ARGHH! Why is checking oil so difficult!

[mAdD INDIAN]

Bah! I'm checking the oil on my 240SX..and everytime I check it seems to read at different levels!

First off, here are the conditions under which I'm checking the oil.
1) Car has been parked in the garage overnight before being checked
2) Car is parked on flat level ground


So I checked it yesterday and it was a little under the 'high' marker on the dip stick. I'm worried about why it dropped cause it just got new oil (Castrol Syntec) a few days ago. I didn't put hte oil in myself but I assume it was filled up to the max. So then..I check it again today..remember the engine hasn't been on for over 10hours. So I check..and wtf? It reads lower. So I check again..clean the dipstick...put it in..take it back out..and now it reads at the high mark! SO I repeat once again..and it reads at hte high mark!

Maybe I'm making a mistake..should I read hte oil when the car has been used in the past hour or so? I was under the assumption you check oil when the car has been off for a long time.

This is driving me nuts since the mech @ costco said that the car was leaking oil...now I'm paranoid...I can't find any oil dripping..I really don't want it leaking any oil. WHen I get time I'm gonna call up our mechanic and take it to him.

So how do you guys check oil?

Also, if I just put it synethic oil for the first time in an engine with about 75k miles on it, will drink up oil for the first few thousand miles until it gets used to it? Or is that a myth?

 

[Semper Fi]

Everytime you remove the dipstick oil is smeared, it'll be a little different each time. No big deal, as long as it's reading between the hatched, cross-checked, x'd (whatever you want to call it) area it's fine.
If you don't see any oil spots on your carport then checking it once or twice a week should be good.

Of course I'm not a mechanic, so there ya go.

And they normally don't fill it to the max, just so it's showing between min and max.

EDIT: I don't even check my oil, I just get it changed every 2,000 or so miles. (about every 2-3 months.)

 

[GooberPHX420]

Ah yes, Im lucky enough to have a massive oil leak, so i never need to change my oil! just a new quart every week

 

[Rent]

I wouldn't worry if its only a small variance in level. All cars are like this (at least that i've dealt with)

Besides, the SR20DE and KA24 don't hold a ton of oil. Any small change (taking the dipstick out for instance) can alter you measurements.

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

Well the space between the LOW and HIGH is pretty small as it is..so any change in level would be noticable. If it is supposed to change, then how do you know if oil is leaking??

Goober, what car do you have and how did you know that the oil was leaking?

 

[TopGun]

If there's no puddle under where you normaly park your car there's no significant oil leak to be worried about

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

<< If there's no puddle under where you normaly park your car there's no significant oil leak to be worried about >>



hehe..i think there's more to it than that!

 

[KokomoGST]

<< mech @ costco said that the car was leaking oil... >>

Hmm, not so sure I'd trust a general mechanic at a costco...
Some cars, you're supposed to measure after the car has just been/hasn't been run for a while, because oil does expand under operating, and also, your oil doesn't neccessarily sit in the sump where the dipstick it during normal operation. It might be in a pump or in the filter or whatnot. Most car manuals will tell you when to check.

Most cars consume some oil as a matter of course... mine, ick... it used to dump oil out of the PCV tube before I installed a catch can, and now I can see how much oil I lose there... eww... and there was a ton of sludge in my intercooler piping. In fact, I think some other cars may even burn engine oil on purpose! (RX7?)

I don't think using synth for the first time will cause it to drink oil... it may put a lot more gunk/buildup into your oil filter and thus need a change quicker than usual, but that should change after a few oil changes. Hope this helps...

 

[Evadman]

bah, my truck holds 10 qts of oil, so who cares?

 

[TopGun]

<< hehe..i think there's more to it than that! >>



No there's really not. Now, if you think your car is BURNING oil, that's totaly different.

 

[JEDI]

so what if your car is eating/leaking oil.

my 93 Sentra w/200k miles has been leaking AND eating oil for the past 30k miles (1 1/2 years).

finally saw a mechanic this week when power and gas milage went down. (31mpg to 27mpg in 1 week)

Anyway, the leak is from the crankcase seal, and the engine is eating oil. thus oil is going directly into the exhaust. thus it's clogging the catalytic converter. thus the drop in power and milage. Though i don't know why all of a sudden it happened. i mean if it's slowly clogging the cat, shouldn't the milage drop slowly, like 30mpg, 29, 28, etc? instead of instantaneously go from 31mpg to 27mpg in 1 tank?

anyway, the morale of the story is don't panic. you're car isn;t going to drop dead immediately (in my case, it lasted 30k miles plus 3-9 months). So go back to the shop and ask the mechanic how he determined that you're leaking oil.

My car is eating oil