I've been watching my 95 C4's oil consumption lately. While keeping my eye on the oil level gauge, I've noticed that, when warmed up, the level will read dead empty at low RPMs until the front oil cooler opens up fully, at which point, the gauge will remain near the bottom but come up to about halfway at true idle. This is the level I associate with the half-way mark on the dipstick.

My question: It's getting cooler here in Boston, and as we enter the fall and then the winter, it's a fairly safe bet that the cooler is going to be shut most, if not all, of the time. There's got to be at least a quart or two of oil in that thing. Do you guys top off a little extra during the cold season, or is it irrelevant? According to the gauge, there is a difference in the tank.

BTW, my car seems to use a quart every 1500 miles or so. Mobil 1.

Vic
95 C4

 

Hmmm maybe I don't understand this system. Regardless if the oil cooler is "open" or not you figure the volume of oil in the system should be the same...its not like those lines and the cooler are empty and they get filled up later. So why would the oil level go down if the cooler is active or inactive? So the oil level should remain the same. However, I can see variance in the oil level depending on the temp of the oil...that can certainly make it swing a lot.

In Boston in the fall/winter how warm does your engine get under normal use? Medium? Cool? If its significantly different than summer then the oil level will be different.

My gauge only starts to work when the oil tank is half full...and since I keep it 1/3 to 1/2 to allow if I really get the engine hot the oil guage is mostly indicating empty anyways...but I used the dipstick to check and its always 1/3.

There is lots of oil in this system...I would not worry about it while you can still see oil on the dipstick.

 

Vic,

Measure your oil when the oil is hot - really hot, and the car is level - really level. Also 1qt/1500 miles is reasonable consumption.

Later...