Oil Question(s)

Have you lost your mind?! 😱  Do you know what Pandora’s box you just opened?

Hide the women and children folks.  Oh, get some popcorn while you’re up. 🤣

The Thing will take 2.5 quarts or so.

Your Spyder has an aux oil cooler, yes? 5-6 quarts probably with 1.5 quart sump extension.

I recommend Valvoline VR1 20W50 for both cars. It's reasonably priced, has Zinc and Phosphorus(which both cars desperately NEED) and is available everywhere: AdvanceZonePepO'reillyWallymart.

I use Valvoline VR1 20W50 also.

@DannyP posted:

The Thing will take 2.5 quarts or so.

Your Spyder has an aux oil cooler, yes? 5-6 quarts probably with 1.5 quart sump extension.

I recommend Valvoline VR1 20W50 for both cars. It's reasonably priced, has Zinc and Phosphorus(which both cars desperately NEED) and is available everywhere: AdvanceZonePepO'reillyWallymart.

It doesn't have an aux cooler. I want to say my car takes just under 4 quarts but I have that somewhere.

I'll try the VR1. It's just oil and oil is oil, right @Lane Anderson

4 quarts sounds about right, 2.5 in the stock sump plus 1.5 for the sump extension.

Chris, I also used 20W50 VR1, for the reasons Danny mentioned.

I'm not sure how you quantify:   "My oil level has never been as low as it was in the whole time I have owned it"  Does that mean the level has dropped off the end of the dipsick in 500 miles, or it is a 1/2 quart low (in the middle between the two lines) in 2000 miles?.

If the latter, it might not be a concern.  You might find (as have many, including myself) that if you have a 2+ liter engine and you fill to more than half way between the two marks on the dipsick, any oil above that point will seemingly 'disappear'.  Basically, it gets 'blown-out' by 2 liters trying to breath in a 1.3 liter crankcase space.  There are a number of things to do that can work-around this, but nothing I did ever changed the fact that if I filled more than half between the marks, it wouldn't be long before the engine self-adjusted the oil level to half between the marks.  Once there, it stayed there between oil changes (3000 mi or one year).

My suggestion:  Fill to half way between the two marks on the dipstick, and keep an eye on it.  If it stays there, then you know what to do from now on.

On the other hand:  If it drops to the bottom line on the dipstick in short order, then it is time to get mechanical with a compression test and cylinder leak-down test.  Those tests indicate the health of your piston rings and valve seals (that relate to oil burning). 

In May, it was between the two lines. Last week, it was slightly above the low line. That was a cold check.

It has generally, stayed between the two lines between oil changes. I will continue to monitor it.

@Chris MacDonald

How many miles did you drive since May?  Having it drop as you indicated could be somewhere slightly less than 1/2 quart in a year that has been especially hot.  Really hot weather over 2000 miles and eating 1/2 quart of oil doesn’t sound all that bad to me.

Carlisle was hot and some vigorous driving. Moderate driving this year but all days over 80°.

I'm not overly concerned right now. Just don't recall ever needing to add oil to my car between changes.