engine's 'natural' oil level

[Jay]

Would imagine that the natural level you are seeing could be the level that produces the amount of oil pressure the car is happiest with.

Any higher and it pushes oil out of the system (through a seal or a breather) until it reaches that 'natural level' that you are seeing. At that stage the pressure drops and the leak is not as pronounced.

 

[monka]

Thanks jay,

Will check the spark plug seals tomorrow mike,

 

[Mike D EP82]

Thanks jay,

Will check the spark plug seals tomorrow mike,

it hard to come up with ideas when most are ruled out but you may want to whip the plugs out and do a compression test and compare the readings just in case.

 

[fastglanza]

if your car doesnt burn a little bit of oil. you either dont use it enough or dont drive it hard enough

alot of cars burn oil, some more than others. the likes of rx7's and 8's use a fair bit. most high revving performance cars like ferraris and lambos do too.

italian cars in general seem to be made to use some oil.

cant really saythat the rx7/rx8's in this league as they are meant to burn the oil since it literally injects oil into the chambers for added lubrication

weird problem tho..any chance the previous owner changed the dipstick or anything? Also do u have any idea how much oil is actually in the engine e.g. like draining it/oil change at that low level? Its going somewhere

 

[monka]

Well oil is getting changed one evening this week, as for dipstick, anyone know how long they are meant to be?

 

[weakboy2]

All i will say is, that i am helpful when its needed.

If its not leaking its burning it, tbh unless you are constantly looking in the rear view mirror or having someone follow you you wont notice it getting burnt off unless plumes of smoke appear.

If you want to be like this then explain to me one thing. How on earth have you got nearly as much rep as me, when most of your threads are like this? i think the rep system is a farce!

 

[Mike D EP82]

inspect the stick and make sure you can pull the metal part from the plastic handle as this could affect the reading your getting.

 

[Texx]

The crankshaft oil seals are most likely to leak when the crankshaft is spinning and spinning quite quickly i.e. higher engine revs. You may find that the seals leak less when the oil level is low due to the fact that there is less oil splashing about in the sump. I would suggest you clean the oil contaminated areas around the crankshaft seals (use some brake cleaner and an airline blower if you have access to one), fill the engine oil to the maximum level, take the car for a run to get the oil hot and then run the engine at high revs, say around 4,000rpm for several minutes with the car stationary and then check to see how bad the seals are leaking.

 

[monka]

All i will say is, that i am helpful when its needed.

If its not leaking its burning it, tbh unless you are constantly looking in the rear view mirror or having someone follow you you wont notice it getting burnt off unless plumes of smoke appear.

If you want to be like this then explain to me one thing. How on earth have you got nearly as much rep as me, when most of your threads are like this? i think the rep system is a farce!

exactly, threads, where i ask questions i dont know the answer to, posts, are where you give answers, which i have done in situations where i know the answer.
yeah there are things i dont know, but hey, not perfect am i, obviously you are and dont need to ask questions. and obviously you know different things to me, probaly certain aspects that you know more than me, and some aspects that i know more than you, i answer in the threads i know more about. probally hence relatively same rep levels

i answer questions that i know the answer to, and dont bother replying in threads if i'm just going to make a shit comment.

as for smoke, nothing when left idling for however long, and have been told of an odd puff of black smoke on gear change when driving hard.

 

[Mike D EP82]

black smoke isnt really anything to worry about, most likely a little overfuelling or even just soot from the exhaust

 

[weeJohn]

The crankshaft oil seals are most likely to leak when the crankshaft is spinning and spinning quite quickly i.e. higher engine revs. You may find that the seals leak less when the oil level is low due to the fact that there is less oil splashing about in the sump. I would suggest you clean the oil contaminated areas around the crankshaft seals (use some brake cleaner and an airline blower if you have access to one), fill the engine oil to the maximum level, take the car for a run to get the oil hot and then run the engine at high revs, say around 4,000rpm for several minutes with the car stationary and then check to see how bad the seals are leaking.

I think Texx has nailed your "problem" in this.

The oil is leaking out of your crankshaft oil seals, when the engine is running and the oil is hot and thin, more oil leaks out. When you corner and oil levels around the seals increase due to lean and g forces, more oil leaks out of the seals.

Most of the oil that comes out of theses seals is thrown away due to the spinning of the crank, so you dont really see it all over the engine and dripping off. I bet if you fix both seals it will sit on a higher level.

I had this problem when my front seal was leaking, oil levels would drop to about min and stop dropping. Replacing the seal cured the problem.

 

[Mike D EP82]

just remember aswell the crank seals are bad for leaking on these engines anyway but watch out as if the oil is getting into the timing case the oil can wear the timing belt down and can eventually lead it to snapping!! so id at least do the front seal just now as its easier than ripping the box out. just as a precautionary measure

 

[Texx]

Both my front and rear crankshaft seals are leaking, but the engine never drips oil on the ground, oil is only ever lost when driving. I probably add about 200ml of oil every 1000 miles or so.

It's one of those jobs I always intend to sort, but never seem to get round to it.

 

[Mike D EP82]

Both my front and rear crankshaft seals are leaking, but the engine never drips oil on the ground, oil is only ever lost when driving. I probably add about 200ml of oil every 1000 miles or so.

It's one of those jobs I always intend to sort, but never seem to get round to it.

one of those i cant be arsed this week maybe next week and it just seems to go on and on then something else breaks so bugger it ill do that at the same time sort of things lol do it all the time

 

[glanzaV195]

Would imagine that the natural level you are seeing could be the level that produces the amount of oil pressure the car is happiest with.

Any higher and it pushes oil out of the system (through a seal or a breather) until it reaches that 'natural level' that you are seeing. At that stage the pressure drops and the leak is not as pronounced.

Dont understand the logic in this post,

providing the oil pick up is submerged at all times the pump should maintain the same oil pressure regardless of level.

pressure will only be reduced if the pump is airating, if this is the case then you need to do something about it.....

 

[gorganl2000]

well...simply put...your car should not be using oil at the rate you have stated
your car is either burning it (leaky valve stem seals, leaky piston rings, leaky turbo) or/and leaking it out (cam seal, rocket cover, sump seal and/or crank shaft seals, pcv, breather, distributor seal, etc)

having had dealings with several 4e/5e engines....once they are in good shape, you should not get too much loss of oil betweeen scheduled oil changes

also, if your engine is forged and the tolerances are not exact, you could suffer from the above

i think u really need to change those seals and take a good look over at your engine

 

[monka]

Both my front and rear crankshaft seals are leaking, but the engine never drips oil on the ground, oil is only ever lost when driving. I probably add about 200ml of oil every 1000 miles or so.

It's one of those jobs I always intend to sort, but never seem to get round to it.

yeah i think you are probally right, didnt get a chance to change my oil tonite as a put a new exhaust on the gf's almera, but try to do it tomorrow and clean all the oil off underneath, i'd just wipe it off but to get thecar on the ramps i have to take the bumper off, lol

 

[weakboy2]

put some blocks of wood in front of the ramps