Oil level question

[davidd]

Afternoon, Le Mans next week and I’ve cocked my service dates up. The car has done 3,000 miles since the last one ( last July ). Just checked the oil level, it’s on about 2/3rd ( see picture). So I have 1000 miles or so to do. Clearly there will be a little hooning about but I’m old an sensible so it’s not going to be silly.

Presuming there is 1ltr between the marks on the stick I figure I need approx 300ml, which isn’t a lot.

So do I….

Get some oil and try not to overfill it;)
Stop worrying and enjoy the trip as it’s clearly got enough oil.

[scm]

Looks okay to me, assuming the car was dead level when you checked - the indicator is very sensitive to inclines, up or down. But take a litre of oil with you and check after long drives.

[mickjaguar]

Yep 250-300ml from the look of it.

I did 1000 miles when I first got my car (20k on the clock and 10k since serviced) and the oil level was showing down 250ml. So I added oil and 1000 miles later it was showing a fall of 250ml again!

Put it in for service and mentioned it to the service desk. They couldn't see anything wrong but re-flashed the dipstick software or something. Since then (3000 miles) it's used zero oil.

I think it shows when oil needs to be added anyway ("add 0.5 litres of oil" etc). But mention it,when you put in for service.

[TopCat]

Was the reading when the engine was hot? Mine shows that level if I check before driving it, but is then up to the second level if checked after the car has been used - after the ten minute wait time.

[davidd]

It was hot. Will get some oil today and check it later as well.

[TopCat]

I wouldn’t top the oil up at that level, but would check it after driving to monitor if fell to or below lower mark.

[davidd]

Drove to Marshall jag to buy some oil. Checked there and it was spot on at the top mark.

Got home, checked again ( on a different part of the drive ) and it’s showing 2/3rds again. I’m going to leave it.

[mickjaguar]

As SCM says it is very sensitive and needs to be level. My driveway drops something like 4cm max over the car length, but it will show overfilled compared to when it's parked in the garage.

When I asked about mine the service desk said something about the dilution level being reset. Does make me wonder if it tries to estimate the oil level ignoring any fuel contamination, as this will get burned off.

Interesting (and entertaining) article on oil dilution here

[RPSN]

With regards to the sensitivity of the F-Type electronic dipstick, this information is taken from TOPIx.....

“In order to have a correct reading, the following conditions must be met:”

“The vehicle MUST be parked on a level area of ground. The sensor installation is very sensitive to vehicle tilt in the for-aft direction: ½ degree vehicle tilt corresponds to up to 0.5L measurement error.”

[davidd]

Parked one way and it’s at the top level, parked the other way on exactly the same bit of ground and it is half way down. The ground looks level. I’m ignoring it unless it tells me to add some….