luke_a192

Back in January I was running a little low on oil so I added some to get it up to the fill mark. after a couple days I checked it again and it was drastically low, I added some more and it didn't raise the level. There where no major leaks and it wasn't burning oil that bad. Seeing as it was do for an oil change I got it scheduled for that and to get checked for where the oil was going. I didn't drive it for a couple days then when I checked the oil level again before taking it to the shop it was way above the maximum fill mark on the dipstick. Well since then I've been keeping an eye on the oil level and it was starting to get to the low fill mark again so i added some more oil. i checked it the next day and the level dropped below the low fill mark again. So my question is, does anyone have any idea about what may be going on?

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-=luke=-

pIERCE

Your not checking on a level area, most likely.

Do you check it completely level after it has sat for 4-6 hours? If not, then it is inaccurate.

If you can't make either of those happen, then you won't be able to accurately check the oil.

luke_a192

I check it on a flat driveway, but i usually let it sit for an hour so that may be it

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-=luke=-

luke_a192

Well i let the car sit for 6 hours then checked the oil level and it's still low. So either i really did lose a lot of oil or I don't know what. I haven't noticed any oil on the ground under my car so it would have to have leaked while I was driving. I guess I'll just try topping it off and keeping an eye on it.

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-=luke=-

pIERCE

Are you absolutely sure it's flat?

Here man, I have a good example: I park my car in a garage, which is on a housepad that was leveled by engineers. It is as level as level can be. I check my oil there after sitting for a night.

Ok, so I checked my oil in front of my bro's house a few days ago. The street is by no means slanted. The edge of the street is a little slanted as are most streets for waterflow. So you would think, "OK, it might influence the oil level a little, but not very much, right?"

So I check my oil, it is RIGHT ON the add line.....I'm thinking.....****. So I drive home, and check my oil in my garage the next morning. It is just under what would be halfway between the Add/Full holes.

Can you believe how inaccurate checking my oil on what most people would consider to be a "flat" surface? !!!!!!!
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So, I have to ask, have you been checking the oil on the same surface every day? See, it's relative, if you check on one surface every time you check, the level may not be level to the Earth, but it will be relatively level to the last time you checked. But you ahve to check it from the exact same spot in the exact same place every time. See?

luke_a192

For the last couple months I have been checking it on the driveway that's pretty flat for the most part so I'm thinking maybe I just haven't been letting it sit long enough or It's only really leaking while I'm driving. Thanks for the input

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-=luke=-

Lude Acts

You definately don't want to overfill the oil.....

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The Japanese have a saying......"The nail that sticks out gets hammered."

luke_a192

Yeah i know not to overfill the oil, that's why I'm making a deal about whether the oil level is reading right. Anyways, I noticed that there is a clear difference in the dipstick reading between letting the car sit for 7 hours before checking and letting it sit for 12 hours. I'm assuming that after 12 hours all the oil has settled so that's the actual level, and letting it sit longer would show the same level.

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-=luke=-

Lude Acts

When I check mine, I always check it before I go to work in the morning before I start the engine. This way it has ample time to drip all back down to the oil pan from sitting overnight.

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The Japanese have a saying......"The nail that sticks out gets hammered."

KraserK

hehe i do that too!! and you get the correct reading every single time! BTW any ideas on why it is bad to over fill? and is it better to leave it on the second dot on or between both dots?

pIERCE

You engine and it's seals, and the pump itself are only built to handle so much psi of oil pressure(don't remember how you guys measure pressure over there), if that is exceeded too far, things will start to blow. Literally. You could screw up your pump, but that would be very tough, and probably not happen at all. What would happen is that the pressure would get much too high and would start to pop your oil seals....then you have massive oil loss.

= Catastrophe.

There is no better. Honda designed for this engine to run perfectly fine when the oil level is anywhere on or between those two dots. Having it on the full(top) dot is better to me only because that means there is more oil to mix with the bad particles that are inevitably in the oil. If you have 5 good, and 1 bad.....it there is more chance of getting the 1 bad in your bearings than if you have 6 good, and 1 bad.

See what I'm saying? If you have 5 quarts instead of 4, there are more foreign particles--which is usually measured in "ppm"(aka Parts Per Million[molecules])--per amount of oil.

I keep my car between what would be half and full. Some people say that "their mechanic" told them halfway is best.

There is no best, only preference.

