How to Check and Top Up Your Oil

Regularly checking and maintaining your oil is vital to keeping your car running smoothly and is one of the cheapest forms of maintenance out there.  Checking and topping up your oil is easy and is something that you should get in the habit of doing.  As a rule of thumb, I find it convenient to check when filling up.

For my Jaguar XJ8 I use synthetic 5W-30.  You can find out what kind of oil your car uses by checking your owners manual, or look at your receipt from your last oil change.  Since I'm using synthetic oil my time between getting an oil change is usually about 6 months.  This makes checking your own oil more important as a lot can happen in that time.

To check your oil pull out the dipstick.  Mine is marked with a red handle, but they can be yellow or green also.  It helps to check your oil after you've been driving around as the oil will have been circulating.  Pull out the dipstick and wipe it with a clean rag.  Put it back in and then pull it out again to get an accurate reading.  The dipstick will have a maximum and a minimum line, and if your oil is in between those two lines that's good.  Ideally you want it to be sitting near the maximum line without exceeding it.

If your oil is looking a bit low, you can top it up by adding more oil (of the same grade for your vehicle obviously) by removing the oil cap.  It's also usually clearly labelled with an oil can symbol.  Use a funnel and   depending on how low you are, pour a bit of oil in at a time and check your dipstick for the level.  My level was sitting around the middle, and about half a litre brought it back up to where I wanted it.

Checking and topping up your oil requires very little skill and will help maintain the health of your vehicle.  Nothing damages an engine faster than poor lubrication or overheating so it's worth the extra minute to check from time to time.  Safe driving everyone.  

My XJ8's engine.

The oil cap.

Funnel for topping up oil.

The dipstick.

Checking my oil level.

Pin It