If you own a car, you might have the idea of engine oil and its importance for the vehicle. Every vehicle needs to change its engine oil after every recommended mile driven.
Anyone can drain the engine oil of their vehicle if they learn how to do that. Though you can easily learn how to drain your engine oil, there is some action to consider before doing that.
Well, now you may ask, how long to let engine cool before adding oil? It is recommended if you drive your car, you should wait 5-10 minutes to let your car cool down.
These include your car being parked at the level ground, and your engine should be cool. Before changing your engine oil, you need to make sure that the oil is properly cooled down before adding oil.
Let’s discuss this in detail.
How Long to Let Engine Cool Before Adding Oil?
If you want to know that can you add oil to a cold engine, the answer is yes, you can. You can change your engine oil in two ways if you want to do that perfectly. First, if you want to change when your engine is cold, you need to start your engine and run it for 2-3 minutes.
Secondly, if the vehicle is driven for a while, let it rest for 20-30 minutes before changing engine oil. In both ways, you need to park the car on level ground and should check the oil level.
For many people, it is not uncommon to know if adding engine oil to a hot engine will cause any damage or not. However, there is no real harm if someone adds engine oil to a hot engine.
It is recommended by many experts that if you drive your car for a while, you need to rest the engine for 20-30 min to let all the engine oil go down from different components while running.
After that, if you drain your engine oil, it will drain out most of it. It will eventually help you to top up with new engine oil with recommended levels.
Can You Add Oil to a Hot Engine?
Yes, you can add cold engine oil to a hot engine, and it will not cause any damage, but you should also know that hot engines can expand the engine oil, and you will not see an accurate level for that.
If you want to check the level, you should do that before starting your engine as the dipstick will have oils all over when you are running the engine. You will not get an accurate level for it.
If you add oil to a hot engine, you might overfill the engine with new engine oil.
Why Should You Not Put Oil in a Hot Engine?
There is no real risk to put engine oil in a hot engine. However, it is not recommended. As you run the car for a certain time, the engine oil will expand and spread all over the engine.
When you put new engine oil on your engine, you need to drain out the older one. If the engine was running and you tried to drain it instantly, there are some possibilities that some oil will remain.
If you put new engine oil to your vehicle without a proper draining, you will end up filling up more engine oil than recommended. This will cause several damages to your engine.
You should wait at least 20-30 minutes after driving to let almost all the remaining oil go down, and you will then drain out most of it from the engine.
Can You Put Oil in a Car While Engine is Running?
Well, the answer is no, you can’t. If you open the engine oil cap while running, it will splash out all the engine oil from the cap.
If you want to change engine oil, you need to drain the old one properly. You certainly can do that while running as it will not drain all of the oil from the engine.
If some oil remains in the engine, you will end up filling more than the recommended amount of oil in your engine, which will cause more damage than good.
Things to Remember While Adding Oil to the Engine:
Anyone can change engine oil and put the new one by themselves if they know how to do that. It’s quite an easy task to perform if you have the right tools.
You need to remember certain matters before adding oil to the engine.
●Let the vehicle park on level ground:
You have to park your car on level ground before adding new engine oil. This will help all the old engine oils to come down while draining.
●Your engine should be cool:
Now you may ask, how long to let the engine cool before adding engine oil? Well, If you drive your vehicle, you should wait at least 20 minutes to let the engine rest before adding.
●Check engine oil level:
You have to check the engine oil level of your vehicle with a dipstick. It will help you to put an exact amount of engine oil to fill.
●Use the recommended grade:
Every vehicle engine required a different grade of engine oil. You should check your user manual and put the right grade as recommended.
●Add oil as per need:
You should always check the engine oil level properly with the dipstick and add as much as needed. Adding more than enough will damage your engine.
Wrapping Up
Engine oil is considered to be the soul of a vehicle. Without it, it’s not possible to run an engine. As it is important to run your engine properly, it also needs to be changed from time to time.
You need to add engine oil when the engine is cool. If your engine is hot, it is not recommended to add the new one. Well, now you know how long to let engine cool before adding oil.
We have tried to provide every other related information to you. Hopefully, you can implement all three and have a safe ride. Good luck!
