Oil change and other changes

[Larry Spillman]

A thinner fluid will not take as long to heat up as it will absorb heat at a faster rate with each pass over a heat source. thats why a heater systm with an air leak such as a blown head gasket will heat up faster then a good closed systm because air heats faster than water . your thinner oil dosent need as much time to heat up as 50 weight.

[Larry Spillman]

draining oil if you have to remove oilpan to drain oil your engine builder screwed you really good, all oil pans have a drain plug on side or rear or front of sump. if not get a drill operated pump with plastic hose insert hose in dipstick hole and pump out oil it takes less than 5 minutes change filter replace oil and put dipstick back in drive car check again and your done. let oil drain back down before you think you need to add more.You can also remove pan and have a drain plug welded into pan.

[Gunner]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

I know Gunner is not me, I'm a doo-fuss, but if it were me, I would start again from the beginning.

If I had the slightest question about it, I would.

The engine had an oil level within the SAFE mark on the dipstick when I got it - this is 5700 miles from new.

In 500 miles, the oil level stayed at that same mark, with no indication of low oil issues, high oil issues, or any other issues except that (as the original owner confirmed) it was near impossible to get the oil past about 70*.

In my haste, I put one quart too many in. The dipstick read exactly what I would expect for being one quart high. I've taken that quart back out (in stages; see above). The oil level is now right where it was before, in the lower middle of the SAFE zone. I agree that it's odd that the engine took so much oil, but there's not the slightest sign that there's anything at fault - at least, nothing more than was at fault all along with no ill effects.

I agree that the unusual oil heating was probably due to that extra quart being slopped up around the base of the cylinders. If the engine didn't show that behavior with the oil level where it is now, then I don't think the level can be excessive. Nor have I ever seen the pressure falloff that would come from foaming the oil up.

Heaven knows I will do the next change with ridiculous care and a full calibration. But as the engine has shown NO signs of distress with the oil at this level in 6200 miles, I'm not going to change anything this time around.

[Ralphy]

Gunner my OP falls in line with what you have. I have wondered about the 20. However with others posting here. It has quieted my concerns. I am thinking some day to change over the oil pump however to a high volume unit.

[Gunner]

If your pressure is good according to the sort of consensus Patrick posted - which is in line with my general experience with big Ford engines - I wouldn't bother boosting the oil pump capacity. A standard pump (of the PI or CJ level) on a tight engine is plenty. When you go to the high vol/high pressure pumps, you're wasting HP to drive it, risking distributor drive gear shear, and not gaining a whole lot except bragging rights.

[Gunner]

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

Apparently Gunner has abandoned his inquiry here. Something we said?

I stepped out for dinner with the family - sorry I didn't notify anyone.

I really appreciate all the advice, and I'm not blindly ignoring what anyone is trying to tell me. But I'm the guy with the ground truth here: whether it's technically perfect or not, this engine has been running with this oil level for 6200 miles with absolutely no sign of overfill problems (foaming, burnoff, overheating). Maybe when I do a meticulously calibrated fill next time I'll discover why - but for now I'm good and content to leave it as is.

[Ralphy]

Point well taken.

Originally Posted by Gunner

If your pressure is good according to the sort of consensus Patrick posted - which is in line with my general experience with big Ford engines - I wouldn't bother boosting the oil pump capacity. A standard pump (of the PI or CJ level) on a tight engine is plenty. When you go to the high vol/high pressure pumps, you're wasting HP to drive it, risking distributor drive gear shear, and not gaining a whole lot except bragging rights.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by patrickt

I don't know about that. I can see your post now: "So here I am on my first oil change on the Cobra, and after removing all the oil pan bolts, I had some trouble breaking the RTV seal between the pan, gasket, windage tray, gasket, and block. Any tips on how to make these oil changes easier?"

Actually, I thought it would faster and easier to loosen and remove all those bolts thingees on the side of my CSX block near the oil pan first, then begin the final procedures as outlined above.

Chas, 7 quarts? The Aviaid pan hold 9 quarts.

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by Gunner

I stepped out for dinner with the family - sorry I didn't notify anyone.

