How Much Oil Does My Car Need?

Whether you have a sedan, hatchback or SUV, your car has a set of oil intake. Knowing the right amount of the oil to put in the car will let your car run in the best condition. Putting too much or less will damage the car since each car requires a different amount of oil. For anyone who has ever wondered “how much oil does my car need”, this article is the true answer for you. 

First of all, let’s check where to indicate how many quarts of oil does my car need! 

Where To Find Information About How Much Oil Your Engine Takes

1. Your Owner Manual

The best source to know how many quart of oil for an oil change is your car owner manual. The service manual also provides very specific information about the type and amount of oil that you should put in the engine. So whenever you wonder how much oil does my car need, check out the car owner manual. 

Every car manufacturer will equip a manual book for every car owner to make sure they have knowledge about cars whenever they need. It’s also their responsibility since it’s necessary to know the guide for the proper care and maintenance of their vehicles. Usually, you can find the information about how much oil to put in car in the section for Vehicle Specifications or Lubrication System subheadings. 

An alternative way which may be easier for you to find is looking at the index of the manual book. Wherever you see “motor oil” or ‘lubrication” or other similar terms, you will have information about what you are looking for. 

2. Manufacturer Website

Another place where you can find information about the amount of motor oil is the manufacturer website. So when you wonder “how much oil does my car need” and if you lost the manual book or you feel it is difficult to find on the manual book, check out the website of car manufacturers. They have online tools that can help provide the data that you need. Enter the details about your car and the tool will provide you with the answer. 

This is more convenient for you because you do not need to carry the manual book around by you. Just go to the website, after a few clicks, you will know how much oil to put in car. 

3. Online Resource

Yes, it is true that there are also online resources that can help you look for the information you need. Visit these websites, enter the little information about your car. The website will do the last, it will give you the info about your car oil. Normally, you need to fill the name, brand, model, trim, year, engine code of the car.

So you can check again with these websites. For example the website named Total from UK is one of the good sites to check “how much oil does my car need”. Go to the website, choosing the type of your vehicle first, then putting any required information and you will get the quart of car oil you need. 

4. Service Centre

If you need to change the car oil and you intend to do it at the garage, the mechanic there will know how many quart of oil for an oil charge. Since they have met a lot of cars like your car and they are equipped with knowledge about engine oil, motor oil cang car brands. Moreover, they have the database of vehicle specifications in their computers. You can ask them for information regarding the amount of oil you are going to put into your car. 

How Much Oil Does Your Car Need?

Since many people ask “how much oil does my car need”, we have to repeat again, it depends on your car type, car brand, year of production… It also depends on the size of the engine mounted on their cars. Because of that, the bigger engine you have, the more oil you need to change. 

There are many reasons which encourage you to put the correct amount of the oil to your car. But in general, cars with four cylinder engines have an oil capacity of 5 quarts meanwhile 6 cylinder engines will often use about 6 quarts., 8 cylinders car expect to use 8 quarts of oil. 

Sometimes this number will be different due to the car manufacturer. So it is really important to check with the car manufacturer before changing. 

Difference Between Synthetic And Mineral Oils

There are two main types of engine oil which are synthetic and mineral oils. Mineral oils are the product of refining crude oil, removing the contaminant, unwanted hydrocarbons and other natural substances. It is an old oil engine compared to synthetic oil. Nevertheless, they are some of the cheapest lubricants available, and in the classic vehicle, they are recommended to use mineral oils by manufacturers.

The second type of the car oil is synthetic oil. It is formed  from highly chemically modified mineral oils, or are oils with entirely synthetic formulations. Featuring far fewer impurities to mineral oils and loaded with additives to boost their lubricating power, synthetics’ anti-corrosion, anti-oxidation, anti-wear and detergent effects are far greater than traditional lubricants. It is recommended to use for high performance.

What If I Put Less Engine Oil?

Beside the question “how much oil does my car need”, we also receive other questions such as “what if I put less engine oil”. For example, what will happen if I put 4 quarts of oil instead of 5 quarts of oil. In deep, less oil means a higher risk of engine overheating. It also can lead to faster and tear of the different metallic and mechanical properties of the engines.

When you start a car, the oil has to reach the upper-end some parts of the car at the first 2 seconds, which are camshaft, cam bearings, the valves, lifters… So when the level of the car oil is too low, it is unable to reach these parts  so there will be problems with them.

SEE MORE:

• Engine Oil Color: Determine If It Needs To Be Changed
• What To Do When There Is A Coolant In Engine Oil?
• How To Check Engine Oil? The Right Ways To Do It!

What If Put More Engine Oil?

So for sure you can not put less oil in the engine, so how about putting more oil in the engine? It’s also not a good choice. The excessive engine oil can also lead to the engine wear in the long run. It’s easy to create the bubbles, turning the oil into a frothy mixture. The oil pump may pick some of these air bubbles and circulate it throughout the engine. That mixture will decrease the ability of the oil to prevent friction and may lead to some serious engine wear. 

Tips To Fulfill Engine Oil

It is important to check the engine oil level if you do know the exact amount of the engine oil you should put or you just want to make sure of the process of putting oil. 

So when you are not sure, put oil little by little. For example, your car may need 4 quarts of engine oil but you are not sure about it. You can pour 3 quarts first. Then using the dipstick to check the level of the oil. If it is low, you can add more oil about half of quarts. Then, continue to check again and again. It does take time, but it is the only one way to make sure that you are putting the right amount of oil to the engine. 

After pouring the oil to the engine, you can idle your car for a few minutes then let the engine warm for 2 minute, use the dipstick to check again the level of the engine oil. The marking nearest the tip indicates the upper limit of the oil level. If you have the low level of the engine oil, then you can pour more to the engine. And you can repeat the process again and again.

Sum Up

So you already know the answer for the question “how much oil does my car need”. Remember to check the information before pouring engine oil. And keep in mind that too much engine oil or less engine oil will cause damage to your car so only pour the correct amount of oil to the engine to make sure your car works well. If you do not know exactly what to do, bring your car to the garage, the repair man will help you do that.  Remember to follow us for better maintenance tips!