Does Veeky Forums check oil with cold or hot engine?

It's meant to be checked cold. Checking the oil after its been pumped through the engine means that less will be in the pan, making for false readings. Car needs a good hour or so to drip down all the oil after running.

Check it hot fuckers. Too much oil is very unlikely to cause damage. Too little is very likely.

samehomo

>He doesn't know about diesels

Veeky Forums doesn't know how to check oil. They drive around with the same oil that jiffy lube put in 3 years ago, then post threads about what does a flickering oil pressure gauge mean. Shortly followed by a "which new shitbox should I buy" thread.

>Does Veeky Forums check oil with cold or hot engine?

It's easy to check since I look at it in the morning after the car has cooled down all night. I have 5W20 full synthetic oil (Quaker State ultimate durability). To compare my readings for hot oil, after I drove back home, I waited about 3 minutes and then checked the dipstick. The amount of oil indicated on the dipstick was almost exactly the same as when it was cold. It was still in the "full" region but the dipstick also has a bunch of crosshatch marks. Maybe about one crosshatch mark which is 2 millimeters. My wait of 3 minutes isn't going to get shorter because after I drive in and have the garage door close, I have to get out, get my stuff out of the car, look at the alarm board, get a paper towel, open the hood latch, and carefully pull the dipstick without letting oil drip on anything. That's the 3 minutes right there.

Conclusion: For my new 2016 GM car using full synthetic 5W20, there is no essential difference checking the dipstick cold or hot after a 3 minute wait.

>Too much oil is very unlikely to cause damage
Put too much oil and you will kill your engine worse than if you had put in too little.
If the crank starts slapping your oil it will churn up until it forms air bubbles and becomes a thin, foamy, soapy looking mess.
The oil pump cannot maintain adequate pressure if the oil is foamy like that so the engine will basically run un-lubricated and die.

If you have a diesel, this thinner oil will seep trough between the piston rings and be used as fuel in combustion. Meaning you will never be able to turn the engine off.

This is why I said don't mess with oil on modern cars. Leave that shit to a mechanic.

>he can't even change the oil on his "modern" car
top kek

>not knowing how to read your owner's manual

just because you watched a couple of scotty kilmer videos doesn't mean you know shit.

I'm doing an automotive technician course so I know what I'm talking about.

don't be a fucking hero and mess with the fucking oil. It isn't safe for the average person and you will only harm your engine - guaranteed.

old cars like from 1996 and older need constant oil changes because engines back then were still primitive and way too mechanical and leaked oil all the time. even the oil back then was made from actual oil.

now cars are precisely engineered with thousands of electronic features. modern engines after like 2000 use modern synthetic oils that are pretty much good for the entire lifetime of the car.

>modern synthetic oils that are pretty much good for the entire lifetime of the car

topi kekkonen

Whatever the manual recommends

Bruh all you need to give it is like 2 minutes and you'll get an accurate enough reading

>this is what they teach you in those for profit tech schools

Shit, they could at least fucking Google their course material

That doesn't happen if you put a little too much in, that happens when you put like a quart or more too much in. A little too much is just going to go into the filter after running for a minute and the dip stick will read normal

This. The amount left in the top of the motor is negligible and won't really give you an inaccurate reading. I usually check mine after I pump my gas, but it doesn't leak (significantly) or burn oil even at 263k miles, so I don't always check it. I went 7k miles on my last oil change and never had to top it off.

wow, so much to take in here.

I'm guessing you're about 19 and only know what you've read in your tech school books and have little to know real world experience.

>I'm doing an automotive technician course so I know what I'm talking about.

Your parents paying them to make you feel this way.

>don't be a fucking hero and mess with the fucking oil. It isn't safe for the average person and you will only harm your engine - guaranteed.

Oil changes are basic as fuck, there really isn't much to fuck up if you have any idea of what you are doing, and if you are going to attempt it, you probably have it figured out.

>modern engines after like 2000 use modern synthetic oils that are pretty much good for the entire lifetime of the car.
>I'm doing an automotive technician course so I know what I'm talking about.

Contradictory.

isn't it the most satisfying feeling in the world having a 20 yo shitbox that doesn't burn a single drop of oil, yet you see all these fancy cars driving around with a fucking smokescreen behind them

feels gud man

i've heard this, but wondering how much oil is too much? 1/2 quart?

...

