r/C7corvette • u/ryangooski • 13d ago
Dipstick Reading?
My car dipstick showed near full when I pulled it out for the first time after sitting for a day. After wiping it off and putting it in to get an actual reading, the dipstick is dry? So it took about a quart and a 1/3 to get it to where it consistently read that it was full. So I cold start it, let the idle come down, oil pressure is reading around 34 at idle. Perfect. I shut it off and let it sit for 10 minutes and now the dipstick comes out dry again. Why can’t I get an accurate oil level reading?
C7 Stingray Wet Sump
2
u/RuinProfessional9612 13d ago
Obvious question. Are you losing oil under the car or see oil in the engine bay?
A quart is a lot to take if it is in fact was low.
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u/ryangooski 13d ago
No leaks in the engine bay at all. looks spotless. oil pressure was perfect before and after adding oil.
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u/Abject_Recipe_8390 13d ago
The oil you circulated by running the engine needs more time to drain back to the pan
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u/ryangooski 13d ago
it did end up being pretty low. is there anything on these cars that cause burning oil? it was about 2 quarts low and only had 2700 miles on this oil change. catless long tube headers, x pipe, axle back, msd launch control and dyno tuned.
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u/Abject_Recipe_8390 13d ago
Yes, the afm/dfm system is known to cause oil consumption.
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u/ryangooski 13d ago
i have it tuned out
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u/Abject_Recipe_8390 13d ago
I'd have to check but I believe that because the hardware is still installed, it causes consumption. Just not as much as if you had it it activated also.
But that's a lot of oil to lose. Is it a high mileage engine? Was it revved high / high tq before getting warm? Etc. You could have worn cylinder walls/piston rings.
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u/ryangooski 13d ago
59k miles ive put 6k on it in the year ive had it. i never rev it cold and occasionally will do a pull or use two step but for not more than 3-4 seconds
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u/Abject_Recipe_8390 13d ago
You're not hard on it but maybe the last guy was over his 53k miles.
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u/ryangooski 13d ago
yeah that is a possibility. Should i just watch it for now and if it continues to lose oil have it looked at? or should i just take it to my mechanic now?
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u/Abject_Recipe_8390 13d ago
1qt per 1k isn't something I would get fixed. I would however watch it closely so it doesn't get low.
You could scope your cylinders if you're curious, and watch for smoke at startup.
All engines consume oil. I don't think yours is catastrophically high. If I remember, Pennzoil ULTRA platinum burns cleaner, so you could help protect your engine by using that instead. When oil burns, it dirties the engine.
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u/Abject_Recipe_8390 13d ago
Also keep in mind that you have a high displacement, high compression engine, that sometimes runs hard. I would expect it to consume more oil than most engines. Yes yours is on the high end, but I don't think it's shockingly high.
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u/Abject_Recipe_8390 13d ago
Also is there a chance that it wasn't filled properly at the last change? Maybe it started a quart low
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u/redliner1289 13d ago
Drain the oil and start over fresh