Ford OIl Dipstick

[Peteandsharon]

OK guys, so I'm about to hit 30,000 miles on my 2008 Ford diesel. One thing that I have noticed is that I have NEVER seen the oil level anything but completely full. Really even overfull. I have the dealer change the oil regularly at 5000 miles and check it a couple of times in between. The level never seems to change. I spoke to my dealer and his answer was basically "don't look a gift horse in the mouth". But I can't help but be suspicious. I have never owned a diesel that didn't go down some between oil changes. Has anyone seen the same thing? Is this an issue of the dipstick not being an accurate measure of the oil level? I first thought that the tech overfilled the oil but it has been the same story every oil change at several different dealerships. I don't particularly like the dipstick. It is very long and seems a little flimsy. But I wouldn't care about this as long as it was giving me an accurate picture of the oil level. Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Pete

 

[codycarver]

I don't know about the Ford (haven't had to check it yet) but the level on my Dodge with 124,000 miles never seams to move.

 

[Pizzaguy]

You are seeing the dipstick correctly. It is a byproduct of the DPF filter and the regens. It "makes" more oil because of the small amounts of diesel that goes into crankcase during the regens . Best thing to do is to keep the oil changed every 5000 miles like you are doing and you should be fine.Mine does the same thing and I was told most of the 6.4's do.

 

[gasman]

That's very interesting since my 2008 6.4L definitely has a DPF.

 

[jpdoggett]

My 2005 6.0 dosn't go down between changes and I am the one that chages it in Kansas City and a oil shop takes care of it in Texas and it aways stay at full

 

[Peteandsharon]

Interesting guys. Thanks for the responses. I had the 7.3 Powerstroke for 11 years before the 6.4L. I changed that one religiously between 2500-3000 miles and I frequently had to top off the oil between changes. Not necessarily a complete quart but maybe a half quart. Regardless, you would see it go down. My father in law had the 5.9 Cummins and did the same with his. I had been led to believe that it was the nature of the diesel beast. The other thing is that my dipstick has the knob at the end of the long flexible shaft and almost invariably the whole knob is covered with oil. Even up the shaft a little bit. That's when I started thinking that they were overfilling the oil. But once it happened more than once I figured they wouldn't be messing it up every time.

I guess I'll just accept that it is alright. It almost makes checking the oil between changes unnecessary. Except for some catastrophic failure or oil loss, it will never change. (Don't worry, I'm too anal retentive to stop checking).

Thanks guys,

Pete

 

[bighorn3370]

On my 7.3l I have never add oil. I do change the oil at 3,000. miles. I only got 112,000 miles on the truck.