3 or 4 days ago I was on a trip and was driving constantly for about 6 hours. Everything ran fine the entire trip. When I got into town I got stuck in traffic and had to sit for a few minutes. While sitting I noticed that the engine was starting to run hot and the oil pressure dipped down to around 20psi. The engine has always stayed steady at 40psi. I got out of traffic and let the engine cool. After it cooled off I drove straight to the closest auto parts store and checked the oil and the coolant. The coolant was only a little bit low, but the oil was about 2 1/2 quarts low. I topped off the coolant and added oil to the correct markings on the dipstick. I just changed the oil less than 2000 miles earlier and I know that it has the correct amount in it at that time. There are no signs of any leaks that I can see so where did the oil go? Since this happened over the last few days the oil pressure now varies depending on RPM. At idle the oils pressure drops down to around 22psi. When at speed the oil psi comes up to 38-40psi which is where it was at before. I keep checking the oil regularly to see if it is losing oi and if it is you can hardly tell. I plan on digging into the problem further in the next day or two. Any ideas on where to start?
Dec 22, 2009 at 6:14 PM