[DeTomaso] 10 qt oil pan

MikeLDrew at aol.com MikeLDrew at aol.com
Tue Mar 6 11:46:08 EST 2012


In a message dated 3/6/12 8 20 28, jjdetrich at gmail.com writes:


> Okay, here's a really dumb question. I'm changing the oil in my 10 qt oil
> pan and I got to thinking. Way back when, I seem to remember that
> you needed to adjust the length of your dipstick after adding the ten
> quarts to a 10 qt pan to get the right amount of oil in the pan. If this 
> is
> so, it seems counter-intuitive to me. Wouldn't you want to add oil until 
> it
> shows full on the *stock *dipstick because this is the correct fluid level
> measured relative to the inside mechanicals?
> 

Your memory is wrong, your intuition is correct.   You could have an oil 
pan the size of Lake Michigan hanging from under your engine--it's still 
'full' when the oil reaches a certain distance below the crankshaft, as dictated 
by the dipstick.

Adjusting the length of the dipstick is something that was done, 
independent of the type of oil pan used.   The early Panteras had dipsticks that were 
too long.   Because they reached too far into the pan, owners ran the cars 
dangerously low on oil.   It used to be a common practice to 'throw an extra 
quart in', which was actually good advice for the early cars.   

TSB #5 identified the problem and prescribed the fix--remove the dipstick 
and shorten it to 38 inches total length, from the tip to the stop.   The 
later cars (mid-1972 and later) came from the factory with the correct-length 
dipstick.   Any dipstick that was so-modified had the handle painted yellow 
to identify it as such (so if your dipstick isn't yellow, measure it, and if 
it's longer than 38 inches, either modify it, or (more simply) re-mark it 
and put your own 'low' and 'full' marks on it and ignore the factory marks).

Mike


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