The method I use to gauge my "best" is how many ppm there are of foreign stuffs compared to the amount of oil--I am not a scientist, but I think that the more oil there is in my crankcase, the proportion of the bad **** mixed with the good oil that is pumped through my bearings is changed; higher proportion of good oil, lower proportion of bad foreign material. But that is me and my ignorant opinion.

luke_a192

There's another problem in addition to the higher pressure of the oil if you over fill. If the oil's too high it could hit the crankshaft while the engines running. As the crankshaft agitates the oil it will mix air in, causing it not to lubricate properly.

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-=luke=-

indylude18

That's not quite how it works, but the end result is correct. The pressure buildup has little to do with the oil pump, it is more to do with the crankshaft and connecting rods compressing the oil (well, trying to anyway, liquids don't compress after all) and building up pressure in the crank case. If the pressure in the crankcase gets too high, the oil will find a way out. That usually ends with a nice big kaboom and oil all over the place.



Ah, that's more like it. Also the excess oil can seep up into the combustion chamber where it can cause big problems if in large enough quantities. If it's WAY too much, it can cause hydrolock.

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Bluetop H23a Vtec Swapped NHBP '99 Base

Lude Acts

Pretty much, as stated, if there is too much oil in the pan, a few things can\will happen. Your crankshaft has to work harder to spin through the extra oil (like trying to run in a swimming pool) putting strain and parasitic loss of hp on the engine. Also you could blow out engine seals from too much oil pressure, and\or probably do some damage to the piston rings if you severely overfilled it. That oil will not compress. If it runs out of space in the bottom end of the engine, it has to go somewhere, and will erupt out of some crevice or seal like a high-viscosity volcano.

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The Japanese have a saying......"The nail that sticks out gets hammered."

pIERCE

Not true. The oil that is trying to be forced through the engine into(between) the bearings won't go at the speed it is being pushed(by the pump). It's not going to **** up your bearings/journals. It's not going to come out of your crankcase. It's gonna come out of the passages in between the cylinder head and block, or the plugs that plug the oil passages--or maybe other minor seals along the way.

KraserK

Okay so basically you guys are saying that where ever I fill the oil between the dots it really doesn't matter as long as it doesn't go over or under? The thing is I know oil will always lubricate the engine so having less is okay and better for gas as the engine does not have to work as hard. I have 5w-30 castrol edge which is a very good oil. I notice when I used to Vtec it alot and keep filling up my oil to the second dot some oil used to leak into a spark plug tube which resulted in me cleaning the damn thing out all the time. I now don't ever vtec and I keep the oil between the two dots and I don't burn any oil. Oh and bassically what some guy is saying here is that running a higher weight oil e.g. 5w-(60) makes the engine run harder so it is better to have 5w-30 . And pierce! thank you same with Indy and all others.

pIERCE

Yeah. If it goes a little(which is relative) over or under, you are not in "the red zone"...so don't panic. Just try to keep it between or on the dots.

I read in a muscle car magazine a few years ago the some racers would intentionally dump out a quart of oil(so it'd be at the "add" line) when they get to "the track"....and that it theoretically added somewhere around 10 hp to some motors. But these were guys with 4-500+hp V-8's. So how much truth of that goes for our puny little H22's is another story of debate.

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa......are you saying that your plug holes are naturally filling with oil?

Or are you sayin that you accidentally spill some in there when you fill your oil?

If it the latter.....get a ****ing funnel.

If it's the first issue, you need to replace 4 tiny round gaskets that go between the head and the valve cover. Very easy.

You don't burn any oil if you don't engage vtec? Lucky bastard.

5W-60? Never heard of that.....

Yeah, thinner oils are better for fuel economy/power, but unfortunately, they don't lube well under as much load as heavier weight oils. So for high performance or heavy duty applications, they are sort of frowned upon.

DNick

Do you guys suggest using high quality synthetic oils. I just changed mine with 5 30 Valvoline's synthetic. Though I've hear of some engines that run better and should be ran with regular oil.

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98 Prelude

leftbrain99

If you change your oil and filter religiously every 3000 to 3500 miles, synthetic will provide no benefit, IMO. The only benefit of synthetic is that it does not break down over time as quickly as conventional can. That said, I have used only Mobile 1 in my Prelude, and only because of the added insurance if I get lazy and wait 4000 -5000 miles or more between changes.

My BMW e39 540i requires oil changes with synthetic every 7500 - 10000 miles. Granted, it holds 8 quarts. I think the newer BMW models specify 15K miles between changes, even. Synthetic, of course. Just for reference.

But, like I said, I would be completely comfortable running conventional as long as I were sure to change it properly every 3000.

pIERCE

^^^I agree. Sort of.

From what I can tell, synthetic will protect somewhat better, for much longer. But I'm not going to insist upon it.

I use synth, but as left said, as long as your change intervals are correct, you'll be fine on conventional.