I need some help. I am doing my first oil change, and am having trouble reading the dipstick. The manual says to fill to the max mark - but does not indicate if the max mark is the top of the hatched region, or the top circular hole in the dipstick (I added an arrow to the picture below - pointing to the upper hole). What is confusing me is that the manual says there is a min mark and a max mark. The lower and upper holes could easily be these marks, but then most cars go by the hatched markings. I just don't want to mess up my first oil change.

 

If you filled with the recommended amount of oil, where on the dipstick did it take it to? Guessing, I'd think the max mark is the top hole, and you'd add oil if the level fell into the hatched area when checking the oil.

 

I recall reading a post out here from someone who said their car took less than 6 qts, and I also recall a someone saying that the manual had 2 different capacity values. Because of this, I added 5 1/2 qts, and figured I would add until the stick hit the full mark. I'm gonna do some more searching out here to see if I can locate those posts.

 

Top hole is Full or "max", top of hash marks is 1 quart low, bottom of hash is 2 quarts low and is "min" for this engine before damage.

 

Thanks r22tech and lodom !

(its been a while since I had a Ford)

 

My crisis is over. I dumped 6 qts in the fill tube, and found that the oil came up to the top of the cross-hatched marks.

 

Looks like you got it figured out, but I'll add this anyway:

I usually stick to the recommendation in the manual. For most, if not all modular motors, it's 6 quarts. I know on the trucks, 6 quarts will leave you in the upper half of the cross hatch markings. Guys who filled up to the top of the hatches in V10's had some adverse effects.

On top of that, the dipsticks really aren't a scientific measuring device. There has been known to be quite a bit of variance between them on other vehicles.

 

I have to respectfully disagree...sort of. I'm not sure what other modular engines oil viscosity are specified at, but the 05 has a relatively "thin" oil viscosity, thus, the correct, or added amount to fill to the "full" level, would NOT cause any adverse conditions to the engine. Filling to the top of the hash marks instead of to the "full" line would ,also, NOT cause any adverse conditions to the engine. Either is O.K., just realize that the dipstick IS accurate and the top of the hash marks is indicated as 1 quart LOW! I haven't filled an 05 yet, so I don't know the exact capacity at this point, but I will be filling to the "full" or "max" level, indicated by the hole ABOVE the top of the hash marks, when I change the oil on an 05 Mustang. I am a professional mechanic of 13 years and adhere to the rule of "critical capacity" when it comes to lubrication of mechanical motors: I believe the engine is protected the most when its' capacity for lubrication is at 100%. :worship:

 

I have been cautioned about over filling. Any mechanic you talk to will tell you its better to be one quart low than one quart over.

 

Yeah, I agree with that assessment.....but one of the previous posts was filling it to 100% capacity, and I like the idea of this better than 1 quart low. You would have to put at least 7 quarts (maybe a little more) of oil in the V-8 to come up to 1 quart over recommendations......but I guess this is a brain-fart that I'm sure someone could manage to accomplish??? B)

 

You should try to read the dipstick on my FX4

 

The full mark is the top of the hatched area. The "hole" means you have gone way over the amount of oil your should put into the motor. I worked at an oil change place for 5 years. You never, ever want to over fill. I have seen some cars come back with oil spurting out of the dipstick tube. Also your oil pressure can go up significantly.

 

The book calls for 6 qts with the filter...that puts me 1/2 way up the hash marks. I am going by what the books says for capacity, I think the dipstick is wrong. :bang:

 

Yeah, I agree with you. I put the amount specified in the owners manual regardless of the dipstick: no more, no less.

 

When I filled it with six quarts, it came to about the top of the hash marks. I figure thats the safest place for me so I don't overfill and don't underfill. (And who wants to put in seven quarts when you can just buy a case of 6 and be done with it?)

 

The reason they have a range on the dipstick is because this is the "safe" operating area. Your car will not have any damage if oil is kept in this range. If its below the lower hole, you can starve the system for oil and under-lubricate. If its above the upper hole, the crank can "whip" the oil in the pan and this causes drag on the crank and foaming of the oil, along with possible pushing out the dipstick tube.

 

So the basic rule is that if you put in 6 quarts (or whatever is specified in case we're talking different vehicles) and you're in the cross-hatch zone, you're safe. That's been my rule over the years and it's never been a problem for me.