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Oil light comes on and dipstick shows no oil sometimes but oil is full?

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Prixness

New member
So if i test my oil right after my car stops running it shows full/. If i test it like 10 mins after it will show no oil at all on the dipstick.

recently my oil low light comes one but I'm 99% sure there is oil in there. The oil light comes on sometimes right after starting up but after maybe 15 min it goes back off. If i test the oil while the oil light is on, it will show no oil at all on the dipstick. Dry as a bone Its random but sometimes after cutting off the car it will show no oil at all dry dipstick, other times if Im lucky it shows full of clean oil

I just changed the oil 2 weeks ago 10w40 oil but this have been happening even with 5w30 because the oil light was on before I changed the oil but when I did the oil change all the dirty oil came out and filled up the oil pan



Im thinking about in the morning draining the oil to make sure its oil in there. If it shows full oil then what would be the cause?
 


You can't check the oil immediately after you turn the car off. You have to wait a little while for the oil to drain back into the oil pan or you get a false high reading.

Turn off the car while hot, wait 10 minutes THEN check it. Also, you have to pull out the dipstick, wipe it off, push it back in, then pull it out again and read it so that you get an accurate oil level.
 
industrialfish said:
You can't check the oil immediately after you turn the car off. You have to wait a little while for the oil to drain back into the oil pan or you get a false high reading.

Turn off the car while hot, wait 10 minutes THEN check it.
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in that case it show empty sometimes it shows full. Dipstick is dry but the car is full of oil i'm sure of that.....I just changed it 2 weeks ago. No puddle spots no leaks from what I can see.

If i drain the oil this morning and all 5 quarts are there, then what can it be?
 
If you wiped the dip stick with a rag that had some type of wax on it the oil may be having a hard time sticking to the dip stick. Maybe try cleaning the tip of it with a clean rag and some type of solvent.

Other than that i'm at a loss.
 
In olden days the motors would fill with sludge and prevent the oil from draining back down into the pan.

Dipstick would read full when you let it sit but low oil pressure at high rpm. The oil was still all up in the heads under the valve covers.
 
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