I really appreciate all the advice, and I'm not blindly ignoring what anyone is trying to tell me. But I'm the guy with the ground truth here: whether it's technically perfect or not, this engine has been running with this oil level for 6200 miles with absolutely no sign of overfill problems (foaming, burnoff, overheating). Maybe when I do a meticulously calibrated fill next time I'll discover why - but for now I'm good and content to leave it as is.

I've stained a few driveways in my life. Trust me, I know what I'm doing.

[Ralphy]

I had a trans pan that I thought was well held by one bolt fall on my head. Had about
1/2 quart still in it. Filled my ear!

[Bill Bess]

My engine came with what was noted as a 10 qt. Canton oil pan. I fill the oil filter up with one quart, screw it on, and dump the remaining 9 qts. in.
Run the motor, dipstick says, 1/2 qt. down....right in the middle.
No problems so far...just uses a lot of gas when I keep my foot in it.

Bill 55-60 #s of oil pressure. If I recall from my youth, the FE ran 7 qts. stock with a filter.

[patrickt]

Right, we're not even sure exactly what oil pan it is. But even if he overfills the 15-820 by two quarts, I don't even think it'll really matter. These FEs with HV pumps store an ocean of oil up under the valve covers -- so it's not like the over-abundance of oil stays down in the pan to crest up high and get churned. Remember, Ford's initial solution to the original oil-starvation problem in FEs was to re-calibrate the dip stick to hold one more quart of oil. And to this day, running a HV pump with a stock oil pan is the fastest way to burn up your FE.

[Ron61]

I had the 10 quart Canton Pan on mine and I would put one quart in the filter and about 9 1/2 in the pan then run the engine and by the time it filled the oil cooler and lines, it would be just a little below the full line. But not enough to worry about as it never got any lower between changes. Once in a while I would blow the old oil out of the cooler and those lines and then I had to add about another 1/2 to 3/4ths quart.

Ron

[ERA Chas]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

Chas, 7 quarts? The Aviaid pan hold 9 quarts.

My whole point was that because a vessel's capacity may be X, does not mean it's best for the engine (which is dynamically in many different positions other than flat and level) to run at that capacity.

I know by measurement that my 8 qt Canton runs best at 7 (in the pan, static) with nearly an inch gap to the tray. With 1.75 qt in rest of the system, the sump does not pump itself dry. Pat, speaking for myself, my Shelby heads and the block's valley do NOT hold a ton of oil. Attention to the oil drains on assembly assured that.

Ray runs a 460, 385 with at least an 8 or 9 qt capacity pan with no ill effect with 7 in the pan and at least 4 in the whole system.

There's just no need to run so much excess oil IN THE PAN. And since you asked the question and described your situation, Pat, Doug, John, Fred, Ray and myself have told you that there's a better, safer way.

Your engine has no greater oil requirement than a rebuilt 390-Joe builds 70% of his ERA-based FE's that way.

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by patrickt

These FEs...store an ocean of oil up under the valve covers.

It's also fair to say that they have a tendency to drip an ocean of oil under the pan, too.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by ERA Chas

And since you asked the question and described your situation, Pat, Doug, John, Fred, Ray and myself have told you that there's a better, safer way.

Morons. Each and every one of them.

Originally Posted by RedBarchetta

It's also fair to say that they have a tendency to drip an ocean of oil under the pan, too.

Hmmm, pretty quick on the draw considering how early it is in the morning.

[RedBarchetta]

Sorry...just feeling giddy after driving my car the entire weekend.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RedBarchetta

Sorry...just feeling giddy after driving my car the entire weekend.

Well, I'm jealous. It's brutal here. The kids have't gone to school since I don't know when, there's feet of snow everywhere, there's no place for the dog to crap, I had to put a wicker basket out for the mail man because he can't even get up to the porch where the mail box is, when you do get off the street idiot pedestrians are walking down the middle of the street, 10' piles of snow on the corners block your vision. It basically just sux.

[ERA Chas]

Originally Posted by patrickt

...10' piles of snow on the corners block your vision. It basically just sux.

Yeah, but the bright side is at least the Redskins can't play.

[RodKnock]

So, let me get this straight. I have a 9 quart Aviaid pan, about .75 quart in the oil filter and about .5 quart in the oil cooler lines and I should fill it back up with only 6 quarts in the pan and .75 in the oil filter, thereby leaving my system 2.75 quarts under capacity?

Why is 7 quarts the right number? Why not 6 or 8?