Dear all, I bought a used car with fresh checkup (120.000 km), the test drive and trip to the registration office were unproblematic, the car starts wonderfully and behaves appropriately for the 70kW.

Now I’ve just checked the oil, cleaned the dipstick as usual, then threaded it in, pulled it out and pressed it against a handkerchief. But there’s hardly any oil on it.

There was frost that night. Could this be a reason for the oil collecting at the bottom and I should just drive 10 km and then measure again? Or is the engine dry? Or is the oil so clean that I can’t see it?

I actually want to drive 200 km today, and of course no garage will give me an appointment for a proper oil change today. But I could of course buy oil and fill it up myself.

Thanks for your quick answers!

  • Dr_Bolle@alien.topOPBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Thanks, that’s what I did now. Filled 0,5 L, dipstick still dry. Filled another 0.5L, dipstick showed oil at lower third of the area. Filled in alother 0.5L, then it was at upper third. Left it at 1,5L.

    Then 15 mins later I started the engine and let it run for 10s, then checked the oil again. suddenly it was about a third too high. But cleaned it and measured it a few times, and then the oil above the marking was less and less, I guess it was still sticking to the upper end of the thing where the oil is in.

    Contacted the seller, he said he never measured it but left it to the garage to take care of it.

    Anyway I will drive 200km later, I will post here if anything unusual happens. Will still get an oil change next week with new filters, I guess there’s lots of particles and stuff in the oil now, so cleaning it out will be well-invested money.

    • Sublethall@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      After running the engine you need to let it sit for a minute to get accurate measurement. Also adding 1.5L to engine that takes 2.6L if correct amount doesn’t sound good.