Checked oil after car sitting for 10 minutes

Drove my car home from work last night. It was perfect 72 degrees and I had the targa top off. Right after I pulled into the garage and shut the car off, I popped the hood and went to check the oil. The oil cap was pretty hot so I waited 10 minutes and then checked. Car was still giving off heat from the drive home and was by no means cool. Did I wait too long?

 

I understand that you checked with the engine not running?
Level was too low I assume....

 

Always check the oil in dry sump motors while at idle.

See my oil change document which can be downloaded here: Helpful Links ? Sticky RX Refinishing Solutions

 

Yes you waited to long.

Get a rag or gloves to keep the hot as hell cap from being ouchy.

 

You can check with the engine shut down, but you will have to be fast, say within the minute. Otherwise the reading will be too low to be accurate.

 

Thanks guys - that answers that question. Follow-on question then... What should my oil pressure reading be during a long drive on a 70 degree evening? Both at idle at a stop light and under normal cruising at about 60 MPH?

 

Reading Dave's pdf, I should check my manual. I think my pressure guage is in bars. At Idle is was going to 0 and while running didn't seem to go above 35. 5w40 oil.

 

ALL cars I've had with dry sump motors recommending checking the oil with the motor running at idle after 30-60 seconds on a level surface.

For some reason, Ferrari recommends checking the oil within 30 seconds after turning the engine off. I do it both way just to make sure but I know it's redundant. I also keep a pair of welder gloves from Pep Boys since it's so hot there.

 

You have to check within about 20 seconds of turning off the engine (I think the manual says "immediately after turning off the engine")

Or, others have said they checked while the car was running and that too gives an accurate reading.

 

check it while running, after its warmed up is really the best way by far.


These cars are notorious for faulty oil pressure gauge readings.
Mine was way off (showing 0-40psi when hot), after a gauge swap, gave me high blood pressure and freaked me out since usually thats an engines death notice. I read here it was normal, but i still had to fix it.
- check engine grounds
- Add a ground directly to the oil pressure sender.
- replace sender
- Try a manual/ mechanical gauge
- check wires
- Check cluster
- replace gauge.

I did most of those and it turned out to be a lose nut on the green circuit board film thats on the back of the gauge. Now i show normal oil pressure. Hot 20psi-100psi

 

Guys, the 355 manual says to check immediately after shut down. Cars after the 355 say to check when at idle.

I promise you - checking at idle is the best situation. No running back to the car and hoping you time it the same each time.

It's a dry sump motor - what that means is the sump is too small to hold all the oil (by design to lower the CG of the motor in the car), hence the remove tank. A scavenge pump takes the oil from the sump and sends it to the remote tank for cooling. The pressure pump then deliverers the oil to the engine components.

Check at idle (when oil is at operating temperature)

 

I been a dry sump guy since the 70's

Always at idle and run it on the low side

 

Don't know why, but this response made me chuckle

 

The oil pressure rule of thumb is a minimum of 10 psi per 1000 RPM, so at 7k RPM you should have at least 70psi of oil pressure. Most pumps make more than 10 psi per 1k RPM in the middle of the rev range, so you should expect to see more than 30 psi at 3k revs.

 

I always check at idle.. after the car has been driven to full temp..

I don't start the car from cold and let warm up.. and then check...

the way I prefer, is to test it after ive been out for a drive etc..
at idle.. grab a glove and that's it..

 

I have always run the car for a bit, then shut it off, then checked oil level promptly. Factory recommended.

 

Once when checking the oil in my old 355 at idle oil splashed all over the place. Luckily I had gloves on and was not burned. The oil went all over the exhaust manifolds and caused a huge cloud of smoke. I thought the car was going to burst into flames. Needless to say I became a little reluctant to check the oil with the car running after that. I now shut down the car and check it as quickly as possible.

 

well with all due respect, you weren't too careful then.
there's no oil to be splashed around by just simply lifting the stick out.
and even at that after shut down headers will still be scorching hot anyways.
I have a paper towel to put under the stick as soon as it's lifted out so nothing drips.

 

With respect, I fully agree.

 

Agreed. SOP for Pbugs with dry sumps to check while idling.

 

I have the same issue reading low pressure. Changed sender without a difference. Tried grounding sensor and still no change. I suspect it is a problem in the cluster as a mechanical gauge reads fine.

 

Pressure will be low when cold and will increase with heat. You should see higher pressure under revs too.

 

Haven't had the car for that long but it seemed a little low from what I had previously observed. So at idle I should see at least 10 psi. Hard to say, there's not that much distance between the first two lines of 0 and 35. At idle it looked like it was on 0. Cruising between 50-60 mph in 4th gear it looked to be at about 30-35 which I would guess I was close to 3500 rpm being in 4th. Have to drive it around and check it out again. Maybe it had something to do with the relative atmospheric pressure being low or high that evening. It was the warmest day that I have ever driven it.

 

Good haha

 

Re. temperature, it is actually the other way around.