Checked my oil and…..

[Reddog]

Both of my JTs, and in fact, all of the Grand Cherokees we had with the 3.6 - none of them ever needed oil to be added. It is habit - and living where we do, it's a good idea to check for critters.

Good points. The soy based materials they use to insulate wires in cars today make mice very happy. I keep a couple of cubes of mice bait hidden in my engine compartment when I am out overlanding or visiting my rancher friends out west. The little critters can do thousands of dollars in damage in a couple hours when they get busy.

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[DylanM]

Full on one side and halfway up on the other, sounds to me like it's good regardless of which side you're looking at.

 

[Blade1668]

The crosshatch gives it more for the oil to stick on, surface tension of a wetted surface. I've had needed to add oil, hot weather, towing at I-state speeds on multi hour trips. Heading on way up on it at times I could smell burnt oil from blow by, and I wasn't running it hard but into wind and hills. I did have to add 2 QT of oil, if I remember correctly. The service oil meter gave me a shorter oil life during the time.

 

[Janster]

The way I was taught is to pull the stick and check the oil first thing in the morning when the engine was dead cold and the oil had all night to run back down.

That’s how I’ve always done it in my past vehicles. I mean…even changing the oil when cold so you get most of it (takes forever to drain) or atleast warming it up slightly so it’ll drain faster. Filling it up while cold and doing an initial dipstick check (while cold). Dipstick would show full ’when cold’ after putting in required quarts.

….. Curious…. If you check the dipstick when its warmed up, where would the oil line be on the dipstick? If its showing FULL on the dipstick, that tells me its over-filled.

I’m old school….. apparently.

 

[AmishMike]

If it is still dripping, it's not dry yet.
If it is still rattling, it hasn't fallen off yet.

 

[bgott]

That’s how I’ve always done it in my past vehicles. I mean…even changing the oil when cold so you get most of it (takes forever to drain) or atleast warming it up slightly so it’ll drain faster. Filling it up while cold and doing an initial dipstick check (while cold). Dipstick would show full ’when cold’ after putting in required quarts.

….. Curious…. If you check the dipstick when its warmed up, where would the oil line be on the dipstick? If its showing FULL on the dipstick, that tells me its over-filled.

I’m old school….. apparently.

Some engines take a good long while for the oil to drain back. Cummins, anyone? The point with checking the oil first thing was to make sure you started your day, in the field or on the road, with a full crankcase. Most farm equipment and trucks where I grew up would burn a couple of quarts or more a day when working. And a leakin’ assed Detroit could go through way more than that.

 

[AmishMike]

Fill the oil and check the fuel

 

[ShadowsPapa]

If it is still dripping, it's not dry yet.
If it is still rattling, it hasn't fallen off yet.

Profound! I'm going to make note of that LOL

 

[KX L]

Just curious. I too have been checking the oil since I got my first bike 55 years ago. Every single manufacturer has a way to check the oil for for each of their engines. Some are cold, some are hot. For newer Harley's it has to be at operating temperature with the jiffy stand [kick stand] down.

So why aren't any of you just reading the owner's manual?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Just curious. I too have been checking the oil since I got my first bike 55 years ago. Every single manufacturer has a way to check the oil for for each of their engines. Some are cold, some are hot. For newer Harley's it has to be at operating temperature with the jiffy stand [kick stand] down.

So why aren't any of you just reading the owner's manual?

Can still more easily be checked cold - you just have to understand it will read slightly different warm. If someone can't understand the difference between hot and cold fluid level checks, they really shouldn't be doing them

Many thousands of equipment operators, truck drivers, and others using fleet vehicles, check fluids at the start of the day. Just need to know it will read lower when cold than it does hot - not by a whole lot.
I'm not going to stand and wait 5 minutes - I'll check it before I take off.

 

[KX L]

Can still more easily be checked cold - you just have to understand it will read slightly different warm. If someone can't understand the difference between hot and cold fluid level checks, they really shouldn't be doing them

Many thousands of equipment operators, truck drivers, and others using fleet vehicles, check fluids at the start of the day. Just need to know it will read lower when cold than it does hot - not by a whole lot.
I'm not going to stand and wait 5 minutes - I'll check it before I take off.

I agree. Actually, I'm with the guy who said he never checks it because it has never lost oil and when I'm not traveling my 22 Mojave sits in the garage so I would notice pretty damn fast if I had a leak.

I only check the oil after an oil change to make sure it isn't over full. Unless it's a very short 10 minute ride I am always going through the info on my dash in the center instrument cluster display. I have tire pressure, battery, engine oil pressure, engine oil temp, coolant temperature all on the top line of the center info screen. I just scroll left or right with the buttons on the left side of the steering wheel just to keep my eye on things.

Definitely NOT what I did with oil in my dirt bikes, earlier Harley's, and '70 Dodge Charger RT SE with the 440 Magnum. To me each engine is unique but I always start with the Owner's Manual.

 

[Geoarch]

hot check and cold check on opposite sides of the same stick that go in the same depth??



There is a recessed part with crosshatching made into it. They do that because as you pull the stick up, the larger part may be wiped clear by coming up the side of the curved tube. There are actually two recessed areas - the other side, opposite the crosshatching, appears to be a part number or whatever (alien code, coordinates to pirate treasure?)

Mine usually reads where that red line is, unless it's been 5,000 miles or more.

Same here.

 

[KX L]

Same here.

Overfill equals BAD. Very much increases the pressure throughout the system which can cause all sorts of internal leaks and decreased longevity of the engine. At Harley Mechanics School we would get get seriously dinged on any test where we didn't have the oil at least 3/4 of the way up the dipstick but also any bit at all over the cross hatches.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Overfill equals BAD. Very much increases the pressure throughout the system which can cause all sorts of internal leaks and decreased longevity of the engine. At Harley Mechanics School we would get get seriously dinged on any test where we didn't have the oil at least 3/4 of the way up the dipstick but also any bit at all over the cross hatches.

Sorry, but absolutelty not true in at all in a car or truck engine. Pressure is determined by volume of oil the pump puts out against a resistance. That is controlled by two things in these - variable pump displacement AND the pressure control valveing. No way extra oil can have any impact on your oil pressure. It just can't happen. The pump intake is in the bottom of the sump. The pump can only draw so much regardless of how much oil is in it. Further - whe so when oil is thick and so on, there's a valve that releases pressure above their set limits.
The worst that can happen with a car/truck engine is that you have so much oil in it that the WINDAGE created by the spinning crankshaft and other moving parts down there froths the oil like foam on the ocean on an extremely windy day. That foam increases the level further, and aerating the oil, actually leading to LOWER oil pressure because the air in the oil caused by the oil being close to the crankshaft, etc. can be compressed - leading to oil starvation, not extra pressure.

An extra quart in these is not a problem - that's been proven over thousands of Jeeps and many months of people putting 6 quarts in instead of 5 - and driving that way until the next oil change.
There's also a windage tray that is also a block brace that helps prevent frothing of the oil.

Extra fluid in a semi-closed pump-driven hydraulic system simply can't increase the pressure.

 

[KX L]

Well I'm definitely not going to argue with you as you know way more than I ever will about engines. So thanks for making me smarter. @Geoarch Belay my last!

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