DIY Oil Change.

[Larry Adachi]

I always do oil change myself to assure it is done correctly, i.e., not overfilling nor not tightening the drain plug correctly. When installing
a new filter, the crankcase and filter assembly DO NOT take five (5)
quarts as some people popularly believe, which will undoubtedly overfill
the system. What I was wondering is: Can I safely pour in four full quarts,
start and run the engine for about thirty seconds or so, then adding more oil to bring the level to the full mark on the dipstick?
Larry

[dom]

Yeah.. Put four in, check it and go from there. No problems.

This is true for most cars, unless you have a unit that holds less than four quarts (which there aren't many).

[Eric]

Yeah.. Put four in, check it and go from there. No problems.

This is true for most cars, unless you have a unit that holds less than four quarts (which there aren't many).

If I'm remembering right, the old VW Beetle took about three quarts; no filter, either - just a mesh screen you cleaned during service!

[Eric]

I always do oil change myself to assure it is done correctly, i.e., not overfilling nor not tightening the drain plug correctly. When installing
a new filter, the crankcase and filter assembly DO NOT take five (5)
quarts as some people popularly believe, which will undoubtedly overfill
the system. What I was wondering is: Can I safely pour in four full quarts,
start and run the engine for about thirty seconds or so, then adding more oil to bring the level to the full mark on the dipstick?
Larry

You're being very precise - which is good!

PS: Many motorcycles have an oil level sight glass indicator with hash marks on the lower side of the engine case. This lets you "eyeball verify" proper fill level.

[Ken]

I always do oil change myself to assure it is done correctly, i.e., not overfilling nor not tightening the drain plug correctly. When installing
a new filter, the crankcase and filter assembly DO NOT take five (5)
quarts as some people popularly believe, which will undoubtedly overfill
the system. What I was wondering is: Can I safely pour in four full quarts,
start and run the engine for about thirty seconds or so, then adding more oil to bring the level to the full mark on the dipstick?
Larry

So long as you remember that most oil levels are checked when the engine is cold - 30 secs or so should not affect that - and AFTER the car has been standing for ten or twenty minutes after the engine has been stopped in order to allow for full drain down..

Ken.

[Larry Adachi]

So long as you remember that most oil levels are checked when the engine is cold - 30 secs or so should not affect that - and AFTER the car has been standing for ten or twenty minutes after the engine has been stopped in order to allow for full drain down..

Ken.

What I actually do at all oil changes is to put in four quarts, run engine approximately 30 seconds, or more, check level on the stick, then bring the level up to the FULL mark, and let it go at that for the day. Then the next morning I'll check the level on a cold engine to check the correct level. Then I'm done.

Larry