I don't want to overfill it, but I'd like to get as close to full as possible before starting it up. Thanks.
5.7 litres will put it in the middle of the operating range...... here's a flash..... put in 5 quarts, run it and then check the level.... adjust it to read to the full mark if your anal, adjust it to read in the operating range if your not.
Word to the wise..... never, ever, ever just dump the oil into the motor and go..... check the stick before you fire it and again after it has run for a few minutes. In 30+ years, this method has never let me down....
The owners manual for my 99 said 5 quarts. And 5 quarts puts it to the FULL line on the dipstick. The dealer insists that it's supposed to be 6 quarts and that's what they put in. It doesn't seem to matter whether it's 5 or 6 as far as either of them causing any problems. When I change it myself I just put 5 quarts in. I suspect that the real capacity is 5.5 quarts/5 Liters.
----------------- Jim '88 LX 5.0 (now in car heaven) '89 LX 5.0 vert '99 GT 35th Anniversery Edition - Silver Mods to date - Relocated trunk release to drivers side, shortened throttle cable.
Ok. I was concerned though because in my 2003 owners manual, it says in big letters something like: "do not add oil past the full mark or serious engine damage could result.... if oil is above mark, have some oil removed by a qualified technician". Seems that Ford definitely does not want you to overfill that crankcase at all. I already put 4.5 quarts in the engine, and my plan was to fire it up tomorrow, drive around and warm up the engine, then shut it down and wait an hour or so, then check the level and correct. However, when I saw that the owner's manual said "6 quarts", I started thinking that 4.5 might be a bit low to go driving around on... but then I did not want to put any more oil in just in case the true capacity was really 5 quarts and not 6.... which is why I came here for an answer. On all my vehicles, I have figured out the exact amount of oil to add after an oil change in order to get the level up to the "full" mark on the stick, when using a stock oil filter... in almost all cases, the actual amount that needs to be added is up to 1/2 quart off what the official manuals state.
Through the years, Ford has back and forth from 5 to 6 quarts. My '96 engine took 6 per the manual. My '02 engine (still in the '96 car) has an identical oil pan and dipstick tube, but a different length dipstick so it would take less than 6 quarts. I think the '02s take 5 quarts per their manuals. Makes no sense. I think Ford just put in whatever they had laying around. Put in what you want...6 won't be too much and 5 won't be too little.
Well, I'd sort of suggest letting the dealer do the first oil change or two, just in case they catch any issues with your brand new car. It's worth $30 and I'm told they even use semi-synthetic as a matter of course.
Since it's too late for that, here's a pretty good way to add the right amount of oil.
Take the book spec and round it down to the next lowest quart, like 4.5 q becomes 4q. Add 4q. Wait a few minutes, start the motor, run it for 30 seconds or so, then kill it. Wait a minute, then check the oil, usually it'll be on the dipstick and you can figure from there.
In your case, I'd pour 4 or 5 quarts, run the motor (it won't be low enough to damage it in any case) and check the dipstick.
By the way, my cars have been pretty close to factory spec on the oil fill.
I'll second that, my dads '99 and my '97 have the same oil pan. His first oil change he asked me how many quarts, I said 6. He put in six. Later we found out the '99 manual said 5. Never hurt the car. I checked the oil pan, same one. Maybe it's ford trying to save money, I dunno. So long as the crank doesn't dip into the oil in the pan an engine will be fine and so long as there is enough oil to maintain pressure and take away heat it will be fine.
Seems as though Ford Techs don't even know. I just had an interesting situation. I took my 03 gt vert in for it's 6k service which was tire rotation and an oil change. Assuming (stupid me) that the techs new what they were doing, I did not check the oil before I drove off.
2 week and about 600 miles pass, I'm at my gas station and I ask them to check the oil. My baby is down 2 quarts!! I check the invoice that I got from the dealer and it indicated that they had put in 6Qts. So I go racing back to the dealer (After putting in 2qts) and demand an explaination. Well, they could not give me one as to where the oil went.
Anyway what I got out of all this is that the capacity is 6 quarts, however Ford recomends that the engine not be fille up to the full line. They recoment that the oil be filled between 1/2 - 3/4 of the way between the fill mark and the add quart mark.
'96 was the last (and maybe first?) year for the oil level switch. It was a PITA, as far as I'm concerned. If the car was parked nose down it would sometimes come on. When I put the new engine in, the pan didn't have the hole for the level switch so I cut the sensor off the end of the harness. No probs now.
Why make a simple thing so difficult? Add 5 qts and see where it is BEFORE starting the motor. If it is at the "Full" mark start the motor, if not add a half-qt at a time until it reads full and then start the motor.
"Full" to "Low" on the dip stick is more than a qt, and the filter is approx.
2/3rds qt so after you stop the motor add 1/2 qt to bring it to "Full". Then count the empty containers and remember how many qt s it took for next time.
On 2002GT in the family, they take 6-1/4 qts (incl. filter) to bring it to "Full". The 2002 V6 takes only 5-/2qts.
