2.7 Oil Change: Took 6 Quarts Not 7

[GrabberBlue]

Did the 1,000 mile oil change on the 2.7 to rid of material shed during the break-in period.

A couple notes:

• The dipstick is a pain in the ass to re-insert, Ford should have used a long tube like on most models for ease of use. It feels like it bounces around a lot as it re-enters which may explain the high reading.
• To drain the oil you need to pull the lower skid plate. I installed a Femco drain plug which allows you to screw on a drain hose adapter for mess free drainage without the need to pull the skid plate.
• Make sure you pull the oil filter canister and oil filter before you pop your drain plug back in. The oil canister & filter assembly has to be fully out to drain all of the oil in the 2.7.
• Oil drains for a long time on the 2.7, I drained mine for 30 minutes with a steady (although small) stream of oil. Even jacked up the driver side to aide in draining all of it out.
• The oil filter installed from the factory is FL-2062 (black caps), not FL-2062-A (no black caps) like prescribed in the owner's manual.
• The small rubber o-ring for the oil filter canister stem is a pain in the ass to reinstall, slip one side in the groove then use a screwdriver to bend it over the top to pop it into place.

Now for the head scratcher; after refilling with 7.0 quarts, the dipstick appears to read about a quart high (I have pulled it after the change, after sitting over night and now 24 hours later). There is a uniform coating of oil on the dipstick up above the twist which appears to be roughly a quart.

For shits and giggles, I am debating dropping a quart of oil to bring the level down to 6.0 quarts then recheck.

Has anyone else ran into a high dipstick reading yet?

Update:

Well I changed the oil AGAIN, because I don't feel okay driving around with a dipstick reflecting an overfilled engine. I pulled the oil filter & cap assembly. I hooked up the Femco drain hose, jacked up the driver side and let it drain for over 30 minutes until the hose was dry. I captured and measured 6.75 quarts of the 7.0 quarts I originally put in.

I put in 5.0 quarts then incrementally added 0.5 quarts until the dipstick registered at the maximum fill dot. Any guesses on how many quarts hit the maximum fill dot? 6.0 quarts. I then ran the engine until it hit an operating temperature of 190 degrees. Let it sit for 15 minutes then checked the dipstick. It registered between the maximum fill dot and the top of the hash marks. I'll check it tomorrow morning when it's cold again.

So I hope I am some sort of dumbass but the odds are in my favor that something is not right. Going to call a service department tomorrow to have them check the service manual for Bronco 2.7 oil capacity and put in a hotline with Ford about my issue.

Very interested to see other owners measure their factory fill and what their dipstick reflects after they fill their engine.

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[unfortunate]

I would probably trust the dip stick? No all of the oil will drain out of all the nooks if you got the 7qrts from the book.

 

[Roll Sound]

My RC8R always reads high. It makes me nervous because you can do damage overfilling it. I measure out the synth oil to the CC and add a specific volume. I have always gone by that no prob. Not exactly apples to apples, but if this is normal, you, like me, sort of have to relearn the dipstick.

 

[Roll Sound]

It hopefully doesn't retain a full quart. That's a lot of dirty oil hanging around after a change. He drained it for half hour.

 

[HBTFD]

Did 7 quarts of oil come out when you drained it?

Did you start the engine to circulate the oil into the filter?

 

[jxc]

Would be interesting to know how much you captured when you drained it.

 

[Roll Sound]

Would be interesting to know how much you captured when you drained it.

Yes. I had to check mine. Great point.

 

[MN_OuterBanks]

I haven’t changed my own oil in 20 years and don’t intend to start again now.

 

[sgraing1]

Maybe just put in the amount of oil to bring it to the full mark.

 

[unfortunate]

It hopefully doesn't retain a full quart. That's a lot of dirty oil hanging around after a change. He drained it for half hour.

Hopefully not, he’ll have to drain some and check the dipstick again. My highlander retains a little less than half a quart.

 

[Felix808]

Does oil stay in the turbos?

 

[GrabberBlue]

Did 7 quarts of oil come out when you drained it?

Did you start the engine to circulate the oil into the filter?

Would be interesting to know how much you captured when you drained it.

I failed at exactly measuring what drained. I put 5 quarts back in the new jug and the remaining in a milk jug.

I haven’t changed my own oil in 20 years and don’t intend to start again now.

If only life was that easy, try having a dealer put in 200% the oil capacity and subsequently grenade the engine in your brand new car. Then have the service foreman pull the dipstick confirming the overfill and reassure you that zero damage has occurred.

Maybe just put in the amount of oil to bring it to the full mark.

Never had to fill an engine with oil before by going purely off the dipstick rather than the prescribed oil capacity. Ford should have stated as such in the manual if that was needed.

 

[GrabberBlue]

Well I changed the oil AGAIN, because I don't feel okay driving around with a dipstick reflecting an overfilled engine. I pulled the oil filter & cap assembly. I hooked up the Femco drain hose, jacked up the driver side and let it drain for over 30 minutes until the hose was dry. I captured and measured 6.75 quarts of the 7.0 quarts I originally put in.

I put in 5.0 quarts then incrementally added 0.5 quarts until the dipstick registered at the maximum fill dot. Any guesses on how many quarts hit the maximum fill dot? 6.0 quarts. I then ran the engine until it hit an operating temperature of 190 degrees. Let it sit for 15 minutes then checked the dipstick. It registered between the maximum fill dot and the top of the hash marks. I'll check it tomorrow morning when it's cold again.

So I hope I am some sort of dumbass but the odds are in my favor that something is not right. Going to call a service department tomorrow to have them check the service manual for Bronco 2.7 oil capacity and put in a hotline with Ford about my issue.

Very interested to see other owners measure their factory fill and what their dipstick reflects after they fill their engine.

 

[Jhuff]

I would trust the owners manual over the dipstick. If the engine takes less oil than stated, someone would have found out long before now.

My bet is that the robot in charge if stamping the dipstick had a bad day... we are talking only a fraction of an inch in fill line error to equal a 1qt error.

Edit: was thinking that other errors could cause the same reading... but indont know how ford attaches their dip sticks to the tube. Is there maybe a gasket or something else missing that would allow your dipstick to be inserted too far down the tube?

 

[Funkdoobiest]

From my experience, the aftermarket drain valves don't let all the oil out. Usually 1/4 quart to 1/2 a quart. I don't like using them because of that but most people don't care. The 2.7 takes a long time for the oil to settle on the bottom to get a proper reading and it says so in my F150 manual. I wait 1/2 hour to check, then check again after it sits overnight before topping it off, which sounds like what you did. Make sure it's on level ground. My F150 takes the proper amount. The dealer overfilled the 2 times I brought it to them for complimentary oil changes. I don't think they wait long enough for the oil to drain or settle on the bottom for an accurate reading. That's at least a half hour of waiting. I do it myself now

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