Underside was clean and dry as far as I could tell. No oil splashes, nothing out of the ordinary. Didn't see smoke, and everything seemed fine as far as I could tell. I haven't had time to pull the sparkplugs but it's on my list of things to do. Again, I have to get the proper tools, especially to get at that pesky #6. Coolant is the normal radioactive-green color with no foam, froth or other oddity.
As for the whole dipstick qualms....I think as long as I check it in the same manner every time is more important than how....testing in the scientific method you have to keep one variable constant. The manual says to warm it up, shut it off and let it rest for 10 min, but I still appreciate the suggestions, hahah. When I pull it now at cold, it shows a glaze of oil nearly up to the H. I'll check it again tomorrow after I drive home from work.
One thought I had was that maybe the dealer-technician was just jerkin my gherkin and all he did was an oil change or something else. Maybe I didn't get the Midwestern humor...or maybe he only topped off .3 quarts or something to that nature and accidentally said/typed more. Mainly because of how dark my oil was when I drained it yesterday. I've put maybe 700 miles on the truck since this all happened and it was dark and old looking. Of course I've never changed my oil after only 700 miles of driving before, so this might just be normal. Hahaha.
On a side note - I used my transponder and contacted Scotty...he's not responsible for beaming it up.
The mystery continues... thank you all for pondering this with me and giving your input. I highly appreciate it.
I've had this happen to me. Went a bit overdue on my regular oil change interval, and noticed an increase in ticking when starting up and every once and a while a ticking while driving under (heavier) loads, like uphill or accelerating hard.
Found that the oil level was low, but still reading on the dipstick. Put a quart in at the gas station and everything was normal.
I chalk it up to higher mileage on the engine, that it is burning a small amount of oil, but its not noticeable (with engine noise, can notice it if I write dipstick levels down) within my regular service interval (5000 km). I don't have any oil leaks anywhere either.
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2000 Silver Frontier, SE 4x4 V6 Crew Cab (5spd) - 288xxx km and counting
One thought I had was that maybe the dealer-technician was just jerkin my gherkin and all he did was an oil change or something else. Maybe I didn't get the Midwestern humor...or maybe he only topped off .3 quarts or something to that nature and accidentally said/typed more.
This is what I'm thinking. Do me a favor though, grab a flashlight and have a peak down the filler tube to make sure you can still see rocker arms and not crud. My similar experience to yours was caused by a clogged oil pickup that was due to the serious neglect by the previous owner - probably 2 oil changes in 80K miles, one at the beginning and one at the end. This does not sound like the case with your truck.
If you had burned it there would be a residue on the back of the tailgate, if it leaked then that much oil would have undercoated the truck.
You might try a trick I do with every car, truck, lawnmower, cycle I own, thoroughly clean the dipstick with acetone, lightly sand it, and spray the last 2 inches or so with heat resistant white paint. The white background gives you a no BS reading whether the oil is brand new or black as night.
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You might try a trick I do with every car, truck, lawnmower, cycle I own, thoroughly clean the dipstick with acetone, lightly sand it, and spray the last 2 inches or so with heat resistant white paint. The white background gives you a no BS reading whether the oil is brand new or black as night.
That's a good idea, might do that with my truck and bike.
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2000 Silver Frontier, SE 4x4 V6 Crew Cab (5spd) - 288xxx km and counting
This happened to me in my 2000 fronty, for me it seemed it didn't like the oil i put in it,
(sounds strange to me too) but after changing brands i never had oil go missing again.
You might try a trick I do with every car, truck, lawnmower, cycle I own, thoroughly clean the dipstick with acetone, lightly sand it, and spray the last 2 inches or so with heat resistant white paint. The white background gives you a no BS reading whether the oil is brand new or black as night.
I have to admit I learned this trick from my old Suburban: drill about three small holes in the dipstick, like just under the mark, middle of the range, and low. Clean is wipe/blow out any oil in the holes, re-insert (you guys like that term), then withdraw (you don't like that one) and see if there's truly oil in the holes, rather than picking up a false reading from the tube that the dipstick rides in.
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I looked down the filler tube - looks clean and good. No crud on my tailgate, exhaust, or anywhere near. Underside is oil-free...
Been checking the oil and it seems to be staying at the same level and the oil looks fine, not burnt, etc. I like the methods of altering the dipstick to make I'm not getting a false reading, etc. Thanks for that.
I don't know if this mystery will ever be solved but I highly appreciate all who have given their thoughts. I'll update if anything ever comes of it. I guess until then I'll just keep driving.....
Not saying this is your situation, but some engines use oil all along, but the oil is being diluted by fuel. The level then appears the same or drops slowly. When a major trip is taken and the oil is hot for a long time, the dilution from fuel vaporizes and the volume decreases, showing the level as low. It's the volitiles that are confusing the volumetric reading. This is especially possible when the vehicle is driven only on short trips in cold weather and then a long trip is taken.
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