gmorat

I was driving around last night and the oil gauge barely ever got out of the red. It was a relatively cold evening but dry. When the car was idling it seemed to have a cyclical loping sound which was on for a couple of cycles and then back off again every 10-15 seconds or so.

When I got home and checked the dipstick it seemed alright, oil was almost covering 3/4 of the twisted part after it had been cleaned, reinserted and then removed again.

Maybe the oil gauge is making me paranoid about the engine idle? Why is it so off? It used to read in the middle when the car was stopped and the oil level on the dipstick wasn't much different. Does the gauge work on a sliding scale from mm to liters? It's hard to get my head around. Thinking of bringing it into my shop to get them to verify that its not going to blow up and to demonstrate what exactly I should be hearing and looking for when checking the oil.

There are no warning lights.

Thoughts?

Gmorat

Quadcammer

don't be paranoid. if the stick has oil on it, then you're fine.

if the gauge moves at all, you're fine.

crg53

I like to keep the oil level half way between the two notches on the dipstick, that correlates to 3 o'clock on my oil gauge when engine is at 194 degrees. If your oil is only in the twisted area on the dipstick, you are below the bottom notch. I would add a bit of oil.

Allen

First thing...relax...as Quad said, if you have oil on the dipstick...your engine is happy. But if you want to "resolve" the dipstick/gauge issue...which most of us do, then do this.

Decide where on the dipstick you "want" the level to be. This will be a personal preference since the engine doesn't care whether it's 3/4 or 1/4 in the curved part of the stick. Once you get the stick level where you want it...note the level on the gauge. Now...if the dipstick level goes down...the gauge will go down...if the dipstick level goes up...the gauge will go up. So you can now just use the gauge to monitor the oil level.

On my car...I find that when my dipstick reads about 3/4 on the curved part...my gauge reads about 3:00...or halfway. So if my gauge gets down to the red mark...I add about 1/2 quart to get the gauge back to halfway.

Lots of words....but this question has come up a lot lately, so I hope this helps.

gr1275

I don't pay too much attention to the level gauge while driving. It seldom seems to ever get out of the red. However, as others have mentioned, when the level on the stick is at its mid point, the guage is normally at 3o'clock. I always check it when parked in the garage at idle when I return from every drive.

Gary

gmorat

Here is my dipstick and the gauge positions as a point of reference.

gmorat

Sorry about the huge pictures.......

Here is my dipstick and the gauge positions as a point of reference.

gmorat

Starting the car up in the morning......34 degrees and dry.



Engine idle on first startup.



Gauge positions after a decent drive.



Engine idle after a decent drive. There seems to be a cyclical lumpiness that happens every 10 seconds or so and lasts for 10 seconds before turning off again.



Thanks for your opinions.

Gmorat

gmorat

Sorry, YouTube links aren't working for me. Here are direct links to the corresponding videos.

Starting the car up in the morning......34 degrees and dry.


Engine idle on first startup. No cyclical lumpiness.


Gauge positions after a decent drive.


Engine idle after a decent drive. There seems to be a cyclical lumpiness that happens every 10 seconds or so and lasts for 10 seconds before turning off again.


Sorry about the tech issues.

G

gmorat

On the long video of the car idling the video starts with the car idling lump idly and then smooths out the 10-11 second mark only to become lumpy again at the 27 second mark. By the 40 second mark it has evened out again.

BesideTheBox

Hi G,
Define 'decent drive'.
In cooler temps, you may need to drive a solid half hour with RPMs around 3K for the engine oil to reach the temperature at which the thermostat opens. You will know that the thermostat opens when you see the oil temp reach somewhere around the first white mark above the two white marks at the bottom and then the oil temp will drop rather quickly to somewhere between the three white marks. Then drive another 10 to 15 minutes to make sure everything is warmed up well.
You are checking the oil level correctly.
Your oil level and indicator gauge are what I would consider acceptable.
Now about the idle.... Can you make sure the car is warmed up again and set the video two feet behind the center of the back of the car and record 45 seconds or so and post?
BesideTheBox

gmorat

Car was started from cold, driven for 30 mins at around 4-5k rpm and then parked in my garage to record the videos.

gmorat

[QUOTE="Can you make sure the car is warmed up again and set the video two feet behind the center of the back of the car and record 45 seconds or so and post? BesideTheBox[/QUOTE]

Will do! I may be later today or tomorrow morning but I will post it as soon as I can.

darkens

what little i can hear it sound a little like the fly wheel I have on my car.. . If you have a different flywheel on the car it may be that...but im really nit picking...

Chad

BesideTheBox

Sounds like your engine was warmed up (30 min). Of course, a longer drive is always better...
What I have done in the past is taped my iphone to a cardboard box to get it at exhaust tip height and set it 2 or 3 feet behind the car.