new cars, no hood light, plastic tipped oil dipsti

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lazaro

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what is up with many manufactures? no under hood lights and plastic tipped dipsticks.
usually I can tell oil condition looking at the oil on the end of a metal dipstick, that seems to be no more on most of the newer cars I have serviced, then none of the newer cars have under hood light! talk about annoying!
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anyone happy about the changes?
 
I haven't seen an under-hood light in some time- not that they were much use anyway. The only one I recall being pretty neat was the early-mid 90's GM pickups with the 'removable' light with the cord and re-winder. Plastic tipped dipsticks?? That's new to me. My latest vehicles have a cable dipstick with a metal 'bob' on the end. Only the pull loops are plastic.

Joel
 
I was really suprised by that light on my stripped down 94 sonoma.

I think a lot of those ran on mercury switches which aren't so cool anymore, environmentally speaking. Would be easy enough to rig one up; had a car or two with the +12v tap right there on the harness but nothing connected to it.
 
I've never owned a car w/ a underhood light. and unless it's a full width 100W, it wouldn't be much use anyway.
 
The dipstick on my 1.8 liter Civic is a single molded (orange!!) plastic piece with a couple of o-rings at the top for sealing. It goes into the engine through a short plastic tube molded into the plastic valve cover.

Fortunately the engine is still made of aluminum and steel!

The GF's new Mazda3 has a cool cable dipstick with a metal bob on the end like JTK mentions. I hadn't seen one before and aside from being a bit of a pain to wipe the oil off the tip, I like it. The valve cover on this car is plastic as well.

I'll always miss the diptsick on my 280zx. Short -- probably around 12 inches long end to end -- nonflexible metal and very easy to read.
 
They took the hood lights off full size GM trucks in 2003. I have one on my 2005. It seems they left the bracket for it on the later hoods through 2007 GMT800 classic, and the light and harness is still available from GM.
 
Interesting. I'm pretty sure our '99 Suburban 2500 doesn't have the hood light, although my GF's dad's 1500 pickup does have one IIRC, and I think it's a '98.

Maybe they just didn't put them on the SUVs.
 
I've only had a few cars with underhood lights, but in most cases it's been pretty worthless. Quite honestly I don't ever have the need to pop the hood on any of my newer cars in the dark anyway so it's a non-issue.

As far as a plastic dipstick I can't comment-all of my vehicles have metal (2005, 2006 and 2007).
 
Our new odyssey has a dipstick that looks like thin, stiff aircraft cable with a cast 1" aluminum topedo at the end. The torpedo has a full and low line and the area between the two lines is cross-hatched. First one I've had like that.
 
Originally Posted By: lazaro
what is up with many manufactures? no under hood lights and plastic tipped dipsticks.

Be thankful that at least there is a dipstick. On some new cars, there is no dipstick at all.
 
I started cussing dipsticks with plastic on them the day the plastic loop separated from the dipstick on my 2000 Sentra. So I ended up with a plastic loop in my hand and the dipstick slid down into the oilpan. I was hesitant to even start the car but nothing happened when I did. They had to break the tube off the block to get it out. Thank God for warranties.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: lazaro
what is up with many manufactures? no under hood lights and plastic tipped dipsticks.

Be thankful that at least there is a dipstick. On some new cars, there is no dipstick at all.


That's because you don't have to change the oil on those, silly! I thought everybody knew that.
 
Originally Posted By: oilboy123
It would be nice to have a light with a timer to turn it off after awhile. I like under hood lights myself.


Believe it or not, my wife's old '97 Expedition had just such a feature. I can't remember exactly how long the under-hood light would stay on, but it would eventually go out, and I would have to either open a door or toggle the ignition (can't remember) to get it to come back on.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
Our new odyssey has a dipstick that looks like thin, stiff aircraft cable with a cast 1" aluminum topedo at the end. The torpedo has a full and low line and the area between the two lines is cross-hatched. First one I've had like that.


All the GM Ecotec engines have a dipstick like that.

The most recent car I had with an underhood light used a plunger switch, not a mercury swich.
 
Originally Posted By: rationull

The GF's new Mazda3 has a cool cable dipstick with a metal bob on the end like JTK mentions. I hadn't seen one before and aside from being a bit of a pain to wipe the oil off the tip, I like it. The valve cover on this car is plastic as well.


I actually don't like the dipstick in the 3s. I find them kind of hard to read personally.

I like the dipstick in my Ranger. It's the traditional kind with flat metal with a crosshatched area. Very easy to read, even with new oil.

Manufacturers are cheapening up parts like under hood lights and dipsticks because fewer people actually use them. When I worked at JL, our policy was that the customer had to pull the hood release so that we couldn't be blamed if it broke. You would be amazed at how many people had no idea where the hood release was. If they don't even know how to get the hood open, they aren't going to be using the dipstick or an under hood light.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
I haven't seen an under-hood light in some time- not that they were much use anyway.


Had a nice big bright one on my 2002 Suburban...gone in 2006 on a "Denali" along with the extra switches, 12v plugs etc...all decontented...I fixed all of that disappointment with a Toyota 4Runner..
thumbsup2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
The only one I recall being pretty neat was the early-mid 90's GM pickups with the 'removable' light with the cord and re-winder.


Dad's 92 Silverado had one of those. I took it off before he sold it, then reinstalled it under the hood of his 2000 Sierra.
 
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