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Just had oil change and had to bring back after level was at top of the display, in cold weather. After letting out 0.5 qt and then my driving a bit I checked and the display was entirely white. Never seen that.
What is it? I assume it will correct after I drive it longer next time, but as I say I have never seen an all white indicator of level.
Does it look like this or is oil over the full mark?
This is from my oil change a few weekends ago.
I take a reading of the oil level before my oil change (in my case it’s always full because my car doesn’t seem to consume oil between changes).
This time I did an overnight drain since it was still dripping pretty good after an hour.
I always measure the oil in a container and put that amount back in, plus I can throw a lid on the container and head to the auto parts store to recycle.
Last edited by ATX_Native; 01-24-2023 at 02:23 PM.
What ATX_Native does ... measure before to see if you are low or high. Measure what comes out. Adjust for pre-drain reading and put that amount back in. Ideally you only have two full bars lit. But oil changes at a dealer get done by the last hired guy and they rush him so the lift gets opened up for the next customer. I would never expect a proper oil change from a dealer.
Never run overfilled. This condition can foam the oil and wreak havoc on the AOS.
Last edited by Wayne Smith; 01-24-2023 at 02:52 PM.
Seems like it is not OVERFILLED, just at the "top of the dipstick". I run mine like that but I know some people always shoot for the middle of the range. I would think running at the top is fine and would provide less oil starvation under prolonged hard cornering as well as stay cleaner longer. Cons running oil at the top could lead to it getting into the PCV/AOS and other components.
1/2 a qt is not terrible but 1-2 qts overfill may lead to foaming oil. Of course, some people run 1.5 qts EXTRA on track days to avoid starvation (old bimmers I think)
Source: I am not an oil expert but I do like the research and science behind it.
No, it is not overfilled, and certainly not now after I brought it back to take out 0.5 qt. Wrench says there is a sensor in the oil pan and perhaps that is in error. Is it possible it became "in error" just after they took out the 1/2 qt? It worked fine before that although at very top of the readout level. I sent wrench the pix but welcome what you guys or others have to say. Coincidence is strange.
I attach pix of the "white" readout. Again, before the removal of 1/2 qt. the readout was working albeit it showed full to top of the display (not where it should be which is a bit below that).
Hopefully the sensor can be cleaned?
Charlie
I would have them take more oil out so that the car displays an acceptable oil level, which it does not at the moment. If they balk take a quart out your self and check again. The reading must not be overfilled unless you are certain about the amount of oil in there and know that it is only over filled by a tiny amount. I don't see how you can know that right now, so safety first.
Only way to know what’s occurring is drain oil, measure it, and fill with proper amount. Then run car and measure. You’ll then know if gauge working correctly. Remember to account for oil filter when calculating re-fill. Doing anything else is crap shoot. I’ll leave it to experts on re-fill amt, i only do oil/filter so no expert on qty w/o it.
On the .1 cars you can remove the filter and empty it to remove some oil in a controllable fashion. The .2 cars are much more difficult.
Oil expands when hot. With as much oil as is stored in the pan and galleys we could get up to an extra quart when hot. This is enough to cause AOS problems in the .1 cars. AOS failure in the .2 generation is rare.
You really don't want the gauge to read full. Hooked on Driving actually has instructions to underfill as a part of track preparation.
If you're worried about oil starvation when cornering look for solutions that don't involve adding oil (deep oil pan with baffles for instance).
Last edited by Wayne Smith; 01-24-2023 at 10:22 PM.
I just did mine myself after draining for an hour. I put 7.5 quarts in after not recording the drained amount. That got me to one bar below the mid range. Rarely do we hear oil reading sensors going bad. It just doesn't seem to happen much. I bet its over filled. Pull out 2L quarts and put 1.5 of them back in and take note. every .4L is one level in the display.
If your car is a .1 the only reading that matters is the first one in the morning before you start the car for the first time. Don't bother checking it after it's been driven even after the countdown completes - it's just not accurate once it has been driven. Some cars read low and others high and why the check before the first start is the only valid one.
.2 cars have to be checked warm so different protocol.
Both my 997s take a specific amount of oil when refilling so no need to measure it. I don't care if 9 or 9.25 quarts oe whatever comes out of my car with the deep sump as it takes exactly 10 quarts diringnsn oil change to get it to the top arrow. Wife's car is the same but it takes 8 or 8.5 (have it written in the garage).
I get it about desired oil level. My issue now is the oil sender - which is in the oil tank I am told- has stopped working. It may have been due to the wrench taking out 0.5 qt (which I asked him to do after he put in too much oil) and possibly the extraction process bumped the sender or broke it. Anyone have pix of the sender in a diagram and comment on whether the wrench caused the problem I now have? It worked perfectly for years without sending any code and only caused what I show in the pix I took after his extraction.
Thanks.
Charlie
I get it about desired oil level. My issue now is the oil sender - which is in the oil tank I am told- has stopped working. It may have been due to the wrench taking out 0.5 qt (which I asked him to do after he put in too much oil) and possibly the extraction process bumped the sender or broke it. Anyone have pix of the sender in a diagram and comment on whether the wrench caused the problem I now have? It worked perfectly for years without sending any code and only caused what I show in the pix I took after his extraction.
Thanks.
Charlie
It's a long inductive tube. He didn't mess it up removing 0.5 qt per your request from the drain plug or from the fill tube. I'd check the electrical connector on the top of the sensor. That sensor is not easily replaceable with the engine in the car.
01-24-2023, 02:08 PM
weird oil level display - all white
