SiDHEaD

I hear conflicting stories of this, and not being very technically minded get a bit lost by it all.

What is the best way to be checking my oil levels?

greasemonkey

Reason you get conflicting stories is because there's no one single "right" way of doing it.

Normally check mine with the engine cold. On flat surface, remove dipstick, wipe completely clean, replace and remove. The "correct" oil level in this scenario is about half way between the two holes.

If you check the oil when the engine is hot it's okay for it to go a little higher, but never let it go above the upper hole.

SiDHEaD

Cheers. My Z-S is parked across the end of the drive on the flat so easy to check when cold, but i'll have to roll the Scoob out to check that. Don't drive the scoob much atm anyway so it was the z-s i was particularly concerned about.

Andy

StanS

iTrader: (3)

I thought the cold max oil level was the top hole and hot max oil level was the top notch. Bottom hole was min hot level, lowest notch was min cold level.
I usually repeat wipe/check 2-3 times.

Stan

greasemonkey

No, the mantra now preached by Subaru UK is to treat the top hole as the greatest amount of oil that should ever be present in the engine.

Looking at the balance of probability, there's less chance of something going wrong if you run slightly underfilled than there is if you run slightly overfilled, so less is almost literally more in this case.

StanS

iTrader: (3)

Having heard some of Subaru's wonderful advice eg "they all do that sir" re piston slap and "piston slap has no adverse effect on the engine's performance or life" as an excuse to stop repairing slappy engines, I wouldn't take too much notice. I over fill my gear box with oil to help cooling (no doubt a "no-no" by Subaru ) and if I was hammering round a long corner, so the oil was thrown to one side of the sump, I would rather have too much than too little in the sump to reduce the risk of no oil getting sucked up and dry bearings. I have a baffled sump so its less of a worry now !
Still, we all do what we think best with our own engine !!
I think I got the level info from the Subaru handbook, so who knows !!
Stan

greasemonkey

While your comment regarding slap has some foundation Stan, in this case, the advice about never letting the oil go above the upper hole is perfectly fair comment.

That's no bad thing, as it covers the third driven gear better.

Trouble is that the rest of the time, your overfill is more likely to cause a blocked boost solenoid, so it's a case of deciding which is the lesser of two evils.

StanS

iTrader: (3)

Exactly why I said you have to make a decision for your own engine - and live with the consequences !!
So far (6 years) so good !
Stan

malinen

Just a reminder about this:

http://public.fotki.com/Tester123/turbo/turbo.html

StanS

iTrader: (3)

Ahhhhhh ! So I assume that means its different for pre 00 models.
My UK 98 hasn't got a F or L on, only holes and notches.
On mine I'll stick with what I've always done as it (so far) seems to be OK
What year is yours SiDHEaD ? (sorry if the capitals are in the wrong place !)
Stan

SiDHEaD

Mine is MY00. I'll have a look later.