Yes, I've searched. Yes, I've read the manual. Can someone please give me definitive guidance on (a) whether the car should be warm before checking the oil on the dipstick, and (b) if it should be warm, then how long I should wait after shutting down the engine before checking the oil? Many thanks!
My understanding: check only with the car fully warmed up; check either while car is idling, or immediately after you turn it off.
The manual cannot be more clear. It says run until oil temp reaches 158 degrees, turn off the motor and check immediately. Is there some confusion with that information?
Thanks. I have not seen that in my manual. The section I read describes where it should fall on the dipstick and how frequently to check. Perhaps I didn't read the right part? Either way, thank you. This is what I needed.
Right. Just dont overfill it. I did once and it blew burt oil out the back till I dropped the level (10 minutes later). Scarey.
the dealer in geneva told me to warm it up to normal operating temp - must be about where rifledriver says, and then check it at idle. now, for info nobody has given you yet....because the receptacle where you pour in the oil is shaped roughly like a stepped sand castle, your dipstick can read barely an increase after a quart, and then the next quart puts you over the max limit. so if you are below the min, you can pour in a whole quart without thinking, but if you are just low around the min level, you need to add a bit at a time to make sure you dont overfill. tedious but less hassle than removing the excess oil
Thank you very much for this advice. This is my third Ferrari, but my last two had a very different configuration and oil-check procedure. I am not accustomed to this yet!
Mark- One thing you can do, too, is check it while she is still idling and then check it after shut down. I am betting the results will not be too different. Just safer to do it shut down. Not the case for some dry sump Ferraris, though, that have a much more complicated oil check procedure. Like the 599.
Man, this thing is hard to get the oil right. Half a quart takes it from below min to above max! Siphoning as I type....
One would think being a bit low might not be fatal, due to the large capacity, but I don't feel confident enough in that belief to risk grenading my engine to due laxity.
I'm more worried about overfilling than being a hair low...but it's a real struggle to nail it. Should I worry too much about being a centimeter over the max line? Seems like if that's half a quart high in a system that holds this much oil, it's hard to imagine doing any damage. But is that crazy?
please refer to my post above....basically i told you so. now siphon to the max line. better safe than sorry.
Ross, yes. I know. Thanks. Who doesn't enjoy an "I told you so"? I was being very cautious. I think my mistake was that I was spending a lot of time carefully adding oil to get it right to the max line. Meanwhile, the car was cooling and whatever else. When I got it just right, I fired it up and let it run a few...checked again and it was above the max.
sorry, i forgot to add the add the smiley in that last post - not trying to bust your balls, just poking fun. yes, it is tricky. every owner does it once, and then you never do it again. if you wanted easy you would be driving a buick !
Related question: when changing oil, is there a trick to avoid having to drop the belly pan? Removal is a PITA, and without removing the pan I'm sure the oil would make a real mess.
No worries on the lack of smiley faces. I got that it was a friendly. Just still kicking myself. I siphoned some off using a little length of tube, but that's a slow, messy process. Delicious, too. Ordered a cheap little siphon pump to finish the job.
There is, or should be, a removable bung directly under the oil tank - for draining the tank. Draining the sump is no problem, obviously.
One of the plugs is located in an opening in the belly pan, and when I undid the plug to drain the oil I could not prevent the oil from spilling into the pan, necessitating its removal. I was thinking or using a cardboard core from a roll of paper towels: putting it up through the belly pan, flanking the plug, holding it in place while undoing the plug.
My tech tells me, with the maranellos most of the problems he sees regarding oil is due to overfilling.
I just checked mine (cold) for the first time since getting the car 12 days ago and it's ~2cm below the minimum line. Warm it up and recheck or add some first? I suspect the former. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Warm it up! And then add it very slowly, if you need any at all. Seriously. Like a quarter of a quart at a time, running the engine in between. Half a quart is the difference between midpoint between min and max versus a good centimeter above max.
Yup, read the manual. Got that. Just looking for advice before starting a very expensive engine that appeared to be low on oil. Got my answer elsewhere, but thanks for flaming me. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
