oil level down when cold??

[MisterM52]

.

[Butters Stoch]

Anyhow, noticed recently when the car is running, the oil level shows perfect.
.

Why would you check the oil when its running ?

[shogun]

Sometimes it is good to read in the owners manual, page 124/5
Checking oil level
As with fuel economy, oil consumption is directly influenced by your driving style and vehicle operating conditions. Consequently you should check the oil level regularly with the vehicle positioned on a level surface - approx. every
600 miles (1,000 km), or more frequently if your vehicle is driven under increased demands.
To obtain precise readings:
Check with engine cold, before starting.
When checking with the engine warm, wait briefly for the oil to drain back down into the oil pan (e.g.,while refueling).
Measure the oil level:
1 Pull out dipstick and wipe off with a lint-free cloth, paper tissue, etc.
2 Push the dipstick all the way into the guide tube and pull it out again.
3 The oil level should be between the two marks on the dipstick.
Add oil
Wait until the level has dropped to just above the lower graduation before adding oil. Never wait until the oil drops below the lower mark. The space between the two marks on the dipstick corresponds to approximately 1.1 US quarts (1 liter). Do not fill
to beyond the upper mark on the dipstick. Excess oil harms the engine. Because it would be consumed within a short period, it would also result in an abnormally high rate of oil consumption.

[samy01]

i dont understand the question. with "run it again" you mean after you drove and the engine is warm i hope ? it is normal that the level is lower when the oil is cold. it expands when it gets warm.

[flyfishvt]

I hope you're only trolling

[MisterM52]

Well its just below the low mark. Bloody Hell. Its lost about 2L and I last put new oil and filter 3 months ago. No wonder my boost had dropped half a week ago. heck. What are common places for the leak, Seems centered? Dont think its the oil filter housing leaking, it leaves a tiny pool while parked, I would say 10ml or so leak a day.

[samy01]

maybe... get under there and search by yourself ?

[MisterM52]

Its 2 Am. I will later in the morning.

Now Leak started since I put fully synthetic oil, Never leaked before to the floor.

questions is, its more so leaking from the front really, front center whatever. the oil is usually dark, makes me wonder if its the oil filter housing itself. any way to figure it out? I already got gasket for the oil filter housing.

[flyfishvt]

If your car never leaked until you put synthetic in it then your engine had sludge deposits that the synthetic cleaned out. Synthetic oil does not cause leaks. 20 year old gaskets and seals cause leaks. Let's get put this stupid urban myth to rest

[JDStrickland]

THERE IS NO VALID INFORMATION WHEN YOU READ THE OIL LEVEL WHEN THE ENGINE IS RUNNING.

Always stop the engine, wait several minutes, then pull the dip stick and wipe and re-insert, then pull again and read. You could pull the dip stick on a cold engine before you start it and see what the level is, but you need to give the oil sufficient time to drain back to the bottom of the engine if you have been driving the car.

Nothing on the dip stick is of any value when the engine is running. Well, if the dip stick comes out coated with foam, this can be bad news but there is no valid information as to the oil level.

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Well I checked it cold, even now, its just below the low mark. Bloody Hell. Its lost about 2L and I last put new oil and filter 3 months ago.

No wonder my boost had dropped half a week ago. heck.

What are common places for the leak, Seems centered? Dont think its the oil filter housing leaking, it leaves a tiny pool while parked, I would say 10ml or so leak a day.

It confuses me to read, "No wonder my boost dropped ..." in the middle of a discussion on oil level. Oil level should not affect boost, but "boost" is not even something that the car has when it is delivered from the factory, so I like to assume that if you figured out how to boost it, then you should know the role of oil. You can have lost boost, and you can have lost oil, and both of these can be true at the same time and maybe even by the same cause/event. But the low oil did not cause the boost to drop.

Your engine likely has very high vacuum when you take your foot off of the gas pedal, if this is true then oil will be sucked through the valve seals and past the rings and this will cause a rapid reduction in the oil level. Using Engine Braking is very hard on the oil. Not hard on the oil itself, but hard on the parts that keeps the oil on its side of the seals.

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If you are adding 1/3 to 1/2 quart, you are doing it wrong. There is no reason, ever, to add a partial quart/liter. That's E-V-E-R.

