[donuteater306]

How many quarts of oil is needed for an oil/filter change? There are two dots on the dipstick, the owner's manual says the capacity for an oil/filter change is 4.4us quarts however, I put 4.5 (to make it easier) and the oil is just at the lower dot on the stick. I was expecting the oil to be either at the upper dot or at least in between the two. I appreciate the help.

 

[Carbuff2]

I would add more oil, bring it up to AT LEAST midway between the dots.

Then, use a Sharpie to indicate how much is needed to refill, on the underhood sticker. That is what I always do with new-to-me cars.

 

[donuteater306]

I would add more oil, bring it up to AT LEAST midway between the dots.

Then, use a Sharpie to indicate how much is needed to refill, on the underhood sticker. That is what I always do with new-to-me cars.

Hey, thanks for the reply. Great idea with the Sharpie. I'm going to confirm we have the right dipstick before I add more. Very strange to me...we have several Hondas and all of them show full when you add what the manual says for oil capacity.

 

[phxdnelson]

How many quarts of oil is needed for an oil/filter change? There are two dots on the dipstick, the owner's manual says the capacity for an oil/filter change is 4.4us quarts however, I put 4.5 (to make it easier) and the oil is just at the lower dot on the stick. I was expecting the oil to be either at the upper dot or at least in between the two. I appreciate the help.

I assume you were on a flat surface and you put the dip stick all the way in, to include the rubber boot - right?

 

[donuteater306]

I assume you were on a flat surface and you put the dip stick all the way in, to include the rubber boot - right?

Yes sir. That's why I thought either the manual is incorrect, or maybe it has the wrong dip stick. My mother bought the vehicle used several years ago from a local Honda dealer and she's had them maintain it. Sunday, she mentioned that the "wrench" light was on. I saw that it was due for oil and tire rotation so I grabbed a Honda filter (yes, I know there are better but I've always used Honda parts in our Hondas) and 5qts Mobile 1. Looked in her owner's manual and it said 4.4 U.S. qts w/filter change. Drove the vehicle onto the ramps, drained the oil, swapped the filter, poured-in 4.5qts, started the engine and drove it off the ramps. Waited a few and checked the level. Right up to the bottom dot. I double checked that I had four and a half empty bottles, checked again...bottom dot. Looked at the manual again, 4.4qts. Hmmm. With my Ridgeline, 4.5qts brings the level to the top of the hatch pattern on the stick. Same when I service our 98 CRV and 12 Pilot. Maybe someone swapped a Civic dip stick? I'd rather be a little low than over filled, but with 4.5 in it, I'm not too concerned about it blowing up. Just weird.

🤷

 

[Larrybg]

If it was still on the ramps when you drained the oil, maybe all of the old oil didn't drain.

 

[donuteater306]

If it was still on the ramps when you drained the oil, maybe all of the old oil didn't drain.

Well, it's not overfilled tho. Showing that it's low.

 

[Striderwv]

My 2010 takes 5 quarts. I would fill it up to the top hole and record how much it took.

 

[donuteater306]

My 2010 takes 5 quarts. I would fill it up to the top hole and record how much it took.

I've considered adding another half qt., just don't want to over fill. Could someone please measure the length of the dip stick so that I could make sure our's is correct?

 

[Striderwv]

22 1/4" from bottom of orange handle

 

[donuteater306]

22 1/4" from bottom of orange handle

THANK YOU for doing that, very much appreciated!

 

[udraft]

A bit overfilled will never hurt your motor. I typically overfill by as much as a ½ quart because mine uses a quart every 3k miles. My habit is to only check oil after sitting a long time.

 

[donuteater306]

22 1/4" from bottom of orange handle

Well, ours is 23 1/4 haha

 

[Dans15]

Yes sir. That's why I thought either the manual is incorrect, or maybe it has the wrong dip stick. My mother bought the vehicle used several years ago from a local Honda dealer and she's had them maintain it. Sunday, she mentioned that the "wrench" light was on. I saw that it was due for oil and tire rotation so I grabbed a Honda filter (yes, I know there are better but I've always used Honda parts in our Hondas) and 5qts Mobile 1. Looked in her owner's manual and it said 4.4 U.S. qts w/filter change. Drove the vehicle onto the ramps, drained the oil, swapped the filter, poured-in 4.5qts, started the engine and drove it off the ramps. Waited a few and checked the level. Right up to the bottom dot. I double checked that I had four and a half empty bottles, checked again...bottom dot. Looked at the manual again, 4.4qts. Hmmm. With my Ridgeline, 4.5qts brings the level to the top of the hatch pattern on the stick. Same when I service our 98 CRV and 12 Pilot. Maybe someone swapped a Civic dip stick? I'd rather be a little low than over filled, but with 4.5 in it, I'm not too concerned about it blowing up. Just weird.

On my Acura with the same engine I believe the ramps allow more oil to drain than when level. Thus a greater refill is required. In my case, the additional is something like 3/8-1/2 quart over what the manual says to bring the dipstick to full.

 

[Striderwv]

Well, ours is 23 1/4 haha

The metal part below the orings is 23 1/4?

 

[Big Bob]

My daughter's 2009 takes a 1/2 quart more than spec to get it to the full mark on the dipstick. This vehicle was purchased new by my father and I bought it from him in 2016 (later sold to my daughter) and started doing the oil changes myself. The dipstick is OEM unless someone changed it where my dad got his oil changes done, but I really doubt that happened.

 

[williamsji]

Assuming that you had 4 full quart bottles and one half full quart bottle, then it is likely one of two things:

1) as noted by Dans15 putting the vehicle up on a ramp may drain more oil than if the vehicle is level to the ground.

2) you do appear to be reporting your dipstick is one inch longer than some other owners OEM dip sticks. Since the vehicle is used, it could be that dipstick was a replacement at some point in time and that is the cause. One inch extra length on that stick would just about represent one full quart if I recall correctly on my old 2008. Your dipstick certainly looks like the right tip for a gen3 CRV, but you are reporting the stick to be one inch longer from the orange stopper to the tip of the stick. So, double check that just to be sure. I bet if you went and got an replacement OEM dipstick that is the proper length you would find it measures correctly.

Regardless of cause, if you are sure you put in 4.5 quarts and see the stick reading at the first hole, then you are good to go. It's just that as some oil slowly burns away (not atypical for gen3 CRVs) you might have trouble seeing the actual oil level, so I would replace the dipstick with a correct OEM one if it were me.

Lastly, while Honda is very deliberate in telling owners to NEVER over fill the oil above the full mark, the fact is Honda engines appear to tolerate 1/2 to 1 full quart of overfill with no issues. So in the short term, if you are uncomfortable with the measurement, throw that last 1/2 quart in left over in bottle 5, and then monitor from there.