pdisme
02-21-2007, 07:35 AM
So, you got yourself a Gallardo and love that 7500 mile service interval, well surprise, if you stick to the schedule, your dry sump won't be called dry because of how it works, it will be empty. The manual advises that it is normal for the '06 Gallardo to 'use' a 'certain amount of oil.' This certain amount can be up to one liter (1.05 qt) per 1000 kilometers (621 miles). Doing the math, 621 miles times the 9.5 liters the car holds, is a worst case 5899 miles that you could go before running the car bone dry with the only thing to warn you of a problem being the happy electronic gizmo's on the dash. Rather than entrusting the health of your $200k+ car to a $2 gauge and LED on the dash, spend 30 minutes and check & top off the oil. My '06 has about 1300 miles on it I think, and has done two track days consisting of about three hours of hard driving for each of those days at Sebring, and I found I was well below the low mark on my dip stick even though the warnings lights hadn't said anything, so I'm actually right over the 621 miles per liter worst case. Next time I'm going to measure before my track days so I can see if that's where most of it got burnt off.
1) I have a spyder which makes this process even more of a pain in the ass, but the engine locations and pics should be the same on coupes. First step is to start your car, even if it's warm, let it run until the temperature is reading between 70 and 90 C.
2) With the engine at a happy 90 C, rev it up to between 1900 and 2300 rpm for 50 seconds, then back to idle for 5 seconds.
3) Turn the engine off and do your best Bo and Luke Duke impression to jump out of the car, get to the back, pull the dip stick, wipe it off, put it back to get a good sample and pull it one more time to see where you're at. You only have 60 seconds to do this or your reading will be useless; I'm not kidding, it's due to how the dry sump system works. Use a paper towel to hold the dip stick leader as you pull it out of the engine so you can keep it steady; if you have a spyder, you're bent over 90 degrees and are trying to navigate this thing out of a very confined area so be careful not to drag the dip stick across the edge of the tube when you extract it.
Your dip stick is the little black ring a little below dead center on this picture:
http://whoi.be/vroom/d/2130-2/2007-12-06%20006.jpg
Coupe owners of course won't have to get all contorted to get to it.
4) At the bottom of the dip stick will be the high and low marks, they're holes that go through the dip stick leader. I've found that the car will require about two quarts (not liters) of oil to go from maybe a 1 to 1.5 centimeters below the low mark to a few millimeters from the high mark, so be careful not to over fill.
5) Engine oil is added in the same tube the dip stick came from; sounds weird but it's true. The stock fluid is the AGIP Sint 2000 5w40. I picked up a case at the local imports dealer for about $12/quart.
The funnel I use to fill my Gallardo is the Hopkins 10704 Spill Saver Measu-Funnel, it does just about everything you could want and even has a flux capacitor. Here's a picture:
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000EH4V0Y.01-A1HBR2G6AYLBTG._AA239_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
You can get it from http://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-10704-Spill-Saver-Measu-Funnel/dp/B000EH4V0Y/sr=1-8/qid=1170524014/ref=sr_1_8/002-7692815-2568000?ie=UTF8&s=automotive on Amazon for $6.35 but I found it at the local Discount Auto Parts for about $10. What's great about it is the nozzle under the cup twist locks so it won't release the contents until you twist it open. There is also a top on the cup and it holds a full quart. So, with the spyder being so cramped under the engine cover, this funnel can mean the difference between getting your oil topped off and topping your engine off with half a quart. I lock it, fill it with 1/2 quart, put the top on so it can't spill out and then get back under the cover holding the end of the tube with a paper towel so it doesn't drip anywhere, angle it into the dip stick hole and twist to release the oil. Repeat this process until you get the level to where you want it. If you're just above or below the low mark, go ahead and dump a full quart in there, you'll be fine either way and can leave it at that. If you're more than a centimeter below low, you could get more than a quart in easily, maybe not two though so watch it, you don't want to over fill.
1) I have a spyder which makes this process even more of a pain in the ass, but the engine locations and pics should be the same on coupes. First step is to start your car, even if it's warm, let it run until the temperature is reading between 70 and 90 C.
2) With the engine at a happy 90 C, rev it up to between 1900 and 2300 rpm for 50 seconds, then back to idle for 5 seconds.
3) Turn the engine off and do your best Bo and Luke Duke impression to jump out of the car, get to the back, pull the dip stick, wipe it off, put it back to get a good sample and pull it one more time to see where you're at. You only have 60 seconds to do this or your reading will be useless; I'm not kidding, it's due to how the dry sump system works. Use a paper towel to hold the dip stick leader as you pull it out of the engine so you can keep it steady; if you have a spyder, you're bent over 90 degrees and are trying to navigate this thing out of a very confined area so be careful not to drag the dip stick across the edge of the tube when you extract it.
Your dip stick is the little black ring a little below dead center on this picture:
http://whoi.be/vroom/d/2130-2/2007-12-06%20006.jpg
Coupe owners of course won't have to get all contorted to get to it.
4) At the bottom of the dip stick will be the high and low marks, they're holes that go through the dip stick leader. I've found that the car will require about two quarts (not liters) of oil to go from maybe a 1 to 1.5 centimeters below the low mark to a few millimeters from the high mark, so be careful not to over fill.
5) Engine oil is added in the same tube the dip stick came from; sounds weird but it's true. The stock fluid is the AGIP Sint 2000 5w40. I picked up a case at the local imports dealer for about $12/quart.
The funnel I use to fill my Gallardo is the Hopkins 10704 Spill Saver Measu-Funnel, it does just about everything you could want and even has a flux capacitor. Here's a picture:
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000EH4V0Y.01-A1HBR2G6AYLBTG._AA239_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
You can get it from http://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-10704-Spill-Saver-Measu-Funnel/dp/B000EH4V0Y/sr=1-8/qid=1170524014/ref=sr_1_8/002-7692815-2568000?ie=UTF8&s=automotive on Amazon for $6.35 but I found it at the local Discount Auto Parts for about $10. What's great about it is the nozzle under the cup twist locks so it won't release the contents until you twist it open. There is also a top on the cup and it holds a full quart. So, with the spyder being so cramped under the engine cover, this funnel can mean the difference between getting your oil topped off and topping your engine off with half a quart. I lock it, fill it with 1/2 quart, put the top on so it can't spill out and then get back under the cover holding the end of the tube with a paper towel so it doesn't drip anywhere, angle it into the dip stick hole and twist to release the oil. Repeat this process until you get the level to where you want it. If you're just above or below the low mark, go ahead and dump a full quart in there, you'll be fine either way and can leave it at that. If you're more than a centimeter below low, you could get more than a quart in easily, maybe not two though so watch it, you don't want to over fill.