Just For Fun -- A Dipstick Where???

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ekpolk

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OK, if I'm out of touch, and this is nothing new, just let me know. Anyway, for the last two decades, we've had to sit by and watch as the car makers have, in one model after another, removed dipsticks from our transmissions. I get that the vast majority of the sheeple in the general public will never touch, let alone pull, a transmission dipstick. Still a great many of us would use that stick, were the makers kind enough to provide it. I assume I'll have a sympathetic audience here...

So I was preparing the car for a road trip tomorrow morning, and lo and behold, I found a new place for a dipstick -- the windshield washer fluid reservoir! Again, maybe this is more common than I understand, but I've never seen such. Hey, it's not as if I can't tell when that white plastic reservoir doesn't have a nice blue tint to it -- without reference to a stick... Anyway, see for yourself:
[Linked Image]

I am an irrepressible gadget freak, so I shouldn't complain, I guess, but I'd trade this thing for an ATF dipstick in a heartbeat. Is this as goofy as I think it is -- or am I overreacting???
 
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Meh, I'm not a fan. Subaru uses one it's hard to read it.

BMW did use a floating "stick" for their coolant tanks, and I think that would work better.
 
OMG. I never knew that was a dipstick. Never knew it had a use. LOL.
 
That has to be the silliest thing ever... Just fill it up to below the neck in your case so it doesn't spill over and you're good to go. Why is this being over complicated? Who designed the car the government?

I have a similar neck on my WWF reservoir and no dipstick but I also don't have a transmission dipstick either so it appears FCA is really cheap.
lol.gif
 
Don't have a dipstick but I do have a windshield washer fluid sensor that tells you when it's low. Of course when nothing came out when you hit the squirt button is the old traditional way.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC
That has to be the silliest thing ever... Just fill it up to below the neck in your case so it doesn't spill over and you're good to go. Why is this being over complicated? Who designed the car the government?


In some cars, all you can see is the top inch or so of the filler tube. Once that top inch of fluid is used, you have no idea how much remains since the rest of the tank can't be seen. Using your method he could use it several times and then have to fill it up back to the neck to make sure it is full. Pretty useless to have to keep filling it up after just a few times of use according to your method. A dipstick makes sense here in this case.
 
I have seen that on a few vehicles, but usually the ones that you can't see any of the reservoir under the hood.
Without it, you have no idea if your getting close to needing to fill it, and no point bringing out the washer bottle every time if not needed.

I think my '02 F150 has a low washer light (don't know for sure, never let it get that low). I know the Santa Fe has one, not sure on the Scion.
 
I just add washer fluid once a month when I'm looking at everything else under the hood.

That's got to be the stupidest way to spend 50 cents on every car made on that line.
 
Originally Posted by ls973800
Originally Posted by StevieC
That has to be the silliest thing ever... Just fill it up to below the neck in your case so it doesn't spill over and you're good to go. Why is this being over complicated? Who designed the car the government?


In some cars, all you can see is the top inch or so of the filler tube. Once that top inch of fluid is used, you have no idea how much remains since the rest of the tank can't be seen. Using your method he could use it several times and then have to fill it up back to the neck to make sure it is full. Pretty useless to have to keep filling it up after just a few times of use according to your method. A dipstick makes sense here in this case.

If I'm popping the cap to fill it and I don't see anything in the portion I can see I'm topping it off at whatever level whether it's a little or a lot. You are already there and have it open you should have the jug in hand to refill. It's going to be impossible to get an accurate read on a black dipstick for something as runny as windshield washer fluid, even in perfect lighting as we can see above. Sorry this is just dumb - dipstick. Further most vehicles have idiot lights anyway. My Dodge vehicles have had it since the 1980's!
 
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Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by ls973800
Originally Posted by StevieC
That has to be the silliest thing ever... Just fill it up to below the neck in your case so it doesn't spill over and you're good to go. Why is this being over complicated? Who designed the car the government?


