Sweet Jesus It's Just A Bloody Dipstick..No?

[Troutman]

Trying to accurately check engine oil level on my CRD is driving me absolutely nuts. First thing in the morning has been suggested, so I check the dipstick and the oil level might be say halfway between low and full...so far so good. Wipe the dipstick and check again....this time level is showing well above full FFS, all without even starting the engine and within 10 seconds of the initial check.

Seems the stick and o ring form such a tight fit in the tube, I reckon it is sucking up oil into the tube due to the vacuum seal as you withdraw it. But then I crack the engine oil filler cap open, so technically the sump is open to atmosphere....makes no difference to the dipstick level variations.

What the hell is going on....surely something so simple can't be this hard?

[tasjeep]

First thing in the morning lift the dipstick about 2 inches, put back down again and then pull all the way out.

[layback40]

As long as its some where between the marks I wouldnt be getting excited.
You do get oil drawn up the tube when you pull the stick out & it pushes it down when you put it back. it settles down overnight.
On some other turbo diesels (Mercedes in particular) its critical not to overfill.

[nrb1748]

Hello Troutman.

I agree with your suspicions. Similar to tasjeep, but I only lift the dipstick enough to have the o-ring at the top just clear the tube then push it back in again.

Regards

nrb1748

[Lewy2001]

Not to mention the bloody colour of the dipstick.
The black colouring is hard to read especially with clean oil. Changed over to the 40W CJ4 oil on Saturday. Added exactly 7.7 litres and it reads halfway between min and max. Mine is a early MY14 I think it may have the old calibrated dipstick. If I add another 700ml it will show max making it 8.4l the old capacity for the VM Motori diesel in the 2011-2013. Not sure if there was any sump changes or just a recalibration of dipstick levels.

[humdingerslammer]

Originally Posted by tasjeep

First thing in the morning lift the dipstick about 2 inches, put back down again and then pull all the way out.

sound like what I used to do when I was about 22 years old....

[yoda42]

The owners manual that came with our 2011 says to run the engine, shut off, wait 15 minutes then check oil level
And yes the gently lift dip stick until the o ring clears the tube, then reinsert fully then remove and check works "most" of the time


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