2 quarts in insight

[theaveng]

I recall back in the distant past (2003) some insighters tried running just 2 quarts of oil. They said it gave them better fuel economy. Any thoughts on that?

[talonmike]

In my opinion it is playing with fire. The risk of ruining an engine to save a couple of cents by tank is not a so good idea.

[3-Wheeler]

Originally Posted by theaveng

I recall back in the distant past (2003) some insighters tried running just 2 quarts of oil. They said it gave them better fuel economy. Any thoughts on that?

Yes, I have a thought.

I would never do it!!

In this case I do not try to out-guess the engineers who designed the engine and specified an oil fill height in the crankcase.

Let's say for example we have an engine that normally takes three quarts, and we only fill it to 1.5 quarts.

The oil level is now only 1.0 inch above the oil pickup in the crankcase, which for straight-line driving would still be adequate. Right?

Well, now we are driving and we have to swerve around an obstacle in the road, so we yank the steering wheel side to side to avoid the object.

Now what happened to our oil level that was only 1.0 inch above the pickup? Correct, the pickup ran out of oil because it sloshed heavily side to side due to the action of the car.

The engine was starved for oil for a short period of time, but the damage is already done.

________________

I always fill any engine that I maintain to the highest level on the dipstick, as this also maintains a higher quantity of oil in the engine.

This higher quantity provides more long-string molecular chains of oil in the engine, which take longer to degrade over time, since there are more of them there. The additives last longer as well because of the larger amount of oil.

To me it makes sense to "splurge" when it comes to engine lubrication.

Jim.

[Willie Williford]

aveng:
Now that has to be verified by a reference to a thread.
I don't remember reading that information.

Willie

[AbCaRed00]

There is an older thread [from 2004] with a more recent comment [2011] that calls for running less oil in the engine and a discussion follows
Dealer Oil Change. Too Much Oil?
____________
fwiw & iirc: the Japanese hypermiler Kamapu may have run with less volume in the crank case among many other mods.

[theaveng]

Originally Posted by Willie Williford

aveng:
Now that has to be verified by a reference to a thread.
I don't remember reading that information.

Sorry but I'm not digging through 10,000 posts at Honda-Insight (yahoogroups.com). Who knows where that ancient 2002 or 03 post may be?

[eq1]

2 quarts is the first dot on the dip stick...

[AbCaRed00]

Originally Posted by theaveng

///digging through 10,000 posts at Honda-Insight (yahoogroups.com)///

Lolz, this forum search engine is a tough enough one for me to locate stuff from, but google gathers with appropriate keywords in fractions of a second:
search keyword entry:[ "Honda-Insight" yahoogroups.com "oil level" +"2 quarts" ]
There's also honda-hybrid@ yahoogroups. com: [ref:]
"Jim Isbell, W5JAI"
> <jim.isbell@ ...> wrote:
>> I dont know about the HCH, but since my insight uses less than 2 quarts, $7 a quart for oil that is good for 15,000 miles just doesnt sound that bad."

Jim's a senior member on this forum and perhaps may clarify if needbe. Seems that there's a lot of folks who are concerned about running over* the upper marked level from viewing searches, [blown seals a worry] but not many people deliberately have been running under the recommended amount other than for economy reasons; most are topping up for engine life sake and I agree.
*fwiw: Most overfilling is at the hands of the dealerships or lube-shops vs. d-i-y work.

[jime]

Originally Posted by theaveng

I recall back in the distant past (2003) some insighters tried running just 2 quarts of oil. They said it gave them better fuel economy. Any thoughts on that?

I have considerable doubt that they could even measure a small change in fuel economy. I've tried this kind of testing and it is very difficult with an Insight. The car is VERY sensitive to a wide range of influences. Testing of small changes in near impossible.

I doubt that Honda engineers would have raised the crankcase oil level to the point that the crank could touch the oil. There are numerous technical reasons not do run the oil at that level. Stick with the dipstick.

[boogetyboogety]

Sometimes I wonder about the level of intelligence left in the world.

[Owner's manual] "The dipstick that comes with the car shows the oil in the crankcase is at the correct level with 2.6 quarts in it."

[Some unsung genius] "I think I'll put two quarts instead of what the manufacturer requires."

Someone ought to be able to slap and sterilize those who think that way about anything complicated enough to come with an instruction sheet of some sort...