Engine oil situation

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Wife said oil light and exclamation triangle light came on in the Toyota Sienna. Apparently the exclamation triangle is a low oil / oil pressure warning

I’ve never seen this much oil on the dipstick. It looks way overfilled. Checked it 3 times. The local mechanic does the oil changes and all our repairs. Never had a problem. I checked it cold. Last oil change was probably 5K miles ago.

What do you, who are more mechanically inclined than I, think about the oil level?
 

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sometimes the oil can be dragged up the tube and give a false reading, or smear it on the dipstick on the way back in, and give a false reading.

how is it if you wipe the dipstick, wait 5min, and then re dip, does it look different, and have a more definite level line ?


edited to add.
if the engine is not making bad noises when warm, indicating low oil pressure (yeah, highly scientific way of determining it), have a good look before starting engine around the oil pressure sender unit on the block, not uncommon for them to start to leak and give false oil pressure readings, good place to start before removing and putting a gauge on the oil gallery outlet and determining if you have the correct oil pressure at idle and 2500 rpm, and then go from there.

Oil pressure, like blood pressure is important to be within spec. :).
 
If the oil level holds where it shows, and the oil light stays on, I'd be reluctant to drive the car. Could be a failed oil pump. I'm assuming there isn't a dedicated gauge for pressure to help verify operation. If it really is that high, now would be a good time to change the oil. You've apparently gone 5k miles without blowing a seal, but I wouldn't want to push my luck, and that's a respectable lifespan. Not completely wasteful.
 
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  • #4
I waited a few minutes and dipped several more times and got a more accurate reading. I was on level ground. It looks low. Going to add a little. Never seen a 0-20 weight.
 
Wow, how did it go from way overfull to low? Very out of level? If you get the capacity right, and the light goes off, I wouldn't worry about it. In that case, it looks like everything is working as intended.
 
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  • #7
I think it needed to be dipped many, many times to get residual oil off the dipstick tube. Not sure why it was that far up as it’s been on level ground for 16 hours🤷‍♂️. It’s due for an oil change anyway so might as well take it up.
 
5k miles is enough for oil burn to occour depending on the type of running the car does.
lots of start stop, short trips is bad, engine never gets up to operating temp, and that can cause degradation of the oil, mainly from the moisture never being burned off, and it collects in the oil causing oxidation and build up of deposits in the motor along with acids etc.
more frequent oil changes would be prudent in this scenario, even if the miles are not used up. a good measure is oil/ inc filter change every 6 months depending on kms as well.

re the oil level being high.

as already mentioned, sometimes there can be a slug of oil stuck in the dip stick tube / air pocket, vac pocket, and it dosent drain back, so taking the oil dip stick out, letting the oil to drain for a good 5- 10 min, then you can get a more accurate level.
Even just dipping it and bringing it back out, can drag oil along the dip stick tube and thus smear it, and make it hard to read. Often the case when you have just put fresh oil in and its hard to read.
if that happens, just wait, let the oil drain back away, then re try with dry dip stick.
 
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  • #9
Trains, you think the oil burned off? It’s a 6 cylinder (maybe 3 liter) that does short local trips and several commutes with 40 minutes on highway each way per week.

I’ve not seen oil stains in the driveway. The exhaust doesn’t smoke like it’s burning oil. 🤷‍♂️

Maybe they put too little in on the last change and some burn off happened and here we are.
 
Consuming oil is normal. Very little when new, but it increases with age til it starts smoking. I'd expect losing 1qt in 5k miles from a ~50k mile car.
 
Old cars. The current vehicle has 122k, and I'm probably close to being a quart down in 6k miles.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if frequent hard acceleration causes the engine to go through oil fast. I often drive like an old lady to hopefully make what I have last. The engine and transmission/drive train life depends on duty cycle. The more torque and rpm it sees, the more wear. If oil is doing it's job, then I think the most wear would come from torque. Torque is what flexes parts out of alignment, squishes the oil out of gaps, and fatigues metal. Excessive rpm will do the same.
 
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  • #14
I always thought oil consumption was due to mechanical failures, small hot running engines, or leaks. I ain’t no mechanic though
 
All engines consume oil, but its usually in the very low amount between services.

if oil is breaking down due to age, use etc, then it will be burnt more readily, and you will notice it more.

first things first, give it a service, assuming correct grade oil is used, and the correct amount.
Watch its level for the first 1k miles, then the next, you may notice its oil level stays pretty much spot on until you get up with the miles and time, then you may notice it drops quicker, and or more the next time you check.

Just because your oil level is dropping, its not always a sign the engine is failing, check the basics first, then if your getting high oil use with fresh oil, and in the first 1k miles, then go further.


anyway, thats all fluff, you need to find out why the warning lights came on, worry about the oil burn later.

yeah, sounds like short cold trips, thats hard on oil.
I have an old diesel hilux 2.8, a very sooty motor being indirect injection, and I change out the oil every 2500-3200kms since it mainly does short trips in and out of town and for firewood runs.

If you ignore keeping the servicing up to those motors, they soot up, and the oil thickens, and eventually you clog oil galleries and they eat bearings.
keep the oil clean (within good servicing paramaters, ie change out once its saturated and cant hold solids in suspention anymore), and they last for quite some time.

edited to add
Petrol motors also affect oil, but its more towards dilution due to the petrol, sort of an opposite effect than diesel, but it shows that oil has a serviceable life, its job is to protect against wear, but also to carry wear particles in suspention for it to be then filtered out when it passes the oil filter.

oils have additives to make them suitable for a select situation, and depending upon the way the engine is used, and its condition to start with, will determine oil life.

I have used diesel oils in petrol cars that had quite a bit of carbon and oxidised oil that left lots of deposits inside the motor, including jamming up the oil control rings etc.
running the high detergent diesel oil in the petrol motor enabled the diesel oil to clean away those deposits over time, and bring back the motor from high oil usage and high blow by in the rings to usable for many years more. I dont like the idea of an oil change engine flush add to motor and run before draining the oil, better to let the detergents in the diesel oil do the job more slowly and better, less chance of clogging up oil galleries.

doing that works well on the subaru boxer engines that have issues with oil sticking the piston rings.
 
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1. The oil looks very clean for 5000 miles.
2. 0w-20 is full synthetic oil, as you can't get that viscosity with conventional oil.
3. Since you have done regular oil changes using synthetic oil and it looks perfect, the issue is probably elsewhere.
I'm guessing either a bad sending unit or a computer issue.
 
I tell the guys at the tree service truck lot to not start the trucks until oil is checked, or there's no point since you get a false reading.
 
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