spark oil change

[sparkfanatic 70]

Had mine done at dealer and was overfilled .Went back and found the service manual calls for 4.5 quarts instead of the 4 in the owners manual.Mine took 4.2 to fill to the line .

[bluer101 241]

Had mine done this weekend at the dealer ( first oil change 5600 miles) and it's about 1/4-1/3 inch above the full line. I'm not touching it.

I have another vehicle and from day one its been slightly over the full line when putting in exactly what the manual says. Also when doing the change I let the oil drain for a long time to make sure most of the oil is all out.

Edited October 29, 2013 by bluer101

[sparkfanatic 70]

They had to drain Out the oil , it was more than half a quart over. The tech went by specs in the service manual.It was way over the max mark , in the end it took 4.2 quarts to fill properly. They gave me a document with all the fluid capacities of the Spark. Its 3.7 quarts with no filter. Of course this may differ from the service manual.

[tommyspark 24]

Once yet again..... this is why no one but me wrenches on my vehicles outside of warranty work..... both of ours took 3.5 q

[Greg_E 211]

Mine took 3.5 at the dealer and I'm fairly certain that included the filter change.

[sparkfanatic 70]

Im sure theres some variables depending on drain time ect.At 4 quarts it was still below the line, took .2 more to bring it even to the line .In the end I got 2 free oil changes and know I need at least 4 quarts.That would have been enough but they wanted it to the line to satisfy me. Wrote everything up to document for me .

[Jeffrey Makela 6]

What would happen if the 5w20 oil was replaced with 10w40? a guy at work says he puts 10w40 in everything.

I told him that would hurt gas mileage but he says the motor would last longer.

[austex04 48]

Yes, when I changed mine, after all the oil was drained from both the pan and filter, my oil collection pan shown just shy of 3.5qts. So that's what I put back in, 3.5qts, it's just touching the bottom of the x full mark. Mine is a manual. The owners manual is wrong.

[sparkfanatic 70]

It's weird how some sparks are taking the full 4 quarts and others half a quart shy . It's also odd the service manual was different than the owners manual capacity . I wasn't happy to wait an hour and a half for the oil change only to have to return the next day and a 45 minute ride to the dealer . I suspect a lot of dealers just go by the specs in the book and never check the level itself . Also wondering if some sparks got the wrong dipstick . In the end I think I talked to everyone from 3 Service writers , service manager and the tech himself . Only 2 things I know for sure is the oil was initially overfilled using service manual specs and that 4 quarts was the safe level for my Spark . It's a shame I actually had to watch them do the change to see how much oil it would actually take . Might be another Spark mystery .

[austex04 48]

As was the case on my Hyundai, the automatic models had a slightly higher oil capacity than manual transmission models, I wonder if the same is true for the Spark? This car has the same 3.5 qt capacity as the 1.6 in my old car, but automatic Accents with the Alpha engine hold 3.7 qts.

[austex04 48]

What would happen if the 5w20 oil was replaced with 10w40? a guy at work says he puts 10w40 in everything.

I told him that would hurt gas mileage but he says the motor would last longer.

Total meth, thicker isn't always better, and can actually cause damage if the engine isn't designed for that weight oil. You can find some interesting articles on it online.

[tommyspark 24]

Total meth, thicker isn't always better, and can actually cause damage if the engine isn't designed for that weight oil. You can find some interesting articles on it online.

I wouldn't run 1040 in a Spark....

[bluer101 241]

Maybe we all should pull out our dipsticks and measure them, lol.

In a serious note we should see if there is a part number or we measure from pan end to gasket or something like that.

[NoSprak 17]

This is going to sound harsh, but the people that insist on running 10w-40 in everything are ignorant and uninformed and need to understand how oil systems work.

With that said, some engines do actually prefer slightly heavier oil. Some engines prefer lighter oil. The Spark's engine is pretty modern with variable valve timing, etc. While it will probably safely run on anything from 0w-20 to 15w40 ... there is no reason to run anything heavier than what is recommended.

10w-40 could potentially cause problems with variable valve timing system. When Ford first came out with their 3 Valve Modular V8s, people who were of the mindset that 15w-40 is what everyone should run ,were having problems with the cam phasers not working properly. There are tight oil passages that activate the switch / sensor for the variable valve timing system and the heavier oil was not allowing the system to work properly.

The 2.0 Duratec engine in my Focus is perfectly happy on 5w-20 or 0w-20. There are a lot of used oil analysis that back that up. The 4.0L AMC Six in my Cherokee likes 40 grade oils better. How do I know this? I looked up results of oil analysis in this engine; I did not blindly make a decision to run heavier oil for no reason. Last winter and part of the spring, I ran a mix of 5w-30 and 5w-20 ... no adverse side affects.

[mrtwiggy 2]

i just did my oil today and it took 4 quarts just fine. showing right on the fill line. I've switched to full synthetic and it seems to be running much better now. but i do have to add that the engine holds heat pretty well even after 3 hours of being off and who ever designed the oil filter position was very sadistic…. its right next to the exhaust pipe. i would recommend to anyone who does the oil themselves to do it in the morning when the engine has had a very long time to cool off. oh and to jack the car up pretty far in the front because the oil pan at the bottom is lacking a proper slope to it for complete drainage. seems someone didn't think about that when they were making the car. oh well…

[WaltK 305]

I had my first oil change done this morning at the dealership. It took 4 qts. even, just a hair over the fill line.

Edited November 5, 2013 by WaltK

[greggb 7]

Mine took exactly 4.0 quarts. Using 0w - 20, totally synthetic, just like in my partners Honda Fit. And speaking of the Fit, it has an AWESOME system for folding down the back seats !! Chevy could have learned the right way to make rears seats fold easily, totally flat, by taking a look at how Honda did it in the Fit. You get get a baby elephant in the back of the Fit.

[Retired old Gearhead 201]

5w-20 is recommended for a reason. This little motor has some pretty tight oil flow paths that need a certain pressure for the tight tolerances, switches & sensors. Better too light weight than heavy and this pretty well applies to all modern cars. I use Mobil Super 1000 5w20 conventional oil. I change the oil & filter myself at 5K mile intervals regardless of what the oil life indicator says. It is rated " ILSAC GF-5"...the highest rating for conventional oil.

Edited April 25, 2014 by Retired old Gearhead