[DeTomaso] Oil question at last resolved (I think)

Christopher Kimball chrisvkimball at msn.com
Thu Apr 12 02:01:21 EDT 2012


Thank you to everyone who helped me with my dipstick/oil question.
After reviewing all the information, here's are the conclusions to which I came:
1)  My dipstick tube was originally 26" or so, because mine is now 25" or so, after being shortened.
2) because my dipstick was broken and then repaired, it has always been the correct length of 38," tip to the base of the cup
3) My Armando oil pan is a 10-quart
4) Others' tube-end-to-bracket length are somewhere between 3.5" and 3.75"--mine was 2.5" which corroborates the notion that my tube is about 1" too short

So, I made a new "full" mark on my dipstick one inch above the original full mark
This then showed, guess what, that I was low on oil!
I added three more quarts, for a total of 9 quarts.  At this point, the oil level was slightly higher than the new "full" mark I added to the dipstick.
This should mean that "full" now means 9 quarts.  If I'm off a little, I think I'll be safe, since I'll have a little leeway either way.  Since it's too late tonight to start the car, in deference to the neighbors, I won't know until a day or two from now what will happen when I fire her up--hopefully not a smoke show!
The only nagging question I now have is: what kind of damage might I have caused on Tuesday driving 30 miles each way to and from my front-end alignment shop, while being at least 3 quarts low!  The good news is the oil pressure registered between 35 and 65 lbs (idle to freeway speeds) the entire way (the same as always), and nothing weird happened during the trip...
Sincerely,
Chris

 		 	   		  


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