I'm a little confused about how to check the oil level on my '78 308GTB with drysump. Ofcause done with hot engine, but should it be running (Like Porsches with drysump) or should it be turned off ? EDIT: Found another thread regarding this. That SEARCH option is great ;-) So check when hot, and engine turned of for a few minutes.
Correct. Dumbass pre-owner of my car almost killed the engine 25 years ago with checking the oil level with the engine running like on his Porsche 911. But on our cars you will always get high dipstick readings even with the oil level way too low. Simply because the return hose - the upper one from the oil cooler-always splashes oil onto the dipstick while the engine runs. Best from Germany Martin
And if you check it cold, you will overfill it as some oil will return to the sump over time thus resulting in a low level in the reservoir. So start it, run it a bit, turn it off and let the froth settle a couple minutes, then measure... On the other hand, I rarely do that as I just know roughly where my cold reservoir level is after a few days, so I just look inside without measuring, drive as much as I want, then check it after the drive.