[samy01]

i don't understand how somebody who wants to sell supercharger kits around the world and therefore wants to be seen as a professional can have the courage to ask stuff like can you charge a battery while connected, how to put an engine on the ground and how to check the oil level. i really hope you didn't really check it when the engine was running. if this is true i must consider to delete my account here. i can't believe this s**t.

[flyfishvt]

i don't understand how somebody who wants to sell supercharger kits around the world and therefore wants to be seen as a professional can have the courage to ask stuff like can you charge a battery while connected, how to put an engine on the ground and how to check the oil level. i really hope you didn't really check it when the engine was running. if this is true i must consider to delete my account here. i can't believe this s**t.

you will go far young grasshopper

[Butters Stoch]

i don't understand how somebody who wants to sell supercharger kits around the world and therefore wants to be seen as a professional can have the courage to ask stuff like can you charge a battery while connected, how to put an engine on the ground and how to check the oil level. I really hope you didn't really check it when the engine was running. If this is true i must consider to delete my account here. I can't believe this s**t.

qft

[Nanniepoo]

i don't understand how somebody who wants to sell supercharger kits around the world and therefore wants to be seen as a professional can have the courage to ask stuff like can you charge a battery while connected, how to put an engine on the ground and how to check the oil level. i really hope you didn't really check it when the engine was running. if this is true i must consider to delete my account here. i can't believe this s**t.

Welcome to the E36 subforum

[MisterM52]

THERE IS NO VALID INFORMATION WHEN YOU READ THE OIL LEVEL WHEN THE ENGINE IS RUNNING.

Always stop the engine, wait several minutes, then pull the dip stick and wipe and re-insert, then pull again and read. You could pull the dip stick on a cold engine before you start it and see what the level is, but you need to give the oil sufficient time to drain back to the bottom of the engine if you have been driving the car.

Nothing on the dip stick is of any value when the engine is running. Well, if the dip stick comes out coated with foam, this can be bad news but there is no valid information as to the oil level.

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It confuses me to read, "No wonder my boost dropped ..." in the middle of a discussion on oil level. Oil level should not affect boost, but "boost" is not even something that the car has when it is delivered from the factory, so I like to assume that if you figured out how to boost it, then you should know the role of oil. You can have lost boost, and you can have lost oil, and both of these can be true at the same time and maybe even by the same cause/event. But the low oil did not cause the boost to drop.

Your engine likely has very high vacuum when you take your foot off of the gas pedal, if this is true then oil will be sucked through the valve seals and past the rings and this will cause a rapid reduction in the oil level. Using Engine Braking is very hard on the oil. Not hard on the oil itself, but hard on the parts that keeps the oil on its side of the seals.

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If you are adding 1/3 to 1/2 quart, you are doing it wrong. There is no reason, ever, to add a partial quart/liter. That's E-V-E-R.

I check my oil level every other week, when the car is COLD AKA Engine not running. Oil level all fine and dandy, all of sudden a couple of weeks ago cars been acting strange, last week my boost drops from 10-12 PSI to only half at any given rpm! Have only driven it short distances since maybe 30-40KM around town. Now I check under the hood for any stuck bpv's all oiled up and ready, checked my dipstick and it was below low! What the heck, and I get no low oil message! I was going to get it looked at and this just gets thrown at my face. So, rapid acceleration and stop may be causing the engine to suck up the oil from the valve seals as you mention, could be co related to boost loss and of course the oil going low, I am not sure, about engine braking too much, the car is an auto.

Today I have cleaned the bottom of the engine, took off the Oil filter housing which had sludge built up all around it, the gasket was in one piece but hard, I have washed it all out. the housing has been cleaned up a bit and will put new gasket in tomorrow and some oil in. Adding 1L has only brought it up to the low indicator on the dipstick.

Could the Oil filter housing be causing a loss of oil over the months? But this much? There was oil covered in both sides of the oil pan. and center of it, I could think the drips slowly traveled that way, but just wondering. I am just puzzled, covered in oil and sludge. Doing what I can on my part and will have the shop with the hoist take care of the rest.

thanks


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i don't understand how somebody who wants to sell supercharger kits around the world and therefore wants to be seen as a professional can have the courage to ask stuff like can you charge a battery while connected, how to put an engine on the ground and how to check the oil level. i really hope you didn't really check it when the engine was running. if this is true i must consider to delete my account here. i can't believe this s**t.

