[/IMG] does this indicate full oil, or no oil?

 

the oil level came on while I was driving

 

 

It came on while I was driving. I did a check with the engine off after I got home, and it was the same as the picture above

 

Never had mine come on while driving but the pic would suggest oil is full. Only time mine looks like that is after an oil change by the dealer. Some folks believe that level indicates too much oil was added and would drain oil from the oil filter to get the level to one line below it's current reading. Check it whne engine is cold to compare to the reding when the engine is at op temp.

 

If the reading was lower, would it be black bars instead of white?

 

I may have inadvertently done an oil check before starting the engine and then driving off. It would seem though that the indicator would go off when starting the engine. I just happened to look. I did oil test a couple of weeks ago and it was the same. I bought the car used, have put some miles but not a ton since December and it hasn't changed.

 

if that came on suddenly while driving / moving, it would be odd indeed.


the pic above suggests that u r oil level is above 'full'

u really wanna be between the two marks on the right.

too much oil can lead to gasket / seal failure or other unwanted problems

 

maybe you hit the lever by accident to set off the oil checking procedure while driving? Is that possible?

 

I was thinking i must have hit the lever while driving but I have to have the engine off normally to check it

 

That's over full. Look at the full line on the right hand side. The oil is above that marker. You need to drain some.

 

It's overfilled.
The two arrows represent upper & lower limits.

 

When the dealership did my oil and filter that was how it came back to me. Full to the top of that gauge, above the arrow. Yet another reason not to use the dealership. I hope nothing was harmed by that extra oil in the engine. It is now at the top arrow after 3K miles.

 

To be safe drain some of the oil and top it odd so it does not go above the top full arrow. I don't think you can tell how much oil you have right now.

 

Page 154 of your manual:

NEVER ADD MORE OIL THAN NECESSARY TO REACH THE MAXIMUM MARK.

It is in caps and in bold in the manual. Reduce your oil immediately. Retain the oil that is drained and use it to top off the oil to the correct level. Then measure the amount of oil remaining once the oil has been correctly topped off. This is important not to save money, but to understand how overfilled the engine was. I believe an overfilled oil level is as bad as not enough oil.