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That is why I asked. If you spend time on google searching, it's a 50/50 thing hot or cold. My car is fine after driving it for a 1/2 hour. If it sits overnight, it does not show any oil and that is what made me wonder..
You know I've never checked it when it's cold. It's too late to do it today, I'll try to remember to check it tomorrow morning and see what the difference is.
That is why I asked. If you spend time on google searching, it's a 50/50 thing hot or cold. My car is fine after driving it for a 1/2 hour. If it sits overnight, it does not show any oil and that is what made me wonder..
this is happening with my car right now. If I leave it in the garage for a day or two, check the oil without turning the engine (cold) then it reads at the low mark on the dip stick
if i drive it for 30 min, shut off the car, then check after 3 minutes, the oil is at the top mark (full). Anyone else experience this?
Here is a question on this subject. The other day, I was checking the oil level on my wife's car. No Problems there. I checked on my LS460 (was cold, I let it run for about 3-5 min), there was no oil showing on the dipstick. I dropped in quart and checked it in the morning. It appeared to have nothing. I drove it to work. When I got to work, the oil level was fine up to normal level. I see no problems here.
Is this common ? When your motor is cold, it will not show ANY oil or is this a sign of another problem ?
David in CT, if you're still here, did you ever figure out the puzzle?
In the meantime, I'll put my 2¢ on this old post because I find it very interesting. Either there's something out of the ordinary going on in your engine, or something's out of whack with your dipstick! Dipstick damage makes the most sense to me; what shape is your dipstick and dipstick tube in? Have they ever been bent or otherwise damaged? When you shove the dipstick in, are you certain it drops into your oil pan the exact same way every time? Is it possible the dipstick is contacting something inside the engine before it gets into the oil?
The second thing seems very unlikely, even if you forget to change your oil but - it's conceivable the engine could be badly sludged inside and it's clogging the oil pickup screen or oil passages. And this might affect how quickly oil drains back to the oil pan after engine shut off.
But the question of how something could happen that would make an engine seemingly defy logic i.e. "cold engine = oil level very low" Vs. "warm engine = oil level consistently reads full"? Now that's a riddle alright, and I'd want to know the answer!
So here's an explanation I found on some other forum, to explain the mystery (of why overnight cold engine oil level reads low, while hot engine oil level reads normal): the answer is (supposedly) heat! The logic is that heat of engine operation expands the engine's oil volume; but it also expands almost all internal engine parts as well. So the theory goes, heat, or the absence of ditto, is what accounts for the increased volume on the dipstick.
"Factors that frequently make the oil level appear too low: 1) Checking the engine oil level with the engine cold and when the ambient temperature is low. At am ambient temperature/engine temperature of minus 10C (14F) the oil level is about 10mm lower than at operating temperature. This is due to the different coefficients of thermal expansion of engine oil and materials of the engine as well as the gas solubility of oil, which is influenced by other factors."
Yes, you should always check your oil when it is warm not cold.
It doesn't matter if you check when hot or cold as long as you give it around 10 minutes to settle after you shut the engine off when hot, cold will always be a little higher because of the longer drain back time. If you see normal levels when the oil is hot and almost off the dipstick when cold you're likely doing something wrong.
It should be checked per user manual at operating temperature:
The difference between Low (1) and Full (2) is only 1.6 qt. So no problem if not visible as the engine has 8.9 qt. without the oil filter. But you should top it up of course.
