Should I be worried? (loss of oil after oil change)

If it appeared overfilled after sitting overnight, it’s overfilled. If you start it up, run some errands, go home, wait a few minutes, check it and it appears to be between the two dots, it’s still overfilled. Just because the oil is not yet drained down into the pan doesn’t mean it’s not going to. I could be wrong, but I recall reading if you overfill the oil it causes some problem.

A little trick I do to get an accurate reading on dip sticks that are hard to read. Pull it out, leave it pointing down, rest the bottom tip on a rag, then I sorta swipe my finger on the under side at a 45 angle down towards the top dot. Then you can see where the oil was because you can see it on your finger. It’s not a difficult technique, do it a few times and you’ll get the hang of it.

Yeah the Tacoma’s is a pain. But I think I dislike the Ford swizzle stick worse.

 

so I just took a reading (truck has been sitting garage on level ground all day) I just scuffed up the dipstick with sandpaper and wiped it off good and here is the reading. Do I need to drain some oil? A little high? Too high?





here is a second reading and honestly it’s frustrating because I can’t tell what’s accurate or not. It’s kind of streaking but I’m not sure if that’s the line or just streaking.

 

Looks like maybe a little less then .5 qt over? I don’t remember the consequence of over filling.

 

So I am still getting EXTREMELY inaccurate readings but I determined it was over and drained it a little. Then checked the dipstick and it was looking like it was just under full so I drained a little more to see if I could get a pattern with reading the dipstick better and it looked like it was down to half full. I then tightened the drain bolt and re-filled with half a qt of oil and it looks like I'm about 3/4 full of oil now. Weird thing is that when I drained the oil out the two times the oil was weirdly dark. I've only driven the truck 30 miles or so from when I did the oil change so I'm just a little confused why it would be that dark already. Although maybe from running through the engine and rest of oil pan it's just gotten to be a darker color already?

Here is a picture of the oil level after dumping some out and adding a little as well as a screen shot from a video I took of draining some of the excess oil out. Is it weird that the oil is that dark from a fresh oil change? (Only drvein 30 miles or so)

 

A little trick I’ll do, when the oil is super dirty sludge. Drain and refill with clean oil. Drive it a week or two. Then do a normal oil and filter change. Both drains I do my best to drain very thorough. Jack it up level, lean to the side so it drains better.

 

Just seemed a little dirty for just getting changed. Regardless I know it's fresh oil and it's not over-filled. I wonder if I need to buy a new dipstick. At about 3/4 now so I just need to monitor it.

 

You don’t drive much. If you do you be short tripping. My 15 has 107K and that’s not much compared to some with the same year. Do you have white or yellowish looking stuff under your oil cap? Try changing the pcv.

 

Well to be fair I did get the truck at 44k miles, but yeah I don't put miles on it like crazy. Nah I don't have any white or yellow foam or anything. Truck has never had any issues and always runs great.

 

That’s a good find. I would change the plugs. It’s highly doubtful that the spark plug seals are leaking. The 4.0L requires copper Denso or NGK plugs and at 30K intervals.

 

Yeah I got it about a year before covid so I didn't pay insane prices. I love the truck, but unfortunately will probably be trading/selling it for a Tundra in the next few years. I need the cab space really badly or else I would honestly let me Tacoma go. Was planning on waiting until next oil change to do spark plugs (60k miles).

 

I got my 15 in 16 with 30K. Waited till 60K to do the plugs. Come to find out they where original. You’ll have Denso on one bank and NGK on the other. No change in performance considering 60K on the plugs.

 

This does look like it is slightly over full.
But I would not have drained any out.
I would have run it the way it was.

A little bit low or a little too much is not something I worry about. It’s WAY too much or WAY too low that I worry about.


FWIW, a fluid extraction pump makes like easier when “removing a small amount of oil”.

If it were me. I’d check after setting over night. If it is close to top mark, I’m calling it good.