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Tech - Oil Pan Capacity Test. How Much Oil Is REALLY In The Oil Pan.

Oil Pan Capacity Tests
3000GT & Stealth DOHC

We did a little research on the stock 3S oil pans to see just how much oil is in them and at what level that volume shows in the pan and on the oil dip stick. We used a stock oil pan and a stock oil dip stick.

We actually started by measuring the clearance between the pickup tube/funnel and the bottom of the bowl in the oil pan. We found there to actually be 8-10 mm of space between the pickup strainer and the bottom of the pan.

TIP: DO NOT JACK YOUR CAR VIA THE OIL PAN!
Because there is not much space between the oil pan and the pickup strainer, it is important that you do NOT jack your car or engine via the oil pan. Doing so will result in the "bowl" at the bottom of the pan denting up and into the oil pickup strainer, which can severely restrict oil flow into the oil pump and ultimately lead to spun crank bearings due to oil starvation. If you pan IS dented in, we recommend removing it and at least doing the ole "Louisville Slugger Mod" - stand the bat on the handle end and hit the inside of the bowl of the pan down onto the big rounded end of the bat which will re-bowl the bottom of the pan. 

We used a stock oil pan set level on a table.

We used a stock oil dip stick on a stock engine to measure how far the dip stick extended past the bottom of the block, and thus how far it extended into the oil pan.

We marked the dip stick where it left the block and would be extending into the pan. It measured 4+7/8" past the block into the pan.

Holding the marked dip stick against the inside edge of the oil pan, you can see just how far it extends into the oil pan. The "low" indicator mark is just past/below the splash plate on the deep/pickup part of the pan.

Same dip stick at another angle against the inside of the pan - a little easier to see how far it extends into the pan. You can see the "low" indicator is just barely past the splash plate that goes around the pickup tube.

Now we started adding water. 1 quart filled it up to a depth of about 44mm / 1.75-inch, measuring from the center of the pickup bowl in the bottom of the oil pan.

2 quarts brought the depth up to 75mm / 2.95-inch, still well within in the deep / pickup part of the pan.

At about 2.75 quarts the fluid lever is already covering about 1/4-inch of the oil dip stick, and is just below the level of the splash plate around the deep / pickup side of the oil pan.

At 2.75 quarts the depth if about 95mm / 3.75-inch.

With 3 quarts in the oil pan, the level is exactly at the height of the splash plate around the deep / pickup side of the oil pan. This also means you are essentially at the "low" indicator on the oil dip stick. Meaning when the oil is at the "low" mark on the dip stick, there is actually 3 quarts of oil still sitting in the pan - and that's not including oil that is in the rest of the engine / oil filter / oil cooler lines / etc.

Showing 3 quarts and where the "full" indicator on the oil dip stick is. See that the fluid is at the same level as the splash shield.

Adding another half quart brought the capacity up to 3.5 quarts hits the "full" indicator on the oil dip stick. So when your oil dip stick is reading "full" that means you have about 3.5 quarts of oil actually in the pan.

As you can see even at "full" with 3.5 quarts, the oil is still only in the deep part of the pan.