Austarion

Hi guys,

I was out doing a bit of a clean / fix up of random stuff on the car that needed doing today, and having my head under the hood, I pulled the dipstick out to check the levels.

Wiped the stick clean, shoved it back in and pulled it out again. Much to my suprise, not only was it above the "full" mark on the dipstick, it was about 15-20cm from the bottom before there was no oil (ie, probably about twice as high as expected).

What sort of ramifications does this have for the car? I am going to be doing an oil change in the next few days (havent done one on the new car as yet, figure ive had it for about 3 weeks probably a good time to do it now), but I would like to find out why the oil level is so high at the moment.

When i checked the oil (4pm on Sunday afternoon), the car had been sitting at home all day and had not been driven since the previous night. The car had been parked on a slight slope (engine pointing downwards), if this would affect it at all, but not so much of a slope as to affect the reading this much I wouldn't think anyway.

Any ideas what it could be?

Im no expert but i THINK from memory the dipstick does go into the front of the sump. If the car was parked on a slight slope facing downwards..this would have caused it.

For arguments sake...stick ur head under the bonnet 2morro and see if im right...but im pretty sure that it does.

Other than that...it sounds very unusual.

As for remefications...wel first of all it should be blowing a bita smoke burning it off. Other than that...i do remember being told what it does a while ago but i cant remember lol! I think it can potentially cause valve seat damage...but i could be WAY off so ill leave answering that question for the professionals.

Andrew

mmm...you could be right with the parking on the slope thing.

Thinking about it, if it was something like rings or something else gone, there would be smoke. The car blows NO smoke at all, running perfect except from this weird excess oil thing.

Ill find some level group tommorrow, park it there for an hr or so, and check it again...see if the results are the same.

Yeah see even if, lets say, the previous owner overfilled it...even if the motor was perfect, no valve problems or rings or anything...it should STILL blow smoke coz of the excess oil

Im just trying to think back to when i did the first turbo transplant, because we had to rip the dipstick out. They are a fairly deep but short sump from memory and i think the dipstick goes into them fairly near the front. Even so though, if the sumps are as short as i remember, no matter where the dipstick is situated, this could effect it.

Lets hope thats it ;)

Andrew

it's one of the car commandments,

Thy should always check oil while the chariot is on flat level earth...


:o

Hey Freestyler, should of mentioned this to ya.... the dipsticks in alot of starions suck ass. The correct level of oil was put in the car always and if you look I scratched a new line into the stick.

Many starion owners also have this same issue? dun ask me why, but just put in the right amount of oil and mark it on the stick some more.

I wouldn't follow the dipstick, cause you could damage the motor by starving it of oil.

Cheers
Ben

anyone please confirm this?.

My dipstick reads fine.

Ok cool! Thanks for the info camotec. Was thinking it was a tad strange that the car was running with no problems and reading quite high on the oil :)

Ill remark it after I have done the coming up oil change. Having it parked on the slope made it worse though.

YEah but your strange Cookie :D

Trust me, a few people had the same issue, I am trying to rememebr the names for ya

Cheers
Ben

Camotec wrote:YEah but your strange Cookie :D

Trust me, a few people had the same issue, I am trying to rememebr the names for ya

Cheers
Ben

Cookie strange? he's a child's plaything what do you reckon...


back to the oil level, my dipstick also appears to work fine, I know this because after an oil/filter change and the correct amount of oil pored into it, it reads what's supposed to ....

keep oil between high and low, engine has not blown up yet, id say mine is probably fine

heh i am sure someone had the same issue as me, cause I also purchased a second oil dipstick and tried that one and same thing happend.

Freestyler, as wierd as it sounds forget that dipstick and go off the manual oil specs.

Cheers
Ben

Camotec wrote:but just put in the right amount of oil and mark it on the stick some more.

this is a serious question, how much oil should one (me) pour into my starion engine after virtually emptying it for a service?

im pretty sure i put over 4L into mine before my dipstick read max..

I am pretty sure the manual states 4.5Litres

Cheers
Ben