Oye, first of all, if anything this shows my transparency and honesty to have the courage to ask what I am unsure of, that alone you should commend in someone doing any kind of business.

I never claimed to be a know it all. I am an armature enthusiast, I came up with brackets to add up blowers to these cars, thats that. And have done what I have done which is FAR more then you have. And dont take this as a personal insult, everything I know, I learned, asked and tried to make sure others didn't have to ask and go through what I have. I have done something for the community and if I get a buck out of it, whats it to you? I don't like working under cars, I dont like oil, I like machine work, how it all adds together. If I have to do an oil change, fine, If I have to do the filter housing, alright, but if I have to do a whole bloody oil pan, then no, I will just have the shop take care of it. Not worth my time and hassle.

Now thing is this whole shebang had me puzzled, because I kept seeing small drops and small pools of oil every time I parked, next time I check my oil level, I get confused what the heck its below the bottom mark, no lights or anything. fire it up check again. Just had to see the common verdict here thats all! there is no reason for you to go all emo and bash me or my integrity and all that.

And there is no "wants to"..already has finished and packed up.

If your car never leaked until you put synthetic in it then your engine had sludge deposits that the synthetic cleaned out. Synthetic oil does not cause leaks. 20 year old gaskets and seals cause leaks. Let's get put this stupid urban myth to rest

Years on dino oil/semi synthetic no drops on the floor

3 months in synthetic shell helix ultra and its leaking everywhere, with who knows what damage done due to said leaks! I dont want to turn this topic into a dino vs synthetic debate but what worked worked well, now I have more problems then I needed.

you will go far young grasshopper

Definitely, Get your fix from hops from the old hopper boy, or if thats your idea of knocking an internetz pointz on me, go ahead.

Ho on the bash wagon.

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qft

emos unite!

[Mike WW]

If you are adding 1/3 to 1/2 quart, you are doing it wrong. There is no reason, ever, to add a partial quart/liter. That's E-V-E-R.

I've gotta differ with you. Usually, yes, I agree. But never? No. How about you're leaving for vacation or a long trip, it's half a quart low. It uses a bit and you'd really rather not have to think about it while on a trip. Granted in the E39, not the E36, but we do 3500 to 4500 mile vacations. If possible I'd really rather not have to pop the hood and add a quart in the middle of bum**** if I can avoid it. If that means topping off just before I leave, so be it. Now granted E36s don't have a low oil light like E39s, but same or mostly same engine, but the wife freaks if a warning light goes on. If I can stop that by doing a half a quart on occasion, I'll do it.

But functionally for a hands on DD, by all means, no reason to.

[MisterM52]

anyway question is, what would had caused my oil level to drop so dramatically over the course of a few weeks, that it went bottomed out! I was likely driving on 4L or so of Oil.

now could the oil filter housing leak actually cause the car to lose oil like that? It did have a hard gasket and I could tell there was a leak there. I have seen some videos where the folks were saying the wind was blowing their leak towards the center of the block.

[samy01]

you did more than me for the community by your brackets. True. But at least i know how to check my oil level. I would never ever buy any car part made by a guy who doesn't know that. and now you told anyone.

There's no talking out of this. when you can't check the oil or think it must be checked while the engine runs, you don't have lost anything under the hood.

[MisterM52]

you did more than me for the community by your brackets. True. But at least i know how to check my oil level. I would never ever buy any car part made by a guy who doesn't know that. and now you told anyone.

There's no talking out of this. when you can't check the oil or think it must be checked while the engine runs, you don't have lost anything under the hood.

You really think if how to check my oil was my question I wouldn't had just looked that up on google or youtube. You sir just want to bash me for some reason. I dont get what it is.

I have been working with cars over one and a half decade and all of a sudden I dont know how to check my oil. Great, you learn something every day from deranged individuals it seems.

All I came here to ask was why and what would cause such a substantial drop in oil, the filter housing. I dont know

I posted was a strange condition where my oil level had dropped, over a couple of weeks, I thought it was false readings or something else, I saw some oil in the floor, did the usual tests by running the engine, shutting it down cold, just checked everything and wanted to ask what was going on.

