Different oil level readings with hood open

ttforcefed said:

I think post 27 wld be more interesting!

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Why, it won't be full, we already know that it takes time for the oil to drain back to the sump, it's basic fluid mechanics...

2011 LR4 5.0

Rover sat on level ground for at least half an hour after driving.

went out and checked the oil per the manual. read exactly at the halfway mark.
then checked it via the bypass method. showed 0.5 quart low.

i have not yet had the opportunity to run the test again.

jastutte said:

2011 LR4 5.0

Rover sat on level ground for at least half an hour after driving.

went out and checked the oil per the manual. read exactly at the halfway mark.
then checked it via the bypass method. showed 0.5 quart low.

i have not yet had the opportunity to run the test again.

Click to expand...

thanks for checking...fwiw this is the thread that ignited my paranoia: https://landroverforums.com/forum/lr4-38/check-oil-light-never-came-112858/

do you guys ever use the "oil level calculated" value in the IID tool? When I do an oil change I measure that value right 20 mins after changing the oil and then I will occasionally check that value when the car is cold, fill it a bit, start the engine and run it for 5 seconds and then shut it off, and come back and remeasure the value abt an hour later and see if it matches the value reading i had after a fresh oil change.

the reason i do this is because I had the oil level indicator reading half with the hood closed and when i pulled oil out of it and only 6 quarts came out of the engine. I just haven't trusted it since then.

jastutte said:

2011 LR4 5.0

Rover sat on level ground for at least half an hour after driving.

went out and checked the oil per the manual. read exactly at the halfway mark.
then checked it via the bypass method. showed 0.5 quart low.

i have not yet had the opportunity to run the test again.

Click to expand...

Hmmm.... With it not running for at least an hour, you shouldn't have needed the "bypass method" at all, right? IOW, at no point should you have run into a situation where the oil level wasn't available in that case, no need to hit the Cancel button twice. So I'm not not sure what you did, exactly? Did you just have the hood open for the second check?

Interesting thread.
I have no paranoia whatsoever.

Its quite simple really; my process of starting the engine first time in the day is

1. Do not depress brake, press and release the start button.
2. Wait for all dings and chimes to stop
3. Check the oil level…. its nearly always just 1 led indicator below “top”. (I do change the oil every 5000 kms.)
4. Depress brake, press and release start button
5. Wait a few seconds for idle to become consistent
6. Turn on the preferred accessories and go for that drive.

No need to pop the bonnet. No need for a cancel button.

The only omission (thus annoyance) is why the &$#@(*! TPMS won’t give me the cold tire pressures… (incidentally, this is when its supposed to be done) but that’s another story for another day ;-)

Cheers All!

greiswig said:

Hmmm.... With it not running for at least an hour, you shouldn't have needed the "bypass method" at all, right? IOW, at no point should you have run into a situation where the oil level wasn't available in that case, no need to hit the Cancel button twice. So I'm not not sure what you did, exactly? Did you just have the hood open for the second check?

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you're right. i didn't need to do it. i just did it to see if there was a difference in readings based on methods.

per my previous post, i did the oil level reading per the owner's manual.

then i turned the LR4 off, then back to the on mode (Start button pushed, no brake pedal depressed),then did the bypass method. the readings were different. perhaps it was a fluke. i'll repeat the test when i have time.

jastutte said:

...then i turned the LR4 off, then back to the on mode (Start button pushed, no brake pedal depressed),then did the bypass method.

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Sorry, I'm dense. I am still not understanding what happened here, @jastutte . On my vehicle, if I pop the hood after the engine hasn't run for >15 minutes, when I get to the part of the service menu that would ordinarily show the oil level it DOES show the oil level...not the "not available" message. Pressing cancel twice at this point does nothing. So what was the "bypass method" you used here?

That's correct, if you wait it just works. If you want a reading despite the 'not available' message, you can do the cancel trick.

why they require the hood open for the cancel button to work is one of the great mysteries to me. if the cancel button worked with the hood closed it wld all make sense. ie, you shld wait 15+ minutes to measure the oil but if you absolutely must know now, just hit the cancel button 2x to bypass the time.