Hey guys, this might seem like a retarded question, but I haven't changed my oil yet since going turbo and i'm about to change it for the first time. I just wanted to know that since I now have the extra oil lines for the relocation kit and the oil cooler with 6 quarts of oil, how will I be able to drain it all out through the oil pan? I'm assuming that I can't so do I just leave that oil in the lines, and only fill it up 4 quarts? What do you turbo guys do when you change your oil? Also, how the hell do I check my oil levels now because the dipstick will always show above the full mark because i'm now running 6 quarts with the extra oil lines and cooler, so now I have no idea if i'm burning oil. Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.

 

Bump... I need your expertise here

 

i'm no turbo guy but old school V8 guy (hijack )

But just like when you do a normal oil change, you do not get all the oil out of the block. There is oil left in bearing journals, oil galleys, etc., unless you do a complete engine overhaul. The oil will recycle after repeated oil changes. At this point I believe you are worrying too much.

Fill it up to the full mark to start. Run the engine for a few min. Shut if off, then recheck.

 

Thanks O'neil. I'm not really worried about getting every drop of used oil out, but what I am concerned about is how much oil will actually stay in the lines so I know how much to put back in the car. Because now when I check my dipstick it is reading full, but yesterday my car wouldn't engage into VTEC a few times so i'm wondering if I burnt some oil and need to top it off. This blows with the extra oil lines, the dipstick is useless now.

 

How much oil stays in the line depends on the cooler size you got as well as oil lines length. Really hard to say. I would just always keep into consideration about one more quart of oil on every oil change. What you can do is disconnect beginning and ending lines and blow compressed air into one end while the other side drains into a container to see how much oil comes out.

 

Will a oil pressure gauge help to read the oil lever?

 

I'm assuming it would, but more importantly it would help me diagnose my vtec problem. I'm figuring that the more oil you have, the higher the pressure would be.

 

Did you put more oil in and see if VTEC works?

 

No, I haven't driven the car today. I know that when I was on the dyno when the car got really hot it wouldn't kick into vtec on certain runs, but then it would cool down for a few minutes and work. Since then I may have burned off some oil, but i'm not sure because my dipstick still reads all the way full. I think i'll change the oil, but it just seems like guess work unless I blow out all of the lines.

 

it defenitely does not.

You may be 1.5 quarts low and still have adequate oil pressure.

However when you climb those RPM's you do not have enough oil in the pan for efficient oil pickup operation by the time you get oil drained back in the pan

Oil pressure gauge might be helpful if you almost have no oil in the pan, but it might just be too late by then.

I'm not sure at what point the oil pressure would indicate inefficiency but I just don't feel like testing it on my car