Thread: ...you've done a dozen oil changes on your truck,

and each time you do one you can't quite remember how many quarts of oil you need so every time you check the Haynes or Chiltons before the oil change. My 2001 ford f-150 needs 6 quarts so I go out and buy one of those 5.28 qt jugs and a single quart of oil.

I remove the bolt, drain the oil, put the bolt back on, remove the oil filter, put the new one on, then start adding oil.

I first add the 5.28 qt jug and then start the engine, turned off the engine and check the dipstick....there's no oil on it. I'm a little confused because normally the minimum line means 5 quarts so I was expecting to see oil on the dipstick. Anyways, I add the other quart for a total of 6.28 qts and the dipstick shows about halfway between the minimum line and the maximum line. I'm really confused now because this has never happened to me before.... I could swear that each time I've put in exactly 6 quarts the oil level would be at the maximum....

After you started it it put oil in the pump, pump lines, heads, etc decreasing the amount of oil in the crank. My truck uses 7 quarts cause of the Big Block and my friendds diesel uses 14... My car uses a whopping 4 :P 1 quart per cylinder! Easy to remember!

I do the same thing with my tractor though, it uses about 1.5 quarts of oil and I always forget that...