Depends on the size of the engine/depth of the oil pan.

Read the manual, if your engine takes 5qts then an extra half quart would be pushing it by a lot. at most you only want to be a few millimeters above the top notch/mark on your dipstick

Now THIS is trolling right here.

What is 'thermal expansion'?

According to car talk guys it doesn't matter if you check it hot or cold. You can confirm for yourself by doing it both ways and looking at the level.

Negligible in modern oil

He's trolling, I learned a lot of good shit from ASE courses in high school PSEO

I just replace it every 5000 miles for $35. I don't know why I would need to manually check it.

Fucking hell

room temperature niggaman

>not an essential part
Ok then champ, why dont you drain the oil out then if its so unimportant.

I check it while the engine is running just to be confident I am looking at the oil level my engine will experience during normal operations.

>I'm doing an automotive technician course so I know what I'm talking about.

Mechanics=/=Engineers

>modern engines after like 2000 use modern synthetic oils that are pretty much good for the entire lifetime of the car.

The most life out of a good quality synthetic is around 15k miles and even this is fully dependent on driving habits and the environment. After that the oil degrades and becomes contaminated by combustion byproducts. Detergents are depleted and other agents depleted.

Do yourself a favor and go get your money back, the person teaching that course knows nothing.

absolutely. Cruising around in my $500 roller kekking at everyone who make payments close to that a month and still break down.

You mean with half the oil in the head and also being slung in the dipstick tube where it will cover the whole stick regardless and will never give u a clear reading?

He's trolling m8

Yes it does, car will tell you to check hot or cold.

Please be bait.

My car burns oil but im still glad i didnt listen to my dad and be making payments on a new car, over 8 months now and i haven't had to do shit.

I wait 20 minutes to let the oil drain back into the pan. if I check it right away it usually shows its a little low.

6/10. Started promisingly but you tried too hard.

Don't mess with shit thats requires complex knowledge and training to understand.
Leave it to the certified experts.

Plenty of scotty kilmer wannabees in this thread who don't even know that you can check the oil with the engine running.

There are always two marks on the dipstick. (Indicated as Lower and Higher marks in picrelated)

The highest mark is used when the oil is ambient temp and sitting at the bottom of the sump.

The lowest mark, corresponds to the correct oil level when the engine is warm and running.

The oil level should always be at either the top (H) or bottom (L) mark depending if the engine is running or not.

Use both marks to verify you have the correct amount of oil and adequate oil pressure.

your owners manual will tell you how to measure the oil level for your car, many recommend running the engine breifly until the engine temp rises slightly and then waiting ~5min for the oil to settle back into the pan, but this will vary car to car by quite a bit

>tl;dr
>read your manual

the dipstick only accurately reads the range of oil under the circumstances the manufacturer intended, cold and hot readings will be very different, as will readings taken immediately before or after running the engine, or after running but letting the engine sit for a short period.

Cold as per el manuel.

>tfw delicious 5w20

Wrong. Low mark means you're a quart low.

Lukewarm, always lukewarm

>The lowest mark, corresponds to the correct oil level when the engine is warm and running.

Clumsy user then fumbles dipstick into the moving fan and makes a mess.

Clumsy user gets tie or shirtsleeve caught in moving fan and sucks his face into the car.

Clumsy user slips and the hand slips into the fanbelt area.

>Plenty of scotty kilmer wannabees in this thread who don't even know that you can check the oil with the engine running.

>who don't even know that you can check the oil with the engine running.

>check the oil with the engine running.

mental illness is a serious thing guys.
also,

>The lowest mark, corresponds to the correct oil level when the engine is warm and running.

a..are..you f..fucking retarded?

Checking the oil should be the simplest thing but nobody can agree on how to do it correctly. Why?
Is there anything carfags can agree on?

im just stating you dont check oil when the car is running because oil pressure is up. its not fucking rocket science to not do that.

We all agree that there are some cars that we would like to fuck if they were alive.

My oil cap says putting too much will cause wear on the cat

>just because you watched a couple of scotty kilmer videos doesn't mean you know shit.

I don't know why but I laughed so hard

Check the oil when it is cold. The owner's manual will tell you how many quarts are between the low and high mark on the dipstick, so you know how much you should add if you are under the high mark. Fill, while cold, to the high mark.

Transmission fluid should be checked when the transmission is warm, not cold. Again, fill according to the manual.