when i woke up to go to work, i went to check my oil level... - it was on the minimum line! - ouch! - i toped it off 2 days before, so i was very confused! - drove very slowly to the nearest station (late for work) to find some oil, but they had no 20-50, so i checked my oil level to see if i could drive safely to the next station... - it was half way up - drove another 10 minutes to the next station, no oil again, but i checked the level, and it was on full.. - confused as hell now, i drove to work (20 min on highway) - checked the oil level before entering work, and it was still full....

wtf is going on?! - i know i need a oil change.. but wtf is happening herE?

 

Just kidding, but was your water level going down?

 

sounds like you are not parking on level ground when you are checking the oil level and you are checking when the oil is cold one time and warm another time.

 

in the morning the oil and the engine were for sure cold.. the car was as level as you could possibly have it.. obviously it warmed up before getting to the second gas station.. is this normal? - oil level on minumum when cold, oil level on max after warming the car up??

 

oil levels change based on temp of the oil and how long the engine has been running

 

right, but just confirm with me here, when i checked the level when first starting the car (dead cold) it was on the minimum line, then when it was warmed up, it was on max.. isn't that too much of a fluctuation? - i could see the oil level changing a little.. but doesn't that seem like to much of a change?


-thanks

 

what oil are you using? Crappy oils do tend to expand a lot if the base stock is too low.

And the only accurate test would be if the oil level was tested cold (before starting) then started and run until warm (without moving the car) and then tested again when warm with the engine off. All without moving the car.

 

Castrol GTX 20 - 50 ------ i will be changing to 10-30 today
i know it is time for a oil change, i will be doing one later today, but i am just worried about driving home etc etc...

 

as long as it shows up on the dip stick you are fine

 

HUH? Please explain your quote. All oils contain a basestock. The basestock is the main ingredient to which additives are added to improve the basestock qualities.

As a general rule of thumb, oils typically expan 7-12% in volume in temperature increases from 15 degrees Centrigrade to 100 degrees centigrade.

 

I guess you need to re-read my post, I said:
Not wanting to give you a long lesson on oil, but the base stock is what they start the oil with (say a 10W30 starts with a 10W base stock, while a 20W50 starts with a 20W base stock) and then add polymer packages to extend the oil to the top weight number.

For example a 10W50 is a 10 weight oil, that when warm, the long chain polymers expand out to make the oil act like a 50 weight oil.

So if the base stock is sufficently poor (as I said, and pointing to less refined, cheaper, off brand oils), the long chain polymers needed are considerably increased.

Now perhaps you think that "base stock" is the same for every oil out there. I can assure you that it is not. Even from what feild the oil is originally pump from affects the base stock, to what refinery processes it, to what oil company buys and packages, the base stock varies considerably. So the additives dumped in, can vary are well, just to get the oil to perform as advertised.

crapper base stock, more polymers, oil volumn may go up as much as 12-15%. better base stock less additives, maybe only 7-10% increase when warm.

Now lets toss in the weights... the amount of additives dumped into a 10W base stock to get a 40 weight when warm, is considerably more than a 10W base stock going to a 30 weight when warm. That too increases the volumn when warm (and as a draw back to our motors- the build up in the motor as well).

 

Wow I want to see the long lesson =p