Nissan Cube No Oil on Dipstick

I'm not saying you should only help people in order to receive adulation in return, but you should also not expect to receive this type of attitude. Don't touch the woman's car again. Some folks just like learning the hard way, and you should grant her that.

She will blame the car manufacturer, not her lack of maintenance.
 
Recently came out of Dollar General and a lady parked next to me was lifting the hood on her Nissan Cube. I asked if I could help and she said her red oil light was on. I checked the dipstick, which had dark brown oil burnt on it, and it showed nothing. We added a quart of DG 5-30 SN; still nothing. She went back in and got 2 more quarts which then showed about 1/8 " on tip. Another quart brought it up to about 1/4". Looking down the oil cap hole, it was crusty brown. Obviously this Cube had been run short on oil a long time. I suggested she have it checked for oil leaks, then add more oil, and to frequently check the dipstick, not waiting for the red light to come on. She was appreciative of the help which made me feel good. The motor sounded smooth and quiet when she drove away.
Just think it will get another oil change in about 6 months when there's no oil left in the engine again.
 
so you added 3 or 4 quarts? That engine probably has a 4 quart capacity....

4 Qts added and it showed only 1/4 inch on dipstick. The motor was obviously cruded up so maybe it took a long time to drain down. Anyhow, she went on her way with only 4 qts added.............
 
Happens , some run on others turn into massive repair bills or junk yard fodder.

I check every other fuel fill up as shown by dad.
 
I’ve helped many of people check their oil. Like others here I have had to step in because someone didn’t know how. Last year on Christmas Eve I come out of a local Walmart and seen a couple ladies with the hood up trying to pour oil down the dipstick tube and they were trying to unscrew their air filter housing with a pocket knife to change the air filter luckily I had a screwdriver. I went over and said do you three need any help and they said yeah we are trying to avoid spilling this oil and get it all in the engine i then told them they were using the dipstick tube and showed them how to add it to the engine and check it. They looked majorly confused afterwards and this car was only 2 years old with 150,000 and no oil on the dipstick lol. They were college students in for the holiday and like most waited for the oil light to come on before doing anything. But I didn’t mind I love helping people and working on cars so I was able to do both at that time even though it was like 20 degrees outside lol.
 
I'm not saying you should only help people in order to receive adulation in return, but you should also not expect to receive this type of attitude. Don't touch the woman's car again. Some folks just like learning the hard way, and you should grant her that.
This. Some people just need to learn the hard way. When I purchased my XTerra, I read all about the transmission cooler failures on the automatic models. I cautioned my FIL (who has an automatic '06) that he might want to proactively replace his radiator to prevent this from happening. His response was that it hasn't failed yet so it's fine. I let it go and a year ago his transmission failed from coolant contamination.
 
This. Some people just need to learn the hard way. When I purchased my XTerra, I read all about the transmission cooler failures on the automatic models. I cautioned my FIL (who has an automatic '06) that he might want to proactively replace his radiator to prevent this from happening. His response was that it hasn't failed yet so it's fine. I let it go and a year ago his transmission failed from coolant contamination.

Thankfully, my Mom listened when I told her to ditch her CX-9 with that terrible water pump design. It was in beautiful condition and showed no signs of it's actual age, but that all means nothing if the oil pan fills with coolant. I wish, for their sake, more people would listen.
 
This. Some people just need to learn the hard way. When I purchased my XTerra, I read all about the transmission cooler failures on the automatic models. I cautioned my FIL (who has an automatic '06) that he might want to proactively replace his radiator to prevent this from happening. His response was that it hasn't failed yet so it's fine. I let it go and a year ago his transmission failed from coolant contamination.

Have a great example of this. Back in 2014 I was driving around in a 2008 Ford Mondeo with a 1.8 diesel engine. Was a cracking car but had an odd timing belt setup. Pre-2008 the engines had a chain that ran between the crank and fuel pump and a belt that went from the fuel pump to the camshaft. Post-2008 models had a belt-in-oil setup to replace the chain between the crank and fuel pump. I'd learned about this early on in the ownership and paid £750 at a main dealer to have it all replaced.

A colleague had gone and bought a 2009 Ford Mondeo with the same 1.8TDCi engine, a few months down the line he said he was taking it to his local garage to have the timing belt changed. I warned him about the peculiar timing belt setup and basically tried to say I was making it up, his garage said it was a chain and never needed touching. 6 months later his lower belt had failed taking the engine out and had the cheek to tell me I should have told him about it and it was my fault it was costing him £2500 to put right. 🙄
 
Just about four and a half in the Cube motor.
Well the OP added 4 quarts so it sounds like it had around 1/2 quart left. If true, yes I agree that is a pretty tough little motor.

I'll chime in:
30 years ago I was on a road trip / convoy with some friends across the NV desert headed for Vegas and I was with a hot girl in her little Honda CRX. We stopped at a service station to refuel and I decided to check her fluids lol. The oil dipstick had a tiny blob of black goo at the very bottom and the oil cap smelled like burned something. I told her to buy a quart of 10w30 (I have no idea what the engine spec'd but I figured 10w30 is a good medium grade for a 1990s Honda). This quart brought the oil level up into the safe range and we continued on our way. Not wishing for any friction for the rest of the trip, I didn't say anything at the time. But at the end of the trip I strongly suggested she get the oil changed immediately and try to check the fluids more often.
 
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