azari

I recently took a trip down to florida from DC with my '91 LS400 (80k miles at the time, no with 83k). 1000 miles getting there, 1000 miles driving around in FL, and 1000 miles getting back (so a total of exactly 3000). During this 3000 miles, the car was trouble-free except for one thing. On the drive back, after driving for about 2700 miles (of total 3000) the "low oil level" light came on. I was really surprised; I had changed the oil the day before I took the trip and I said to myself that I would change it once I got back home (3000 miles). Well, anyways, I drove for about an hour before I reached a nice place to get off highway and buy oil and put it in. Not knowing exactly how much oil the engine needed, and afraid of overfilling it, I put in a half a quart, and the light never came back on for the next 300 miles until I got home. When I arrived, I didn't check the dipstick until a week later (but I didn't drive the car during that week either, so i'm not that careleess ). But when I finally did, it was halfway between F and L on the dipstick. Has this happened to anyone? I talked to my mechanic (who by the way did the oil change too), and he said that his '91 LS400 did this exact thing when he went on a long trip as well. He said that it burns oil, especially if you drive fast (which is what I did, 70-85 MPH average). But I mean, so much oil that the low oil level light comes on????!! (I drove pretty much straight on the way there and back with a few very very short brakes for food or gas, so i don't know if this has anything to do with it). Again, if anyone has expereinced this, pleaes let me know, thanks.

Luthor

Yes, I have had this happen on my 92 LS400 as well. The"orange" add oil light came on which is different than the "red" oil light. I have been told by my tech that when the add oil light comes on it is at the low level and needs 1 qt.
I have had this light come on twice, both times on the freeway traveling at above 75 mph to keep the air suspension in "low"
I think this light is great, it lets you know you are getting low, without it running completly to low levels when the RED stop your car oil light comes on.

tvd51

That happened to me once on a not-too-long trip (500 miles), and I think that it may be one of the two possible reasons:
1. the dipstick is wrong: when I change the oil, I only put in about 4.5 liters of oil and the dipstick shows that it's full. The manual says that it needs 5.3 liters
2. water in the oil: if you drive around town for several months, water can form in the oil, and when you drive on highway for couple of hours, the oil gets hot enough to evaporate the water.
tvd51

rybikowsky

You have to fill theoil above the dipstick to allow for the oil filter filling up or put in the oil go for a drive,check the level and top up.

RA40

iTrader: (6)

What is the normal characteristic around town, are you having to refill oil between changes? At 80K, I wouldn't suspect your engnine to be overly worn and this may be typical. On my older cars, I have noticed that oil consumption does go up on long trips and relative to engine RPM.

A trip down to San Diego and back ~240miles, one of my cars would take a 1/2 quart.