In some cars, all you can see is the top inch or so of the filler tube. Once that top inch of fluid is used, you have no idea how much remains since the rest of the tank can't be seen. Using your method he could use it several times and then have to fill it up back to the neck to make sure it is full. Pretty useless to have to keep filling it up after just a few times of use according to your method. A dipstick makes sense here in this case.

If I'm popping the cap to fill it and I don't see anything in the portion I can see I'm topping it off at whatever level whether it's a little or a lot. You are already there and have it open you should have the jug in hand to refill. It's going to be impossible to get an accurate read on a black dipstick for something as runny as windshield washer fluid, even in perfect lighting as we can see above. Sorry this is just dumb - dipstick. Further most vehicles have idiot lights anyway. My Dodge vehicles have had it since the 1980's!


That's my thinking, too. You already opened the cap. Might as well pour some blue stuff in there.
 
Originally Posted by Linctex
I just add washer fluid once a month when I'm looking at everything else under the hood.

That's got to be the stupidest way to spend 50 cents on every car made on that line.

Ding, ding!!! Pretty much what I was thinking. I'd much prefer to have a transmission dipstick, which I don't, understanding perfectly well that including one would be substantially more costly that this little fifty-cent gimmick. Stating the obvious, the consequences of AFT bleeding out (even if a rare occurrence today) make a stick seem genuinely worthwhile, while the "consequences" of running out of washer fluid are what -- a gunky windshield until you can pull into the next convenience store?

Again, I started the thread mainly for fun -- it's almost visual humor to me. I know that, as into gadgets as I am -- and I am -- someone out there out-did me with this one. . . What will they think of next???
crazy.gif
 
Originally Posted by ekpolk
I am an irrepressible gadget freak, so I shouldn't complain, I guess, but I'd trade this thing for an ATF dipstick in a heartbeat. Is this as goofy as I think it is -- or am I overreacting???

I think you're upset because they removed content that is useful, yet added content that is frivolous.
 
Originally Posted by KrisZ
My 06 Mazda 3 has a transparent tube that attaches to the cap and the cap has a small pin hole in it. You cover the pin hole with you finger, pull out the cap and voila, the tube will show how much washer fluid you have.


The girlfriend's '08 Mazda 3 has this as well. Handy because you can't see the level.
 
My 2015.5 Volvo S60 has no oil dipstick of coarse no trans fluid dipstick but the kicker is when you fill the washer fluid there is apparently a drain tube out of sight so you never know how much down you are . I put in about 12 oz. at a time and listen for it to drain out . Most idiotic feature I have ever seen .
 
Originally Posted by Kjmack
. . . I put in about 12 oz. at a time and listen for it to drain out . Most idiotic feature I have ever seen .
That is bad -- really bad... I see my WWF dipstick as sort of a "friendly gimmick" -- it's not too costly (I hope) and it adds a debatable, tiny extra bit of functionality; but also an annoying reminder of the lack of a really useful stick -- for ATF. Sort of "benign goofiness" or something like that. That Volvo design, in contrast, has an actual whiff of sinister to it. Someone went out of their way punish you for trying to top off your WWF. Or maybe they were too clueless to grasp the idiocy of the design. Neither one is a particularly appealing thought.
 
Originally Posted by StevieC

If I'm popping the cap to fill it and I don't see anything in the portion I can see I'm topping it off at whatever level whether it's a little or a lot. You are already there and have it open you should have the jug in hand to refill. It's going to be impossible to get an accurate read on a black dipstick for something as runny as windshield washer fluid, even in perfect lighting as we can see above. Sorry this is just dumb - dipstick. Further most vehicles have idiot lights anyway. My Dodge vehicles have had it since the 1980's!

So when I open my hood I should have a bottle of oil, brake fluid, ATF, PSF, coolant and washer fluid in hand every time I check them just in case?
What if your checking at the gas station? Oh, wait, I should carry that around in my vehicles at all time too?

Apparently you have never used one. There are holes in the plastic, and whatever level the fluid is at will have fluid in the hole, the color of the plastic is not relevant. They work very well.
I also think they may be there more for the service techs at quick lubes and such, if more than 3/4 full, they don't top off, saves them a few pennies???
 
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