Different oil level readings with hood open

greiswig said:

Ordinarily “the guys in the fb group” and “credibility” aren’t closely aligned in my mind. Maybe they’re right, but I can’t think of any good reason why there would be two different scales?

However, I could see how the time difference between measurements might cause later measurements to be higher, due to fully draining the galleys.

interesting…

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I was going to say this, but glad you were the first.

I have never seen more misinformation than I've seen on the LR4-related facebook groups. Common sense and easily verifiable things, too, like which engine came in which model, differences between the LR3 and the LR4, availability of lockers, etc. I mean, I'm no expert (I'm just a guy who posts a lot on an internet forum), but man... the saying "If you don't know, don't say anything" is not a mantra shared by most of those facebook groups.

On the other hand, you have people who post there who are extremely knowledgable, to the point where I believe they are Land Rover techs. But sometimes it's hard to separate the two and determine if the poster is someone who knows what's going on.

i dropped the car off this morning - it has been 2K miles since the last oil change. lets see how much oil comes out.

ttforcefed said:

about 30 mins

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That's the source of your difference, if the *14 photo was taken shortly after engine shutoff.

greiswig said:

That's the source of your difference, if the *14 photo was taken shortly after engine shutoff.

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but everyone else says this doesnt happen to them, when in theory it shld, because the bypass method is only used when the car has just been driven, or am i thinking about that incorrectly?

ttforcefed said:

but everyone else says this doesnt happen to them, when in theory it shld, because the bypass method is only used when the car has just been driven, or am i thinking about that incorrectly?

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I don't know who the "everyone else" is that you're referring to. I guess the best I can do is to have you take the time interval variable out of the experiment. Let the vehicle sit for half an hour after it was run. Then try both methods of checking the oil level. I bet they agree at that point, because the oil level at the sensor has stopped changing.

"How long was the interval between the photo ending in 14 and the one ending in 16? If you use the "hood open/cancel twice" trick soon after stopping the engine, you can actually watch the oil level indicator rise."

Great question, I think what you really need to consider is how long after engine off did you take the measurement with the hood open (image *14)? Every minute after engine off I would expect to see the oil level rise until it reaches a steady state value... Just because you have this hood open technique it doesn't mean that you should use it; if you do use it then use it carefully as informational. The closed hood method is only available after 15 minutes which tells you exactly what Land Rover engineers think is a reasonable period for the oil to drain back in to the sump... A good experiment would be to plot the engine oil lever against time after an engine off event, say once every minute.

can someone else with a v8 try using the bypass method immediately after driving to see what it reads?

Common sense will tell you it will read lower. Despite the oil being "thinner" when it's warmed up, it still takes a bit for it to all drain into the oil pan. This is ostensibly why Land Rover has the 15-minute wait period without the workaround: to ensure the most accurate reading possible.

The workaround is fine for like a 5-minute wait period, but not right after you turn the engine off.

ryanjl said:

Common sense will tell you it will read lower. Despite the oil being "thinner" when it's warmed up, it still takes a bit for it to all drain into the oil pan. This is ostensibly why Land Rover has the 15-minute wait period without the workaround: to ensure the most accurate reading possible.

The workaround is fine for like a 5-minute wait period, but not right after you turn the engine off.

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Agreed! A plot would be interesting but is obviously dependent on the viscosity of the oil and other variables.

Longtrail said:

Agreed! A plot would be interesting but is obviously dependent on the viscosity of the oil and other variables.

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I think post 27 wld be more interesting!