It's the oil level, Holmes!

CONFUSED
In advance, forgive me for using incorrect engine terminology. NOT MY FORTE

I am trying to remove some of my oil without draining...

I just bought a mini syphon pump like this one:




It barely fit into the dip stick 'thing', but that was a better fit than the actual oil hole(were you take the cap off and pour oil in).

I followed the proper syphon technique instructions but NADA.

Should I expect this to work or do I need a better, compressor based syphon vacuum, or do it manually?
Will it work if the tubbing is JUST in at the top inch, or would I need smaller tubbing to go further into the system?

PS it is possible to draw oil out of the dip stick 'thing', right?



Thank you for help!

 

It won't work if you just insert the tubing an inch into the dipstick hole. You have to get the tubing down to the level where the oil is in the pan. Basically you need to get the tubing as far down into the dipstick hole as the end of the dipstick does. This picture should help (courtesy of Hobbit):



You can see from the pic why putting it in the fill hole won't work either.

You need to find a smaller, stiffer tube that can go all the way down to where the oil is in the oil pan.

 

Yes, what dogfriend said too.

My tubing went into the dipstick hole about 1-1/2 feet before I felt more resistance and stopped. I cut the tubing to the minimum length needed to siphon to near ground level, about 5 feet total length.

The tubing was about 3/16 inch outer diameter and 1/8 inch inner diameter.

This produced a drip every few seconds, that resulted in a flow rate of about 100 milli-litres per hour.

My oil was "cold", ambient temp about 80 degrees F. I imagine some types of tubing would be bad to use with hot oil.

It didn't seem to take too much suction to get it going, so I imagine almost any sort of half-decent hand-oiperated pump could work.

 

That helps explain why too much oil will decrease mpg. if you dip the crank in the oil it'll take more power to move, hence less mpg.

 

LOL! I first saw the picture from dogfriend and thought it was some kind of a weird Transformer (you know, Robots in disguise!)

Interesting thread. Will have to check my oil. First have to figure out how to open the hood! I am kind of girly, but since I am female, I guess it's OK.

 

I'm disappointed.

I haven't been able to detect any increase in MPG from lowering my oil. I lowered it by 0.3 Litres from full mark and it's now exactly half-way (I think, it's hard to see clean oil) on the dipstick.

The day before I lowered I got the best MPG on my commute yet: 3.7L/100 KM.

Since I lowered it the best I've been able to do is 3.8-3.9L / 100 KM, even with windows closed and AC off.

Perhaps my efficient driving lowers the advantage of lowering oil ?

I don't know but these are my results thus far.

 

Don't feel TOO bad. I read all these reports of increase efficiency through lower oil levels and always wonder why I'm not so lucky. I've tried for a year at the top mark. Then a year at the half-way point. After the results were in... I had a 0.5 mpg better when I ran at the top mark. To me that statistically insignificant... yet still the wrong way.

 

It is pretty clear to me how overfilling the oil level would lead to lower mileage, but I am unclear on how running it lower than the factory "full" mark would improve the mileage noticeably.

Enough = Enough

More than Enough = Too much.

 

OK. Actually I feel better now because it tends to confirm that Toyota engineered the car/ICE properly. Perhaps between "Add" and "Full" there is statistical insignificance in efficiency.

So it's just when OVER-filled that you lose efficiency ? I'm OK with that; just don't over-fill; simple.

 

After the last oil change I noticed that the dip-stick showed an over-filled state. I removed oil via one of the methods explained in this thread and brought it to just below the full mark on the dip stick. It seems to have NO affect. In fact it may have adversely affected the MPG a tiny bit.

I was hoping this "tip" will move me from low 50s to high 50s for my average MPG - but no such luck here ... but it was worth a try though.

 

I'm shooting for 70 mpg, so I figure I'll drain out ALL the oil. Afterall, my EV gets infinite mileage, and it has NO oil in it.

I think I'm onto something here! Who's with me? Anybody? Hello?

 

ound::first:

 

Same situation here. Oil changed a week ago and MPG dropped to 45 from 49/50. How long before the oil drops on it's own to an acceptable level? Wondering if I can forgo the removal and wait it out.

 

Synthetic oil works its way into the metal and provides protection even with no oil left in engine. Seriously, but don't try this at home kids.

My last car was driven for 1/4 a mile before I noticed the oil gauge showed 0 PSI. I drove it the 1/4 mile home and it was never the worse for wear as far as I could tell, after the oil cooler lines were replaced.

In the old, old days when dinosaurs roamed and GM meant quality (IE one of the top 3... they would test engines by draining all oil and seeing how long they would run. I think they got at least 1/2 an hour to several hours !!

 

It's up to you, but if your engine in good shape, you'll be waiting until your next oil change. Bring it back to the change place and get them to lower it right.

 

Wasn't there even a TV commercial a few years back where they ran some engines without oil, one had synthetic prior to removing the oil and one had dino. The engine that had synthetic kept running.

 

Perhaps.

I recall some "snake oil" (ie worthless) oil additive being marketed this way. SomethingSlip or something. I think they showed a garden hose spraying a running engine valvetrain or something silly.

There appears to be no oil additive that's worth the money. Just plain oil is fine, and synthetic better under some situations, if you can afford it.

 

Slick50 I think it was. Dura Lube had a good one too.