Oil types to use and dipstick accuracy

[enthrall]

Hi,
Did my first oil change since i got the car on sat now since its up and running now, and was astounded to find that only about *three litres* of oil actually drained out of the engine.
Is this about right?
The manual says 3.7l for a dry fill. I was expecting a difference on drain, but maybe 5% or so not 20%!!. The dipstick was near the min level however before i started.

I bought some nulon 20w-50 hi kilometer, put in about 3.5l.
On special at repco, same price as the cheapies.

There are a fair few choices of oil types that can be used- reccommended was 15W-30 api sf+.. But we dont get -20 temps here, so the 20w seemed a better choice What does everyone else use?

Anyway, the 3.5l brought the oil level on the dipstick above the max line.. Almost up to the bendy bit. :#
Too much oil is bad news, yes? Causes foam and froth.. But i didnt put a ridiculous amount of oil in.

To drain a bit, or not to drain?

These are probably obvious questiöns, but..;

-How accurate is the stick?
-Should it be measured hot or cold?
-Is there any way of identifying whether the right stick is in there?
-how much leeway is there in reality over the max line?

[Andjeti]

Stated volume of 3.7L for a dry fill (Dry being oil from sump and filter). Filters can hold 500mL or so (I don't have one handy to check actual amount). You drained 3L.

Assuming you didn't remove the filter and include the oil inside it
3L drained + 500mL in filter = 3.5L. Just under the 3.7L stated by Nissan.

If the filter was not removed and replaced and you added 3.5L of oil, that would make approx 4L of oil currently in the engine. Give or take a bit to compensate for the exact volume of the filter.

I myself wouldn't be overly concerned, but then I know my car and how it would cope with a minor excess of oil. Other vehicles may not like it so much.

I have only seen one car actually "blow" the engine due to too much oil. A mate of mine is not very car savvy and when I said his car might need a top-up (Less than a Litre), he proceeded to buy a 5L bottle and pour the entire contents into the filler. I wasn't there when he added the oil or started the engine, but I did drain 10L of oil from the sump of his 6cyl when we were trying to diagnose why it blew.

[Denied]

I can't speak from a Pulsar point of view but from a motorcycle point of view (1000cc/1 litre) the difference between the stated capacity and what you drain out on a change is usually a fair amount.

Just think how much oil gets caught up in various areas of the engine. And as Andjeti points out, is that including what was in the oil filter?

[enthrall]

No, that 3L figure didn't include the oil filter, but the filter itself whould not really hold all that much- they arent very big! i would guess 200ml at most, but not much dripped out of mine when i removed it anyhow. (maybe 50ml?)