Proper oil level checking

In the example I used, the tractor is parked outside in the yard.

It was a concise way to point out you do not follow your own advice. ;-)

If you were paying attention I said it was a tractor that I used in the example, not a small vehicle. It is a legal requirement that commercial vehicles have a Pre-Trip Inspection and Post-Trip Inspection performed on them every day. Are you up to speed now, or do you require the service of a tow truck?

Look back to the post where you first responded to my posts. No tractor, just lousy advice.

You're obviously having a blonde moment.

"Cameo" wrote in news:h88t21$ea6$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal- september.org:

It's frightening that somebody so ignorant would be working on your car. I've had more experiences with such individuals than I care to remember.

He's obviously so ignorant, uninquisitive and incurious that he's never bothered to do any sort of experimentation for himself, or to make any other attempt at (dis)proving his own theories. That's scary. And distressingly common. And part of the reason auto mechanics have such a lousy reputation in general.

At least the guy would read forums such as this one ... I find it invaluable.

I used in the

Hey, I thought this was an Accord group. Does Honda make an Accord tractor now?

What if the manufacturer designed the lines on the dipstick for readings with the engine warm and shut off for a few minutes? Given how the owner's manuals speak of checking the level at every fillup, it makes sense that the dipstick lines would be so designed.

If that was the case, it would be impossible to get the correct level after an oil change 'cos it goes in cold and straight to the bottom.

wha??? like it says in the owner's manual you mean???

wow!!!

indeed.

this is an unbelievably retarded thread. just read the freakin' manual

- something that seems incredibly hard for some people to do. but because i'm an anal pedant, i'll quote exactly what it says in mine:

"engine oil and filter

checking

check the engine oil a couple of minutes after shutting the engine off, with the car parked on level ground. remove the dipstick and wipe it clean. re-insert it all the way down, then pull it out and read the level. the level should be between the upper and lower marks."

nothing about "waiting for all the oil to run down" [ha ha freakin' ha] or "thermal expansion" or even "keep it at the top mark".

so, next time you're in the gas station, after you've filled up, take advantage of the fact that you're on level ground and have been standing with the engine off for a couple of minutes, and the free wipes, to check the freakin' oil. even a retard can do it.

I suggest you test that method out first. As I said in an earlier post, after my CRV had been standing for over 15 minutes after only a short run of the engine, the reading was midway between min and max. Checked cold the next morning, before running, the level was a shade above max. I don't care what the handbook says, that is my personal experience and, had I topped up when getting the first reading, the vehicle would have been overfilled. Try it yourself and see.

1. i have - there's no significant change.
2. honda know more than you. thus if it says "check the engine oil a couple of minutes after shutting the engine off, with the car parked on level ground", that /doesn't/ mean "second-guess with a head full of superstitious bullshit".

read the owner's manual keith. it was written for people just like you.

I've been driving for 45 years and have yet to encounter a car with a dipstick calibrated in that way. It sounds like it might make sense the way you say it, but think about it a little deeper - To come up with a dependable "warm & after a few minutes" calibration, you have to be able to reliably define the temperature of the engine, the weight and condition of the oil and exactly how long a "few minutes" actually is. The only reasonable calibration for the dipstick is the level in the pan when fully drained down.

I was taught (and several different owners manuals actually stated) that the way you check the oil when you fillup is to do it last, after everything else is completed, which means the engine has been off for about ten minutes.

I think the current Nissans have a clearer instruction about checking the oil "wait at least 10 minutes after shutting down the engine before checking".

You are partly right, it goes in cold, but hardly straight to the bottom. It goes in on top of the valve train and has to work its way to the bottom just like after running the engine. Add to that the fact that you are supposed to run the engine a little bit after changing the oil to fill the filter and to check for leaks, you still have to wait for it to drain down in order to get a good reading.

where do you think oil "hides" after you pour it in then? have you ever seen the drains in a cylinder head? what size are they?

Like Jim B emphasized, the owner's manual also covers how to check the oil after an oil change. My 1993 Civic manual says, in the oil change section, "Let the engine run for several minutes and check [for leaks]. Turn off the engine, let it sit for several minutes, then check the oil level."

Unless you are in the car manufacturing business, how would you know whether dipsticks are calibrated for oil warm and engine having been run recently for several minutes, or for engine having sat overnight?

The dipstick reading X with the car having run several minutes and then stopped for several minutes, then reading something different after sitting all night means nothing. Designers could calibrate for either. They choose warm, after sitting stopped for a few minutes, for convenience, e.g. the driver has stopped at a filling station.

Some of you seem to think the specific volume of oil changes a lot from normal engine operating temperatures to cold start in the morning. I do not. Most of the volume change one sees from normal engine operating temperatures to cold engine in the morning is simply oil dripping down to the pan. Nor do I think there are meaningful specific volume differences due to temperature for any given weight or condition (assuming normal oil change frequencies) of oil.

Is that a metric or imperial "several"?

But if the oil was mid-way between min and max, why would you top it off? Midway between those 2 levels is perfect.

I still with what the handbook says. It was written by people who know a hell of a lot more than me or anonymous Internet posters about how the car was designed and under what conditions those marks were calibrated for.

good one!