Guys.. How soon do you check your oil level on a 328 after the engine has been switched off? so that you get a correct reading? Thanks
Yep, hot & usually 2-5 minutes after switching off I would think. I keep it maxed and then some. There is a dirty great splash guard under the crank so it's fine to keep it very full IMO. I've also think I've seen a difference in operating oil temperature between it being on the max + and down towards the min
Not really that I've noticed. I've run it like that for 10 years + . 2750 miles in the last 2 weeks to Italy & back 😊
Cheers Iain.. I changed the oil a week ago, when I checked the dipstick it was below the max, now I've checked it again without running the engine and its about 8mm above the max? (car not started for a week)? any idea how much over the max becomes dangerous? Sounds like an epic trip to Italy? I may pick your brains on routes etc as I am planning to visit next year in the 328!
That's normal I think. As I said , I keep it slightly over full when hot. It will go up a fair bit when left to drain but that's largely because the oil cooler drains back when you switch it off I think (caveat depending on which way it's plumbed). Mine has the lower connection going to the block so it drains, I suspect those with reversed pipes may not drain as much. Happy to talk about routes. Did the Stelvio and the old St Bernard pass roads again this time. Almost a clear run over both 😊😊😊😊. Just too much fun!
Full cold engine (off for a few days) the oil level can be an inch or more higher than the max mark. If you check it immediately after shutting down and the engine is fully warmed up, it will show as being low as the oil needs to drain back into the pan. Ferrari says to wait 15 minutes for the oil to drain back, then check. The proper method is to check the oil 15 minutes after shutdown on a fully warmed up engine. This is on a 328 wet sump car.... dry sump 308 method is different
Sounds like an epic road trip...... can't wait to do the trip in the 328.... Done France a few times in a 993..... Think I will start the car tomorrow and warm the engine up then take another look on the dip stick!
Good idea. I would doubt you will see much difference between readings at 2,5,10 & 15 minutes to be honest. If the oil is properly warm it flows very quickly back down to the sump. Take some readings & see. As I said, I do it 2-5 minutes after & never had a problem.
Lucky Bastard!!! My dream drive - one day I'll ship the car over to do all the mountain passes, plus a bit of autobahn to blow the cobwebs out.
Funny enough , I found a fairly quiet stretch of unrestricted Autobahn too! 😊😊😊😊
I checked 5 minutes after hot. Got the reading at full. Next morning I checked again when cold. Got the reading which is slightly above full. Now I check only when cold and I go by the overnight level. My engine has been rebuilt and is waiting for installation - afterwards I will do this again to make sure of any new benchmark for overnight level.
+1 As per the above, a very common procedure on automatic-type transmissions, which are normally checked with the tranny hot and idling in neutral is to check/adjust to the proper level in that situation and then, the next morning check the level and inscribe a mark on the dipstick at that point. Then you can easily check when cold without having to rely on memory - a really good thing in my case.... FWIW, running an engine overfull is a bad thing. If the oil level is too close to the spinning crank, the windage in the crankcase can pull oil up into a small tornado around the crank and generate a lot of air/froth in the oil as well as reducing the volume of oil available in the sump. This is a bad thing.
True enough, but it is common on the wet sump to put an extra quart in for track day. It avoids the engine oil starvation in hard turns. I always like to point out in these threads, the two marks on the 308 dipstick are two quarts apart! I don't know if that is also true on the 328???
Interesting - my '89 328 manual specifies 10W40 as opposed to 10W50. But since I don't use either one it doesn't really matter...but it's INTERESTING!
The tighter tolerances of the later engines finally go to a normal weight. ALL of the 308s to my knowledge called for the AGIP 10-50W, and when ever I dropped lower, you could see it!!! Texas of course allowed the common 20-50W for a long time, but now they have the 10-50W and even the 0-50W in synthetics, that's good for me. Royal Purple!!!
