How often do you check your dipstick...

[Bob Woods]

When I was in High school I had an old ford flat head V8 that burnt as much oil as gas, didn't have to check it, it would tell me with loud noises it wanted oil. Carried a five gallon can of drain oil for it.

I paid for a generator out in the middle of the desert one time, two months later it failed. I starting learning the tricks so I wouldn't get shafted again. Back when we had generators with brushs they would shoot oil in the brushs, tell you its smoking,,have you cranks it up and of course the generator appeared bad. They would put on a "new rebuilt" that had been removed and cleaned and painted from the earlier mark. Oil cans make shocks leak. They also make rear ends leak. Brake fluid in a oil can can make brake cylinders leak. I'm glad to see full service gas stations disappear. But thats not good for the peeps that don't check their cars.

 

[Virtuoso]

I check my oil about every 400 miles. My car goes through a quart every 800 though.
When I get the new engine in, hoepfully it won't burn near as much, so I won't have to bother with it as often.

 

[Robbie Alexander]

quote:

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Originally posted by Virtuoso:
I check my oil about every 400 miles. My car goes through a quart every 800 though.
When I get the new engine in, hoepfully it won't burn near as much, so I won't have to bother with it as often.

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Are you getting one soon?
Try thicker oil or a stabilizer?
You do check it yourself though and not at a station...

 

[JohnnyO]

Every Saturday, every underhood fluid plus the tires.

 

[KW]

I don't have anything that uses any oil. Two motorcycles, a Jeep and an old Chevy pick-up. On the bikes I'll look at the site guages before a ride and the cars ussually before a trip or something. But I never have to add any oil to anything. Guess I'm lucky.

 

[Amkeer]

The one thing that I notice when checking the dipstick is M1 sure is hard to read. It wants to slip down a bit as soon as you pull it out. You have to do a quick read or it will read less than full. Its also very clear.

Thats what happens with my 4-runner since the dipstick is a polished stainless. Now my tacoma is not like that the dipstick is a course metal. It holds the oil reading better.

 

[satterfi]

5,000 miles, anually, or every oil change, which ever comes first.

My cars and bikes don't burn oil.

Checking oil level in my engines is like confirming the sky is blue.

 

[Gary Allan]

99 TJ Wrangler 4.0 ..maybe once every two or three weeks
02 TJ Wrangle 2.5 ..once a month
92 3.0 Caravan variable oil drinker ...weekly
91 3.0 Taurus ??? my daughter has it away at college. It shows up often enough for service/repairs.

 

[toyvwbenz]

Not going to worry about it until I see a puddle underneath or smoke out the back.

 

[widman]

Every Monday morning I have someone check all 12 vehicles and report:
Tire pressures
Oil levels
km since last oil change
km since last air filter change
water levels
battery level
turn signals and lights funcioning
Every 2 months my battery supplier comes and checks the charging circuits, starting circuits and batteries.

 

[Amkeer]

Widman thats a good program! I am trying to keep a similiar check up routine as yours once a month.