LS6 Oil Capacity
10-01-2014, 04:43 PM
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LS6 Oil Capacity Hi everyone. I just bought an 04 V about a month ago. Love it so far but the oil capacity is kind of confusing.
Okay so I know these cars are supposed to hold around 6.5 quarts of oil. With 6.5 quarts in the car, the dipstick won't even read any oil. According to the dipstick, it would take over 8 quarts to be full.
I figured it must be the wrong dipstick but with 6.5 quarts the low oil warning will come on at start-up every time. If you have more like 7.5 quarts in the car the light will not come on but I don't want to run it with that much oil. The car is almost all stock, nothing crazy done to the engine, the oil pan looks factory.
*The car did have a different part number dipstick in it (12574889) than what seems to be the stock part number (12584737) so I ordered the correct one. It was so rigid that it wouldn't even fit in the dipstick tube. The one that is in there now is pretty thin so it fits fine and is the exact length as the one I ordered so I'm sure it has nothing to do with the problem.
Anyway if anyone has a guess as to what is wrong here, it would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to run the car with too much or too little oil. Thanks
-Woody
Okay so I know these cars are supposed to hold around 6.5 quarts of oil. With 6.5 quarts in the car, the dipstick won't even read any oil. According to the dipstick, it would take over 8 quarts to be full.
I figured it must be the wrong dipstick but with 6.5 quarts the low oil warning will come on at start-up every time. If you have more like 7.5 quarts in the car the light will not come on but I don't want to run it with that much oil. The car is almost all stock, nothing crazy done to the engine, the oil pan looks factory.
*The car did have a different part number dipstick in it (12574889) than what seems to be the stock part number (12584737) so I ordered the correct one. It was so rigid that it wouldn't even fit in the dipstick tube. The one that is in there now is pretty thin so it fits fine and is the exact length as the one I ordered so I'm sure it has nothing to do with the problem.
Anyway if anyone has a guess as to what is wrong here, it would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to run the car with too much or too little oil. Thanks
-Woody
10-01-2014, 07:02 PM
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6qts + the filter (so about 6.5qts) always put me at the full mark on the dipstick. Now I'm at about 7.5qts because I've added an oil cooler and the associated -10 supply and return hoses.
The CTS-V pan is unique to the V, so I don't know if another pan would even fit. Sumthin' don't make sense!
The CTS-V pan is unique to the V, so I don't know if another pan would even fit. Sumthin' don't make sense!
10-01-2014, 07:43 PM
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That's what I don't understand! I would say it definitely has something to do with the dipstick but the oil light comes on each time you start the car when it only has 6.5 quarts in it. Maybe there's a tapeworm in my oil pan that's eating some of my oil.
10-02-2014, 10:48 AM
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The light will come on each time for me but I'll mess around with it a little more. There doesn't seem to be any kind of oil cooler on the car. I think it was usually somewhere around 30 psi at idle. That was with 7.5 quarts of Mobil 1 though. I'll see what it's at today.
If it's not too much of a pain, could someone tell me what the part number on their LS6 dipstick is?
If it's not too much of a pain, could someone tell me what the part number on their LS6 dipstick is?
10-02-2014, 02:15 PM
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Well I changed the oil last night and put the right amount of Penzoil synthetic in there. So far the oil light has stayed off. I took it for a drive and then let it idle for awhile and the lowest it went to was 21 psi. Seems kind of low to me but everything feels healthy. It does have an intermittent lifter tick (or something that sounds like a lifter tick) but I can't seem to find any sort of association that would cause the noise.
Anyway for now, I'm hoping that I just have the wrong dipstick in there.
Anyway for now, I'm hoping that I just have the wrong dipstick in there.
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10-02-2014, 03:17 PM
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Am I the only one who puts in just 6 qts, checks that it's full periodically, and it always is?
Just went out and checked. It's right at the top (of three) little holes in the hatched zone of the dipstick (though it's tough to see in this photo).
Just went out and checked. It's right at the top (of three) little holes in the hatched zone of the dipstick (though it's tough to see in this photo).
Last edited by rand49er; 10-02-2014 at 03:31 PM.
10-02-2014, 03:53 PM
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Figured it out! I think. At some point someone either put the wrong dipstick tube on the car or bent the stock one to fit in the wrong place. After looking at pictures, it seems that everyone's dipstick comes up between the second and third exhaust port and mine was routed between the first and second. Doesn't really explain why the oil light was coming on before but it has stayed off since the oil change so I'm not gonna worry about it.
10-02-2014, 07:38 PM
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Figured it out! I think. At some point someone either put the wrong dipstick tube on the car or bent the stock one to fit in the wrong place. After looking at pictures, it seems that everyone's dipstick comes up between the second and third exhaust port and mine was routed between the first and second. Doesn't really explain why the oil light was coming on before but it has stayed off since the oil change so I'm not gonna worry about it.
21psi is plenty of idle pressure in other engine families...is this considered low on an LS? I wouldn't think twice about those numbers....
10-02-2014, 08:52 PM
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Oil pressure varies with how tight of tolerances are in the main bearings. A fresher motor will have higher pressure. A lower oil pressure can indicate wear in the bearing causing the oil pressure to be lower. I wouldn't worry a whole lot about it. Normal pressure is around 10psi per 1k rpm.
How many miles are on the car?
Mine is about to turn 100k and its low 30s psi at idle and picks up normal for rpm.
How many miles are on the car?
Mine is about to turn 100k and its low 30s psi at idle and picks up normal for rpm.
10-02-2014, 10:38 PM
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The car has 111k on it right now. I watched it some more tonight and it keeps dropping to 21psi if it sits at idle for awhile. Usually around 34, 35psi cruising at 2k. This lifter tick is driving me crazy though! When I first got the car you could hear it every once in awhile but recently I haven't really noticed it at all until tonight. It's a pretty loud ticking and I get the feeling it has something to do with the oil pressure. It usually happens when I'm sitting at a light or just cruising and the oil pressure is lower. If you get on it some, raising the pressure, the tick goes away. Any guesses?
Hopefully this is nothing too expensive. I've been trying to save my money for headers!
Hopefully this is nothing too expensive. I've been trying to save my money for headers!
10-02-2014, 10:46 PM
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And I really don't know if someone has been in the engine. The guy I bought it from didn't know too much about the history of the car. Everything seems to have been pretty well maintained. Maybe I just measured incorrectly on my first oil change because the light hasn't come back since this most recent one.
10-03-2014, 02:25 AM
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In the 30s seems rather low to me at cruise. Hopefully someone with a bit more knowledge will chime in here to say if that's fine or not. Either way you engine isnt getting enough oil pressure at cruise or at idle. Could be that you need a new oil pump. That's a long day but its cheaper than dropping and rebuilding the bottom end. Mine is about 40 cold start and 30s warm idle. And I'm running in the 50s at cruise. All stock oil pump and stuff.
And the oil pressure would effect hydraulic lifters
And the oil pressure would effect hydraulic lifters
Last edited by ryridesmotox; 10-03-2014 at 02:34 AM.