prr

I'm finishing up my first Civic oil change. I can't find out the amount of oil that the distance between the full and low marks on the dipstick measure. I poured in 3.5 quarts; I changed the filter as well as drained the oil, so I know I didn't overfill. I'd just like to know immediately, when I go check the dipstick. My Sienna owners manual had the measurement, but I couldn't find it in the Civic 98 manual.

Does anyone know?

ezone

99% of ALL cars on the road: one quart

prr

My Sienna owners manual says the distance signifies 1.6 US quarts.

ezone

Benz engines, many were two quarts between marks.

Now oil dipsticks have become obsolete for some manufacturers.

prr

If you were to see a Civic that had oil halfway between the two marks, you would add 8 ounces? Just to be on the safe side (knowing that I had already put in 3.5 quarts, when the total capacity including filter was 3.8), I put in about 6-8 ounces. Now that I look back, that was probably a tad too much, but I suppose the marks have a slight tolerance.

At least, I hope so.

One other issue (should have taken care of this before I added) was that it wasn't 100% clear where the oil was. I did two measurements and it seemed like it was halfway between.

The newer cars (at least the expensive ones) don't have dipsticks---they have a readout on the dashboard? The Sienna dipstick has been very tough to read, usually the Civic is pretty clear. I would love to have a dashboard display to remove all doubt.

ezone

Anywhere between the two marks is a safe area. You can let it go or dump in some dribbles as you see fit.

I used to see those engines come in seriously overfilled on a regular basis. 4.5 quarts, maybe 5 quarts. Still see 7th gens come in way overfilled.
"All oil changes get 5 quarts! (no matter if it needs it or not)"

prr

After an 8 mile drive this morning, I stopped the car, waited a few mins and measured the oil. I'm not 100% sure, because the oil wasn't easy to see on the dispstick, but it was eitehr right at the full mark, or just under 1/5 inch above.

Unless I'm on dangerous ground (which I doubt at this point), I'll just let it stay there.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

I would let it sit longer then a few minutes.

Honda uses the metal dipsticks which I find a lot easier to read the the plastic ones.

ezone

When I do an oil change I don't have a few minutes extra. 10 seconds is pushing it.

Yeah the orange plastic sucks sometimes when trying to look at clean oil.
I have a few different old metal dipsticks saved as special tools just because of this.

prr

Today, I had the unfortunate opportunity to find out approximately how much oil is between the low and full marks on my dipstick. With the oil right at the low mark, I poured in 26 ounces (measured with a 16 oz cup with 2 oz markers), and the oil level was just a hair under the full line. I won't top off until I see that i need more than that; I'll check it once more after a drive to operating temps, and a few mins rest.



But for now, I can safely estimate it at 7/8 (28/32) of a quart. So ezone was (nearly) right.