There are some pretty smart guys on this forum so I will ask you guys.

Everybody here changes oil for the most part. You know your trucks and how much the motor requires. With that being said why is it that after you pour the new oil in the motor, the amount you know it requires, you have an irresistable urge to check it. I caught myself doing this tonight.

Why do we do this. Is it out of habit or do we think, for some reason, the oil never made it to the pan. It's not all over the floor so we did put the plug back in. It's not all over the engine so we know we put it in the motor. We feel pretty curtain that it didn't go in the rad, master cyl, or the bug juice tank.

Think about it and how many of use do this very thing. Why??

Just having a little fun.

 

I do it just as a double check to make sure I did not miss dumping in a jug of oil.

As I get older, CRS (Can't Remember ****) gets worse.

A phone call in the middle of installing the oil can result in oil jugs sitting in weird places, both full and empty.

Pulling the dip stick right before I crank the engine to make sure I really did put all the oil in that I think I did seems like a cheap safety check to me.

 

You get to serious Dave. I didn't mention anything about a phone call. That can make it different.

 

I now lay all my jugs in a line and count them when full and then when empty. Pull the dipstick before and after I run the engine. Just a habit I guess. Like Dave said, CRS is creeping in.

 

i check it so that i can try to remember where full really is on the dipstick.

 

CRS - THANK YOU! I knew there had to be a name for what I have - and Alzheimer's just seemed like too strong and severe a diagnosis to really describe it properly.

I think we should call it the Can't Remember **** Syndrome or CRSS

Calling it a Syndrome makes it sound much more clinical - don't you think.....?

If that's why then there are 2 things you need to remember....
1) start it first and let it run just long enough for the filter to fill up but not long enough for the engine/oil to heat up - or else your "full" mark won't mean anything any other time than right after the oil change before you start it up again for the first time - not particularly useful
2) if you are going to guage how full it is by where the "real" full mark (as determined by this method), you have to be sure to always check it with the engine dead cold - because once it warms up and you let the oil drain back to the pan it will read about a quart higher (due to the expansion of the oil when it gets hot).

 

If I'm mistaken, I'll surely take no offense, but I was of the understanding that the oil level on these motors was meant to be checked at operating temp. If you ran the motor just long enough to fill the filter, but not long enough to warm up the oil, and then filled to the full mark, wouldn't that put you one quart overfull? My understanding from reading posts here was that was one way to increase oil consumption. Apparently, Cheaper, you have been following this course, how's oil consumption for you? Others have expressed the experience that by overfilling, the first quart burns off really quickly, some even say that they run one quart low for some time. Would overfilling have any adverse long-term effect, say, increasing chances for head gasket failure, or fouling your CDR? I don't know, I'm just asking.

 

dang, and i thot i was too old to learn something new

 

Think about this and I have seen this happen more then once.

Lets say you put the amount of oil that the manufacturer say belongs in it and it reads to low? Alot of people would put more oil in it without thinking out of habit.

Here is little story. I used to see this all the time and it happened to a guy I know pretty well he by no means is a stupid guy, just a creature of habit.

I used to get alot of Chevy vans with 6.5's in them which 99.9% a 7 quart motor. Well the dipstick on most vans are pretty long and they will get kinked up over time and then the next thing you know you have to put 9 or 10 quarts of oil in the motor to get the oil level to show full on the dipstick. Well the next thing you know it is at the shop for the rear main leaking. I know I have fixed 30 plus rear mains by draining out the oil a putting the right amount in and replacing the dipstick. I have drained as much as 12 quarts out of them. I am not saying is dumb be we catch ourselves doing some silly things if we really stop and think about what we are doing.

I started this thread to get maybe get a smile out of everybody. I like to cut up and laugh alot. The world is to serious. We need to smile more then we do.

 

And I though an oil change was the one thing you couldn't possibly screw up Its no wonder why the darn thing seems to use oil as it sleeps overnight. As for CRS, I'm 22 and I have a hard time remembering where I put some tool that I just used a second ago.....many scew drivers like to hitch a ride that way .

 

While we're on the oil change subject, how many times have you seen somebody wipe the stick, check the oil level, then rewipe the stick just to put it back? Why do people do that?




O.K. I may have done this once or twice.

 

I have done it a hundred times

Exactly. You have the idea of the thread. It is the silly things we do and we can poke fun at ourselves.

 

I have been turning wrenches for 22 years and I find myself looking for something that is in my backpocket.

 

Nope, you read me wrong.

ned37 said he checks it after putting in the specified amount (10 qts) to remind himself where the FULL mark is on the dipstick. I was making the point that if he is trying to establish where the full mark is on the dipstick for a full, but cold engine, then he needs to run it a minute and fill the filter before checking the dipstick or else the "FULL" mark he figures out will be wrong for any conditions OTHER than immediately after an oil change with a filter that is still empty. In other words the cold engine "full" mark he establishes would be too high if he hasn't run it long enough to fill the filter.

You are correct in your description of the recommended method of checking the oil (engine hot and a few minutes drain-back time) and that is the one that I usually follow. HOWEVER, I have done exactly what I described above (changed the oil, run it a minute to fill the filter, then checked the oil level) so that I would know where the full line is for a cold engine - just because it is more convenient to check it cold sometimes.

So, now, does that all make sense?

 

The old repo man told me: "Don't believe anything you hear and only 1/2 of what you see" I'll keep checking the dipstick and wiping it twice. Not to be confused with Boss Hog.