Oil Change - Oil level

[iflyjets4u]

Just changed my oil myself for the first time. Book says about 8.7 qts. with filter. How come it took 9.5 to get to the bottom of the mark on the dipstick and the gauge?

Don't want to overfill, but before this oil change, the gauge always went to the top when checked before startup. Any help would be appreciated.

[ezuspan]

I changed mine this weekend on my '99 and put in 9.5 qts as well. I let mine drain for at least an hour. That may make a difference.

[b-man]

I've changed mine many times and it takes 9.25 quarts to fill it up. I always change the filter too.

I'm not sure why yours took 9.5+. Are you sure you didn't count wrong? Don't take that the wrong way. These cars take so many bottles of oil that it's easy to miscount. I've done it myself and I'm no rookie to oil changes.

Also, when are you measuring the oil level, before you've driven it? If so, all of the oil may not have had a chance to drain back down into the oil pan. Even if you drove it a little before measuring it, the engine oil may not be that hot, so it would also take a while to drain back down into the oil pan.

Let us know what you figure out.

FYI, I've found that the dash gauge (which measures oil level) is very sensitive to the amount of tilt that the car is on. The dipstick seems much less sensitive.

b-man

[iflyjets4u]

Thanks guy. I did let it drain for about an hour, so that may be part of the issue. Previously I did often check the levels on the gauge in the garage when the car was cold. Garage is pretty flat and level, but I did not compare the gauge readings to the dipstick ever.

Interestingly, before the oil change (which may have been an overfilled condition) I heard what sounded like lifter noise for a few minutes on cold start-up. Now, with the oil level correct (mid way) on the stick, no noise. Go figure.

[LVDell]

I had a similar problem to you. When I did my first oil change I didn't get a reading in the normal area (it was low) at just over 9 quarts. Confused and not wanting to overfill, I decided to just make a short drive around the neighborhood and voila' it moved into the acceptable range after I let it cool down and re-checked.