[samy01]

there's still no train going out of failtown soon you can hop on.

checking oil with engine running is just wrong and there's never a reason to do that as far as i know.

please tell me now: did you check the oil while engine was running and if yes, why did you.

[MisterM52]

there's still no train going out of failtown soon you can hop on.

checking oil with engine running is just wrong and there's never a reason to do that as far as i know.

please tell me now: did you check the oil while engine was running and if yes, why did you.

Face palm!

Listen friend:

1. There is nothing wrong with it.

2. I always remove it while running checks to see if my vacuum operated one way pcv valve setup is working.

WHY??

I dont use catch can, just a setup that allows the crank case vented fumes to be sucked in but under boost it will shut off working! now if the valve failed and it has before (for which I have a secondary small filter sticking from the oil dipstick return line) now when you remove the dipstick (and its a common diagnosis for these cars even with the stock PCV) you put a small piece of paper and if it blows means its clogged, I already said I was getting half the boost, the oil was leaking and seemed missing when cold, so I ran the motor to see hey maybe the crank case is blocked and causing a leak. So I figured worthy of mention here, cold, warm, running every bit of info I can to make sure I got the help I needed.

But hey sure, I dont know how to check the oil dip stick, (go check my post few months ago on filling up your M52 engine) You might as well blame me for the dinosaur extinction. forget it friend, I am not here to argue.

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I am more worried about so much oil being low if its caused damage and what could I be looking at.

also, what exactly could cause so much oil to just go, can it be just the bloody oil filter housing.

these are things I am worried about, engine damage at running so low oil and the root of my leak.

[flyfishvt]

Seems to me that if your loosing boost you would focus on a boost leak test. I think oil level wouldn't even be on my list of things to check as causes. Probably second and third would be compression test and leak down test. Either your mind works in some twisted manner or I'm missing something. What is the connection between oil level and boost loss?

[MisterM52]

Well, I noticed that I got 1PSI of boost by adding 1L of oil.


























No seriously though, I just discovered my low oil level while diagnosing my low boost problem.

One simply does not lose half his boost overnight. I checked for all vac leaks and boost leaks using my smoke machine, all was well, I checked the oil levels which I do every time I an under the hood, had only checked it fine weeks ago, and here my oil level was absolute below the low level, I got puzzled. There was drops and stains below as usual, but never realized I lost all oil, thats crazy. Hence started testing things, was foolish enough to have driven likely for days before I realized it, and 10Km's more when I did. what damages am I looking at, I dont know, do you? more importantly, could the oil filter housing leak had slowly drained it of so much oil??

[mole]

I check my oil level every other week, when the car is COLD AKA Engine not running. Oil level all fine and dandy, all of sudden a couple of weeks ago cars been acting strange, last week my boost drops from 10-12 PSI to only half at any given rpm! Have only driven it short distances since maybe 30-40KM around town. Now I check under the hood for any stuck bpv's all oiled up and ready, checked my dipstick and it was below low! What the heck, and I get no low oil message! I was going to get it looked at and this just gets thrown at my face. So, rapid acceleration and stop may be causing the engine to suck up the oil from the valve seals as you mention, could be co related to boost loss and of course the oil going low, I am not sure, about engine braking too much, the car is an auto.

I've owned my 95 325 for 12 years... never heard of a low oil sensor or message... is this why you didn't get a message?

[Butters Stoch]

Well, I noticed that I got 1PSI of boost by adding 1L of oil.



No seriously though, I just discovered my low oil level while diagnosing my low boost problem.

One simply does not lose half his boost overnight. I checked for all vac leaks and boost leaks using my smoke machine, all was well, I checked the oil levels which I do every time I an under the hood, had only checked it fine weeks ago, and here my oil level was absolute below the low level, I got puzzled. There was drops and stains below as usual, but never realized I lost all oil, thats crazy. Hence started testing things, was foolish enough to have driven likely for days before I realized it, and 10Km's more when I did. what damages am I looking at, I dont know, do you? more importantly, could the oil filter housing leak had slowly drained it of so much oil??

You go on benders or something ?

Maybe spydergod = mrM52 ?