Oil reads low - top it off, looks fine, next time I check, it's overfilled

cmayo · Jun 5, 2018

This has happened to me a couple times. As the subject says, the oil will show low (1/2 the operating range) so I'll top it off until it reads full. After running a little while and checking it again, the dipstick will show the engine oil to be overfilled. Any idea why this is happening, and how can I get a dependable reading off the dipstick?

As a side issue, when I drained last year's oil for the engine's spring maintenance this week, the oil was black and drained very slowly... just trickled out, really. I hadn't warmed the engine before draining, but I usually don't, and don't recall seeing that slow drain in previous years. No clue if this is related to the dipstick issue... just another oil oddity.

Russ2251 · Jun 5, 2018

Oil should always be drained when hot, as particulate matter is in suspension at that time.
When cold, the junk just settles where ever it wants to and stays there until put back into suspension.
Also, oil flows out much faster when hot...carrying all the unwanted gook with it.

Rivets · Jun 5, 2018

As stated, always drain the oil when it is hot, ten minutes running will do. Second, please give us the engines model numbers, some engines you put the dipstick all the way in and others you just rest the cap on the top.

cmayo · Jun 5, 2018

Russ2251 said:
Oil should always be drained when hot, as particulate matter is in suspension at that time.
When cold, the junk just settles where ever it wants to and stays there until put back into suspension.
Also, oil flows out much faster when hot...carrying all the unwanted gook with it.

Rivets said:
As stated, always drain the oil when it is hot, ten minutes running will do.

Noted, and thanks guys - that makes good sense. I think I'll re-do the oil change with a warm engine.

Rivets said:
Second, please give us the engines model numbers, some engines you put the dipstick all the way in and others you just rest the cap on the top.

The engine is a Kohler Courage 20HP SV601, and another factor may be that I didn't pre-fill the new oil filter - just installed it dry out of the box, ran the engine for a couple minutes, then topped off the crankcase.

7394 · Jun 5, 2018

You 'could' possibly be topping it up, & checking the reading, while the oil has not had a chance to get all the way down the fill tube. When it does ur overfull.

Just a thought.

cmayo · Jun 5, 2018

7394 said:
You 'could' possibly be topping it up, & checking the reading, while the oil has not had a chance to get all the way down the fill tube. When it does ur overfull.

Just a thought.

That's exactly what I'm doing, i.e. sticking it immediately after adding oil. I've always done that with all the vehicles I've owned (I'm 65, so that's a lot of vehicles) and haven't seen this goofy problem before, but I think you make a good point that if I want an accurate reading, I need to give the oil time to work down into the engine before re-checking the level. Thanks 7394!

7394 · Jun 6, 2018

:thumbsup: We try when we can.... Some engines are slow to get the oil into the belly.

Oil reads low - top it off, looks fine, next time I check, it's overfilled

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