Ford Ka - Reading Oil Level

I have the same thing on my car, the dip stick goes down the middle of the oil filler tube..it's a way to save a few quid off an engine design I suppose. The best method to work around this seems to be to top it up a *little* bit every week or so.. like you are supposed to I guess. If you've overfilled it then drain some out.

Simon

If the oil does not produce a clear demarcation of its level on the dip stick, it is because the stick is not clean and dry enough that the film of oil already on the stick blurs the clear, visible fluid level. Try again but this time clean the stick really well with, say, a piece of clean, dry kitchen paper.

If this fails to resolve the problem, I suggest you drain the oil. Measure the volume. Pour that back through the filler in stages and dip stick test in between small volumes but, this time, be sure not to go over the specified capacity of the sump for your car.

I don't think it will damage the bearings and produce other ill effects with just 4 or 5 inches of oil, for that is within the range of normal, usually. On the other hand, why chance it?

Right, ok - was the engine warm or cold when you first checked it? By cold, I mean hadn't been run in several hours (or been standing overnight). And secondly - how much did you put in? The handbook should tell you how much it takes, in terms of litres, to get from the minimum to maximum marks - it may well be inscribed on the dipstick. If you put in significantly more than this then potentially you're in trouble, if only a little bit (i.e. up to 100-150ml), don't worry too much. If the engine was warm then the initial dipstick reading may well have been be unrealistically low.

Under maybe 0.25 litres and you might get away with it - close on a litre and I'd say you're asking for trouble.

By far the best way to get an accurate dipstick reading is to leave the car overnight (or as long as possible - 3-4 hours should do the trick) - the oil will then settle down in the sump and the reading will be crystal clear. Whenever I've done an oil change, I've filled it up (bit by bit) to the max mark, then run the engine for 30 seconds or so to let it circulate around the oil filter (though if the oil filter's virtually vertical then I've filled that up with oil first before screwing it on), then I've left it overnight to settle, and topped it up in the morning before using the thing.

I've also wrecked an engine for trusting the dipstick reading on a warm engine - all engines retain oil in the head to some degree when warm (I think) so the reading will always be lower than the true reading, so either assume that on a warm engine, the reading's a reasonable amount lower than it actually is, or only ever trust a dipstick reading when the engine's stone cold.

But then, some people have said that some car handbooks state that you should check the oil only when the engine's warm, so I don't know what to believe!!

My Punto's handbook does indeed state that you should check the levels when the engine is warm. Maybe the markings on the dipstick in some cars are arranged so that the max/min levels are specific to the oil level when warm?

Cold - Been standing since Sunday. I stopped when I *thought* I'd put in 500ml because I was aiming for 750ml which should take it from the bottom to near the top of the dipstick. Obviously that's not accurate which is why I was stopping to check from that point on.

I can easily do this - it won't be run 'till tomorrow morning.

Yeah, but this was intended to be the fist stage of a 'bit by bit' approach.

Manuals often mislead gue to translation. I always check oil cold.

Thanks! Hopefully will drain down by tomorrow.

Hopefully? I'd have said almost certainly, unless someone comes along in the night and turns your car on its roof :-)

That's *exactly* what I was doing.

4 or 5 inches *over* the high mark is serious. Clearly it's not that high - there was only a litre or so left in the can.

The oil will drain to the sump easy enough.

I'm bothered by oil that seems to have been dragged up the tube the dipstick lives in. If surface tension holds that lot in place I still won't be able to see the level. Cold day, thick oil. It could just stay put.

Reading all these posts gives the impression that checking the oil is akin to brain surgery or rocket science. It is not!

If you cannot work out how to check a dipstick I suggest you would be better off with a horse ;-) as you may be more animal oriented than machine oriented but just don't know it yet. It generally takes less than a litre of oil to fill from the 'low' mark to the 'full' if that helps. If you have added less than this then don't worry about it and check when warm but left on level ground for five to fifteen minutes.

Huw Huw

My Ka did exactly the same thing. If you fiddle about the the angle you put the dipstick in at, you can get a proper reading off it. I assume you know about letting the car stand a while etc.