ok hi guys i have the 2001 kia sportage and awhile back i asked about the noise my car made when cold and i think it was the oil density theres 10-30 in it now and the sound has mostly gone away. but i have a question.
when i drained the oil i put it in a normal milk carton the one gallon kind. the oil only went about half way up it. and yet the oil capacity on my car is about 4 and a half quarts.
is it reasonable to say that my car burned all the oil it had in it or do you think that some of it stayed in the engine?
now i did go over some on the interval and it was awhile between changes almost 6000 miles i think. so its probally normal consumption right?
Are you implying that you drove over 6000 miles without checking your engine oil level?
Consuming about 2.5 quarts over 6K miles isn’t bad at all for a 9 year old car. But not checking the level more often is definitely living on the edge (of needing a new engine).
You don’t check your oil level by emptying it into a milk carton. You check it with the dip-stick every other fill-up…I bet the 2 quarts you drained out looked really nice…
What did your dipstick show the last time you checked it before the change?
no i check it regularly ( about once or twice in a two week period)
it was pretty dark but no metal shavings or anything. and the dipstick said the level was fine but i guess it was rubbing on oil in the tube to give me false readings?
the dipstick said the level was fine but i guess it was rubbing on oil in the tube to give me false readings?
Now you see the problem faced by mechanics when customer comes back complaining the level on the dipstick is incorrect but the mechanic knows how much oil he put in. At this point we must enter test mode, we will accept that the stick read “full” but emptying the crankcase showed 2.5 qts. low, why can we accept this? because fighting over it does no good.
Measure accuratly how much oil you put in, make a mark on the stick where it is when a known full amount is freshly installed (after a brief engine run to fill filter), this is our reference. Put your normal oil change interval mileage on the vehicle and do the same drain and measure again. I think you will find your engine is consuming this oil. You may have to invalidate this test in order to keep from running your engine low on oil.
Are you reading the dip stick correctly?
Take it out, wipe it clean and dry, reinsert it all the way, then pull it back out. If the oil on it isn’t continuous from the bottom to where ever it stops, then repeat the process. Also, usually it is best to check it a few minutes after the engine last ran.
i pretty sure i am
Look on both sides of the dipstick. I’ve had many an engine that gave a false or inconclusive reading on one side, while a true reading on the other. When the oil was just changed, it was a nightmare to read. My 3.0 Mitsubishi was that way …and even back to an early 60’s 318 Mopar.
Try doing it before a cold start. Any and everything that’s going to drain has drained off of everything including the upper area of the dipstick.
sounds like a good plan. man this car has become a real pain i cant wait til i get my toyota in a year or so