With my only dealer experience oil change, he fired in 5-shots from the hose and never checked the dip stick! He was either too dumb or a really intelligent oil-monkey because the level was spot-on as it happened!
Why trust a dipstick? They aren't exactly accurate measurements. I trust what I put in and then knowing what I've put in I learn what a given reading on the dipstick means.
All good points. Well, I almost always check my oil in the same location (in my garage which has a nice flat concrete floor), with the engine "cold". This gives me a consistent baseline for comparing readings.
With my old GM cars, the book always said "add 4 quarts plus one for the filter", but if you were to do this, the level would always be way above the FULL mark... so this made me believe that their recommendation of "5 quarts" was inaccurate and just merely a nice round number, and I simply followed the dipstick itself instead. I discovered that most of the cars took about
4.5 quarts or so to get the level exactly at the FULL mark, and that's how I always ran them. So when I saw the "6 quarts" in the Ford manual, I figured that, like GM, Ford was probably just giving us a nice round number to follow, but in fact following this specification may cause "overfilling", and maybe the engine really takes just 5.5 quarts to get the level to the FULL line. I guess the issue here is whether or not to follow what the manual says or what the dipstick says. Hmmm... I guess it does make sense to follow the manual, but... it gets a bit chaotic when what the manual says does not match the dipstick. Of course, as you pointed out, you can "recalibrate" the dipstick by putting exactly 6 quarts in the engine, and then check the dipstick with the vehicle in a dead flat location etc, and note where the level is on the stick... then you know where "6 quarts" is on the stick. But... I know if I put in 6 quarts and the level is way above the FULL mark on my stick, I am not going to be happy, especially since it says in the manual "do not overfill or serious engine damage will result!" however, I will note that so far I have put in a little over 5 quarts and the level is near the bottom of the crosshatch area of the stick... so it looks as though 6 quarts may indeed fit just fine without going past the FULL mark. I will add more oil tomorrow and see how it goes. Finally I just want to arrive on a specific capacity figure so I know how much to add at each oil change. Perhaps it will be 5.7 quarts... or maybe 6.1 quarts... or whatever.... just want to get that straight.
Yes, well I take this to mean that Ford specifically changed the recommended oil level from `96 to `02 for some reason, and this difference is not due to an "inaccuracy" with the sticks. That's my take on it anyway.
4.5 quarts is a common capacity, must be a GM thing.
With Fords I have always followed the manual and the oil level on the dipstick is usually at the full mark or a bit over. 6 quarts on my '97 covers almost the entire weight at the end of the cable, filling the stamped 'full' mark. It's linearly 1 quart from one end of the weight to other. 5 quarts reads dry, 5.5 is in the middle and six a bit above full, right into the samped mark.
That would concern me as well. But I know my dad has complained about the dipstick in the '99 not reading well.
Considering ford has recommended 5 or 6 quarts I feel anything inbetween is ok. Honestly I've gotten a little more lazy checking the oil level because of this floating spec. It would need to be 2 quarts low just to be a quart low on the 5 spec. If your manual says 6 quarts and little over 5 is just barely showing, then 6 will likely be full. Just add a 1/4 quart at a time... That's what I did with the first oil change so I would know how the stick was reading.
Or is it because the dipstick tube is a different length?
Ideal oil level in a motor is a combination of circumstances.... During high RPM operation, oil will tend to gather in the valve area (since more will be pumped up there) as well as 'globbing' around the crankshaft... an effect of the vortex as the crank spins in the air in the confined space of the crankcase. Additionally, there is a very real need to avoid having the crank and rods hitting the surface of the oil in the sump (remember how you feel after a belly-flop 'dive'??).
As long as the oil is above the add yet below the full marks, there is no real problem. That anyone could close a hood without checking the dipstick (which is, BTW, the only accurate method you have of measuring the oil level (ever heard of a misprint in the manual??)in the motor).
Taped to the side of my toolchest is a Ford list outlining capacities and oil grade. The 4.6 Mustang is shown as having a capacity or 5.7 litres...... Using my graduated measuring container, a smidge over 5.5 litres puts the dipstick reading roughly at "half mast" - 6 litres wil yield a very slight overfill.... While teses are numbers you can take to the bank, there is still no reason to avoid dipping the level before the car is started (yes, I have seen forgotten drainplugs) and again after the leak check....... we do check to make sure the filter isn't leaking, right????
Nope. Like my original post said, the dipstick tubes are identical.
litres......
Which dipstick? I'll take a picture of the two dipsticks side by side tonight and post the link. They differ by a couple of inches. The tubes are the same. The pans are the same. The ONLY thing different is the dipstick, so you would need to do your above test for every car, separate by model year, or measure dipsticks before filling to know which reference point you're using. I'm not trying to be obstinate here. I'm just pointing out that Ford was inconsistent with the dipsticks they put in these engines.
Too much oil is not good either. When there is too much oil in the engie, it might start foaming. This is bad. I don't know how sensitive the 4.6 is, but I would first add 5 quarts, start it until there is oil pressure, switch the engine off, Wait for 10 minutes, then check the dipstick and fill it until it reaches the full mark. Then remember how much oil you put in it total for the next time.
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