Do I need Depends undergarments for my bus?

[Geom]

Ok, so I've got a question, how much oil is the right amount to put into the engine? I know it sounds like an absurd question, but let me elaborate.

I completely get that DDs leak and as the old adage goes, if it isn't leaking oil it's probably out. The problem is that leaking oil goes on the ground. I'm not a fan of dripping oil in the first place, but it's especially embarrassing when we're parked on a concrete pad, and leave behind a big black pee-pee spot when we leave. I've tried to remember to put some card board under the bus when we park to avoid that, but sometimes I forget, or it rains and the cardboard turns into a soggy (on top of oily) mess.

This seems to be even worst when I add oil to top off. And here's what I've found, if the oil is slightly above the L marker on the stick, very little oils drips out. It's still some, but it's a few drops here and there. Still not good, but manageable.
I also usually wipe off the top of the engine a bit as there is always a sheen of new oil that forms there. I realize it probably does little to fix this problem, but at least it looks "cleanish". If the oil is only slightly above L, then the new sheen layer is fairly low as well.

If however I top it off (about a 1/3rd of the way up from L, then without fail when we get somewhere new after a drive there will be a whole new quite visible sheen on the engine and the pee-pee spot will be noticeably larger.

Also, if I generally leave the oil slightly above L, the engine "uses" very little oil and it stays pretty much where it was, slightly above L.
If I top it off, (add ~1-2qts) to get it a third of the way above L, then it will "use" all that oil back down to the slightly above L level.

So my question is two-fold,

One, does this indicate some terrible horrible thing about the engine?

Two, should I continue to add more oil, when it almost without fail will splatter it all over the engine?

I don't want to be leaving behind pee-pee spots of dripping oil all over the parks we visit, for a multitude of reasons. But I also don't want to risk causing damage to the engine.

FWIW, the oil pressure does not change at all with either levels of oil.

Thanks,
George

[goldgiter]

It sounds like you may have the wrong dip stick for your motor, I had an excavator one time that would use oil until it got between the full and add mark and then would not use anymore. We just put a mark on the dip stick at that level and never had any problems.

Wes

[luvrbus]

A easy way to check your dipstick is the next time you change the oil pour 17 qts into the engine it should read on the low mark @ 23 qts it will read full then add 2 qts for the filter.The 6V92TA holds 25 qts total with the filter

[eagle19952]

The safe operating range for ANY motor is between the marks...so that's what i shoot for...

[chessie4905]

I think these engines could benefit from windage trays.

[lostagain]

From just looking it up, I see that the problem of the spinning crank shaft lifting oil out of the pan is mostly a concern at high rpm in race applications. Would a DD at 2300 rpm have that problem?

JC

[HB of CJ]

Years ago we just filled the pan up until the oil level was just below the bottom of the block.  Old fire apparatus.  The pans were deep and held enough.  Sometimes they got overfilled and created a real mess.

One of my many jobs as fire engineer was to daily inspect the undersides for new or non usual stuff including oil and water leaks from the pump and tank plumbing.  Had two mops ... 1 for oil, 1 for leaking water.

If memory serves the oil dipstick had several small holes drilled on it.  Some were lined or striked  out.  Old dip sticks that were used over.  But we all knew how much oil the old Detroit's needed.  They all leaked.