I got my car a while ago did alot of work , including a rebuilt motor , well im at the finishing stages just have to hook up the parking brake on my 88 2.8 gt , get tranny and engine levels good , and take down the road to seat the rings and wear in the camshaft. Well it seems like the oil level is reading on the dipstick higher than it should...

maybe its just me trying to be too cautious but it seems like i keep draining and draining oil trying to get the level good. But it shows way over the operating range , while hot , and also at or higher than the operating range when cool , but unsure of if any is sticking to the inside of the tube and rubbing off giving a bad reading...

I bought 5quarts of oil , with break in additive , but prior to that I filled my motor with some new cheap oil that was sitting around to prevent humidity rust from sitting even though being covered... So I drained all of that and put in fresh , maybe theres also a little sitting in the bottom of the pan thats throwing my calculations off but.... It seems like I only have around maybe 2.5-3 quart of oil in my engine max unless theres alot of other oil that was left in the block and the dipstick is reading high. There is no sludge build up in the motor freshly rebuilt and everything thoroughly cleaned... opinions? I guess as long as my dipstick is reading correct range is all going to be fine ... it kind of makes me want to jacknife the front end up enough to drain every last drop out of the engine , and put 3.5 quarts again with car back level to see whatsup and add the remaining 1/2 quart as needed

[This message has been edited by Chris-Winfield (edited 08-22-2012).]

GALLONS of oil.....???? theres your problem. It takes QUARTS. Look in the manual to see what exactly its SUPPOSED to have. Drain it and remove filter. Install new filter....and the CORRECT amount of oil. Start it up and let it run a minute or two. Then set for 5 mins and check your dipstick. Then you KNOW when you have the correct amount in the future. See if it reads correctly then. You could always have the wrong dipstick by mistake. If you have the wrong dipstick, you can take a grinder and make a mark on it to show full. It takes 5-10K miles to fully break in rings, bearings and cylinders. Cam has special break in rules that MUST be followed or its junk in 500 miles. Normally its something like run the engine at 2000 rpm with no load for 30 minutes without shutting it off.

*** If you did get 3 gallons of oil in it, Im amazed you didnt get hydrolock and bust up your engine.

[This message has been edited by rogergarrison (edited 08-22-2012).]

I dont think he put gallons in because later in the post he says quarts....

I ment quarts , I just dont usually use quarts as a term very often so I always end up saying gallons by accident.

Everything I said is ment to be quarts not gallons.

If you use the AC Delco PF52 or equivalent longer oil filter, the combined crankcase capacity will be an even five quarts. Otherwise, it's approximately 4.3-4.4 quarts.

You also should try to drain the oil with the car as level as possible - or even if you can the front raised slightly higher than the rear. I know that sounds strange. If you just jack up the rear of the car and try to drain the oil you are potentially not going to get it all out (well, you WILL still get most all of it out, but a good deal of residual old oil will be left). I typically put all four corners on stands with the front a little bit higher than the rear. Start the car to let the oil warm up a bit. Then drain it. That way filling up the five quarts with the longer filter actually fills around five quarts rather than overfill.

Sometimes the obvious is not so obvious to new guys.

You are checking the engine oil with the engine shut off, right? Wiping the dipstick once before actually putting it back and then pulling it to read it, right? An honest mistake if no one ever told you that. Otherwise Roger had some good advice.

Automatic transmission fluid gets checked when the car is running on most cars. .

I have the filter from fierostores filter kit , seems like the longer filter to me.

Is that an original dip stick? Not all of them are the same length. So taking one from another car other than a Fiero can result in a longer stick.
I would measure the total length of the stick from the handle to the tip and post it here for comparison to someone's good stick.

Alright I will do that tomorrow if dont end up having work to do , but as far as im aware its the original dipstick for the car , but its a replacement motor transfered everything over to

I always ran a full 5 quarts in my 88 2.8 with the longer filter (look up the S10 2.8 for the right filter number).

Also, you do not break in a cam while driving the car. Cams need a steady 2000 RPM for a good 20 minutes so there is enough oil being thrown around the inside of the engine to properly lubricate it. That should be the first 20 minutes that a new engine runs before it is even timed with a light or anything else fine tuned. Driving the car (varying and lower RPMs) with a new cam can starve the cam of oil and destroy it, especially with today's lower zinc oil, although the car will still run indefinitely. Diesel oils like Rotella are the preferred oil for break in since they have more zinc due to different emission standards. Some cam manufacturers also recommend running a single valve spring until the cam is broken in as well, but not all cams require more than one spring anyway.