I've got a 98 4.6L f150 with a strange problem.

The oil level dipstick does not read correctly.

I understand that the dipstick is not a magical oil capacity reading device, just a metal stick, but is this a common problem, or is mine one of a few?

The ford book says 6 quarts of oil with a new filter. I use 6 quarts of motorcraft oil with a motorcraft filter.

Sure enough when I check the oil, it comes up reading down half a quart.

The truck doesn't use a drip of oil, after 5k miles its still reading down half a quart.

Now I refuse to take it to an oil jockey because they would just overfill the crankcase.

 

It's just miss marked. You can scribe a line on the backside so you know.

 

I scribed a new fill line on mine Justin-it's the same way.
JL

 

They are all this way for some reason. I would measure the space between full and 1/2 qt low, and use a tubing cutter and cut that much off of the dipstick tube. Then it will read full when it is full.

 

Strange deal.

Since I do my own oil changes I'll just keep in mind where it should be, and not mess with modifying the stick.

Thanks guys.

 

Do you have the relocated oil filter behind the headlight? Mine takes an extra quart to fill all the lines that run to that spot, takes a qt more than the book says because of the oil lines. I go by the dipstick not what the book says since the book has no idea what is actually in your oil pan. The new 6.0L's are the other way the book says 15 or 16qts and really takes a qt less.

 

well the first time i changed the oil in my 04 mach-1 it took 7.5 quarts to fill it.the book says 6.3 quarts.so i now put 6.3 quarts.and i scribed a line on the dipstic so i know were full is

 

Half sight glass,half dipstick is the recognized standard in industry for machinery lube fill levels.Anywhere in the hashmarks is considered full as some oil will always pool in parts of the system making the actual fill level relative.If you shut down the motor and check it right away it will be lower that if you check it an hour after shutdown.So long as it's always in the hash marks it's good no matter when it's checked.