Y'all, I have been preparing the truck for the first of several long road trips this summer and as I did my usual checks - coolant, oil, air pressures, etc; I noticed that my engine oil appeared well over the top of the full mark on the crappy, POS, wire dipstick as best as I could tell. I know that diesels used in light duty applications (I have done very little towing all winter and spring) will make oil via fuel dilution. My question is - how much is too much oil in the crankcase? Should I drain a quart or two to bring the oil into the OK range on the dipstick? Should I drain 4 quarts and add 4 quarts of undiluted fresh oil back to the engine to reduce my %fuel dilution. I plan to keep this wonderful truck until they develop vehicles powered by a Mr Fusion device like in Back to the Future so I want the engine to last forever. Suggestions appreciated.

 

Mine always appears to be overfilled most of the time! And just like you, I can't read the stupid wire oil stick correctly. If I stick it 5 times, I get 5 different levels on it, often many looking like it is overfilled. I think the wire is wicking up some of the oil and it ends up on the measuring part by the time I get it out of the truck.

There is no way that we could be getting that much fuel in the oil. I thought I heard the first trucks rolled out with a flat wire version. Wonder if we could get those?

 

Check this out to be sure. On the 6.4 and the 6.0 power stroke motors they required 15 quarts of oil, this 6.7 requires 13. Might want to be sure the correct amount went in , whether you did the oil change yourself or the dealer did it. It is a concern because most dealer oil service people would probably put 15 in just out of habit, being a bit careless.

Not to slam dealer service folks, this is an easy opportunity for a simple mistake that anyone could make.

And, I would not be concerned about making oil at this time with the 6.7. This is not an issue that has been reported as of yet, always could be the first though...

 

My build has the cable. I've pulled it out before and it shows nothing, then panicked, checked again, and it shows over full. By the time you check it 2-3 times, you have pulled oil into the dipstick tube meaning you will never get an accurate reading from that point. On top of all this, we don't even get an oil pressure gauge. My F150 had one. With all the other stuff it displays, I am back to the idiot light on the oil pressure.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't read that dipstick. I even try laying it on a paper towel when I pull it out but that doesn't help much.

As far as making oil ...

on my 5K analysis I had <0.5%
on my 10K analysis which I just got back I had 2.0%

Edit: those % are fuel content in the oil.

That is going in the wrong direction. I'll post up the analysis when I can remember how I made a jpg out of the pdf file...

 

For the 6.4 we always need to check it when it has been sitting over night. You only get one shot at it and then it is in-accurate.

We also can do the short stick, insert the dipstick till you meet the handle at the end of the tube, pull and the level should be dead center in the hash marks.

Maybe you can do the same on this motor?

 

I hate to tell you, but the oil pressure "gauges" in the past have been nothing more than an idiot light and false sense of security. I'm not sure about the 6.4, but the computer did not even read oil pressure in the 6.0 other than to detect the presence of pressure. The sender is basically an on/off switch that indicates pressure at 5 psi. Essentially the gauge is just a glorified idiot light that only indicates that there is some sort of oil pressure but only God knows how much!

 

Well, I am glad to see that I am not the only bubba struggling with this issue. The dealer did the last change and though I know that does not mean it was done right, it was about 3000 miles ago and I have not seen any ill effects. It just makes me worry to run a couple thousand miles with a crankcase overfilled if that is really the situation. I checked the oil yesterday after letting the truck sit overnight and I still cannot get any kind of reading other than the fact it has plenty of oil. Maybe I will drain just enough so the reading is on the indicator portion. I figure as long as I am above the add oil line, then I am probably safe.

 

If you try it, I'll be interested to know how your draining of a few quarts goes.

I reckon you're going to have to be pretty quick with getting that plug back in because the oil comes a gushing out of there.

I tried to drain a half quart out of a motorcycle one time and the results were less than spectacular. Unless you were one of the bemused onlookers in which case I suppose it was quite successful based on the hilarity that ensued.

 

My first oil change, done by the dealer was filled way high on the cable. When I ask about this they said no problem. They put 15 qts in by accident using the gun out of a barrel method. Then I ask "why does the book say 13 and you say no problem, makes no since". My next oil change I did it myself with exactly 13 qts. It showed perfect on the cable.

 

I used to change my boat oil with a small pump and tube down the dipstick tube cause noone could get down under the engines

 

My truck originally came with the flat metal blade dipstick, which was not too bad to read, but because the metal blade was in 3 sections, it would always hang up as you pulled it out or pushed it into the tube. I ordered the cable dipstick and while it easy to insert and remove, you can't read sh_t on the end of it!! Not to mention that it is also about half an inch shorter than the metal blade, which means the oil level readings are different by about 1/2 a quart.

I have started using the metal blade again and at least I can make out the oil level on the markings.

BTW, my oil analyses (5k, 9k and 16k miles) have shown no fuel dilution in either of them. I haven't changed the oil since 9k miles and I currently have 16.5k miles on the truck. I only changed the filter at 16k.

 

I don't do that much heavy towing either so I had 3% fuel last oil change; around 5181 miles I think it was on that oil.

I had around 5630 something miles on this last oil change with 6 1/2 hours of high idle (use the stop watch timer to keep up with this).
I sent the blackstone sample off this week so I should have that result in a week or two.
I forgot to reset the oil minder (I don't follow it anyways) and it prompted to change soon around what would have been 6900 to 7000 miles.
I'm guessing; exact numbers are at home.

 

Well never mind. Blackstone is fast.
I shipped off the sample UPS ground Monday and just received the report in my e-mail.
Fuel was 2.5% for 5,656 miles this recent change vs. 3.0% for 5,181 miles last change.
Aluminum increased to 18 from 17 so their comment stated they still want to watch this.

 

I guess I'm too lazy to wrestle with the search feature, but I do recall Pbruckne commenting on fuel dilution some time ago. If I recall correctly, his comments indicated that Ford engineers approve of a higher fuel dilution rate than what we are used to seeing. I will look again to see if I can find the thread.