Oil level (Coast vs Reef)

[msm]

Anyone checked their oil level at the coast and altitude and noticed any difference.

I check my oil every week or so and since my service the oil is always exactly at the full mark - not a smidge over or under. When I was in Durban recently, I checked the oil (in the morning before starting the car) and it was at about 75% of the level between the min/max indicators. Thought it might have been due to the long distance trip. I also checked it on 2 consecutive mornings and it was the same. (Car was parked for about 8-10 hours overnight, on each instance)

However, got back home and checked this morning - oil is again at exactly the full mark.

Does the temperature and altitude make that much noticeable difference? The only other thing I can think off is that even though the car was parked overnight, it was still so hot ouside that the oil did not cool enough compared to when the car is in JHB.

FWIW, I'm running Liqui Moli fully synthetic Race Tech GT1 oil in my car.

Anyone have similar experiences with oil levels between the reef and coast?

 

[Rolf]

This sounds very weird and I have to admit that I never ever heard of such thing :nonono:

 

[Dr Evil]

before each check, how much alcohol was consumed?

*Dr evil runs and hides*

but on a serious note, I've never experienced that before, neva eva !

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

 

[msm]

This sounds very weird and I have to admit that I never ever heard of such thing :nonono:

Yep - very strange.

I suspect it may just been the temp. In JHB overnight temps reach much cooler levels than Durban.

 

[Legacy]

I highly doubt it has anything to do with the coast and the reef. Here is my explanation:

When a car is driven mostly in town and for short distances ( < 50 km) the oil becomes contaminated with fuel since a cold the car's rings don't seal properly and this causes fuel to leak past them and this gets mixed in the oil. To get rid of the fuel in the oil the best idea is to go for a nice long drive of around 150km. This causes the fuel to evaporate or whatever.

The amount of fuel in the oil can make a difference of around 1mm or more on a normal car's dipstick. This is one of the main reasons not to idle a car up to temperature since the fuel gets contaminated and you effectively have an over filled sump.

So what I think happened is that your car's oil was contaminated with fuel and the long trip to Durban was enough to rid the oil of the excess fuel and now it looks like the oil has dropped where in fact it was never at the full mark to begin with.

 

[Philip Foglar]

Also, are you certain that in both instances the car was standing on a properly level surface? At least our E90 tractors have proper dipsticks unlike the petrols... :fencelook:

 

[Twinz]

Its the ghost in the machine :rollsmile:

 

[msm]

I highly doubt it has anything to do with the coast and the reef. Here is my explanation:

When a car is driven mostly in town and for short distances ( < 50 km) the oil becomes contaminated with fuel since a cold the car's rings don't seal properly and this causes fuel to leak past them and this gets mixed in the oil. To get rid of the fuel in the oil the best idea is to go for a nice long drive of around 150km. This causes the fuel to evaporate or whatever.

The amount of fuel in the oil can make a difference of around 1mm or more on a normal car's dipstick. This is one of the main reasons not to idle a car up to temperature since the fuel gets contaminated and you effectively have an over filled sump.

So what I think happened is that your car's oil was contaminated with fuel and the long trip to Durban was enough to rid the oil of the excess fuel and now it looks like the oil has dropped where in fact it was never at the full mark to begin with.

It's at the full mark again today. That's why I'm confused.

 

[Rolf]

Liqui Moly wonder oil :joy:

I use it as well but never noticed ..... now I will pay attention :thumbs: