Confusing readings on my dipstick....

Iceweasel

If I check the oil-level on the dip-stick cold it's shows halfway between the min and max mark.

When I check it with the engine hot - after waiting a couple of minutes - it shows bang on the max mark.

No idea why as it goes against what I used to think was the way to do things, and seems illogical to me.

red_eye

torbrex wrote: »

To start with the engine should be hot.

dont matter, the diffrence between hot and cold is so small. besides what do you do when you change the oil? put oil in run it up to temp...oh shhhh I didt put enough/ or too much in:eek:

red_eye

Iceweasel wrote: »

If I check the oil-level on the dip-stick cold it's shows halfway between the min and max mark.

When I check it with the engine hot - after waiting a couple of minutes - it shows bang on the max mark.

No idea why as it goes against what I used to think was the way to do things, and seems illogical to me.

what car???

keith1950

It's best to read the dipstick around 15 minutes after switching off the engine.

A car may hold say 5 litres of oil but from the min-max reading in the dipstick is usually only about 1 litre.

If you are reading it at least once a week you will learn how much it uses.

Some cars can use a litre every couple of thousand miles, my current car doesn't need topping up from one service until the next.

I think you are worrying too much and if the level is somewhere around the mid point after resting 15 minutes you'll be ok.

benje302

Some cars are read from cold and some about 10 mins after you have used them.

My 206 owners manual says take the reading went the engine is cold.

Iceweasel

red_eye wrote: »

what car???

It's a BMW 320d with the N47 engine.

I would reckon that almost every car nowadays has a 1 litre difference between min and max on the dipstick.

Spicy_McHaggis

benje302 wrote: »

Some cars are read from cold and some about 10 mins after you have used them.

My 206 owners manual says take the reading went the engine is cold.

That's because they won't guarentee it to run for 10 minutes.

keith1950

I don't think it makes that much difference as long as you check it regularly.

The point about checking when the engine is warm is that the oil will be runnier and a few minutes rest then gives it time to drain back down to a decent level.

Think about it as the difference between trying to find the level with a glass of treacle and then with glass of water.

facade

Oil expands a little when it gets hot: about 50cc extra per litre if the oil heats up by 70 degrees C.

So with around 4 litres in the sump, you'd see an extra 200cc on the stick hot compared to cold, enough to notice definitely.

agrinnall

To settle all of the debate about whether to check hot or cold, this is from the 2010-2011 207 Owner's Manual:

[FONT=&quot]Oil level [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The reading will only be correct [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]if the vehicle is on level ground [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]and the engine has been off for [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]more than 15 minutes. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The check is carried out either when [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]the ignition is switched on using the oil [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]level indicator on the instrument panel, [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]or using the dipstick. [/FONT]

http://public.servicebox.peugeot.com/ddb/