Dear all, I bought a used car with fresh checkup (120.000 km), the test drive and trip to the registration office were unproblematic, the car starts wonderfully and behaves appropriately for the 70kW.
Now I’ve just checked the oil, cleaned the dipstick as usual, then threaded it in, pulled it out and pressed it against a handkerchief. But there’s hardly any oil on it.
There was frost that night. Could this be a reason for the oil collecting at the bottom and I should just drive 10 km and then measure again? Or is the engine dry? Or is the oil so clean that I can’t see it?
I actually want to drive 200 km today, and of course no garage will give me an appointment for a proper oil change today. But I could of course buy oil and fill it up myself.
Thanks for your quick answers!
At least top it off with the correct oil. Without proper oil level I wouldn’t drive another inch. Also did you check the oil level before buying?
The car may have been driven with insufficient oil for a while. Nobody knows whether this already caused any damage. Normally it should be ok s long as the oil pressure warning doesn’t go off. But who knows …
It could also lose oil via some leak. That’s easily checked for.
Or it burns the oil, which means there’s a problem with the engine.
I forgot to check the oil level. I know that was stupid. Car looked in good shape and it didn’t seem reasonable. But that was dumb. Next time I will print a checklist and go through it with a pen.
Either way, I’d top it off and check the levels often for some time, to learn whether the level stays put and the previous owner just forgot to top it off or whether the oil disappears and either leaks (puddles under the car) or is burned in the engine (worst option).
And a check-up in a garage as well as an oil change of course.
Yeah that’s my plan now. Getting 5L of 10W40, car takes 2,6L, the rest is coming with me. Next week it gets a visit to the local garage.
I‘m annoyed, that’s my third used car and each time there are issues that I could have found before. Maybe I’ll learn
As an aside, and because it doesn’t look like anyone else has mentioned it: don’t put 2.6L of oil into your engine now. That figure will be from empty, if you’re changing the oil and have drained the old oil out.
The level in your engine now is dangerously low because it’s off the bottom of the dipstick, but there will still be some in it, otherwise your engine would have seized up and died after 2 mins of driving. If you dump 2.6L straight in, there’s a good chance you’ll over fill it, which can cause damage.
Add half a litre at a time and keep checking the dipstick until it’s near the “min” mark. Then add a quarter litre at a time, until the level is on (or just below) “max”. As you near the “max” mark, give the oil 30 secs to run down through the engine to the sump before checking the level.
And don’t beat yourself up because you don’t know everything! If everyone knew everything about cars, mechanics would be out of a job. You did the right thing by spotting it was low and asking people who do know.
Thanks, that’s what I did now. Filled 0,5 L, dipstick still dry. Filled another 0.5L, dipstick showed oil at lower third of the area. Filled in alother 0.5L, then it was at upper third. Left it at 1,5L.
Then 15 mins later I started the engine and let it run for 10s, then checked the oil again. suddenly it was about a third too high. But cleaned it and measured it a few times, and then the oil above the marking was less and less, I guess it was still sticking to the upper end of the thing where the oil is in.
Contacted the seller, he said he never measured it but left it to the garage to take care of it.
Anyway I will drive 200km later, I will post here if anything unusual happens. Will still get an oil change next week with new filters, I guess there’s lots of particles and stuff in the oil now, so cleaning it out will be well-invested money.
After running the engine you need to let it sit for a minute to get accurate measurement. Also adding 1.5L to engine that takes 2.6L if correct amount doesn’t sound good.
Good luck!
Cars burn oil. That’s what they do. Some are better than others but generally speaking, it’s normal for cars to burn oil. It’s not an indication of anything by itself but can be part of an issue if there are other problems.
My Mazdaspeed3 burns a quart every 2000-3000 miles. I was burning a quart every 1k to 2k miles before I replaced my turbo and got the timing chain VVT redone.
Technically yes, but today’s engines when not worn out normally burn so little oil that you have to top it off only rarely. Yes, there are exceptions.