plastic dip stick rant

[yaris0128]

Every car Ive ever owned has had a metal dip stick. Either with holes or engravements marking your oil fill level. Well with my yaris its plastic, orange plastic. Im also color blind as [censored]. Guess what I call green? Grayne cuz it kinda looks like a grayish color, I really dont know for sure lol. Anyway that makes its nearly impossible for me to tell with fresh oil on a plastic dip stick where its at. With my Hondas with fresh oil I can see the fluid against the gray stick easy. But on my Toyota I cant make out [censored] until its black as the night. I typically have my mechanic brother do my changes for me. The problem is he's color blind too! This orange against yellowy orange oil [censored] just makes this color blind guy very angry when its oil change time. Please tell me this isnt a current trend in new cars? Also you cant just wipe it off you kinda have to sponge it off.

 

[gathermewool]

I noticed his on my gf's new-to-her '08 Civic. I don't like it.

 

[Colt45ws]

Im not colorblind and I have a hard time seeing fresh oil on these dipsticks. I agree its a very poor idea and I didnt even think of the colorblind angle.
You might get a very small drill bit, and drill some holes in it.

 

[exranger06]

You don't need to be not-colorblind to see wet, shiny oil on a dry, matte dipstick. Maybe I'm missing something?

 

[Pop_Rivit]

The dipstick on our Subaru is difficult to see-the dipstick is black, and unless you hold it up to the light it's hard to determine the top of the oil level, even worse if the garage is slightly dark.

I usually grab a paper towel, and as I pull the dipstick I lay the end on the paper towel and instantly know the oil level by what's on the paper towel.

The Hyundai and my Dodge pickup are easy to read even in low light conditions.

 

[scurvy]

Originally Posted By: yaris0128
Im also color blind as [censored].


That would explain your BRIGHT RED AND GREEN signature line.

Bright colored plastic dipsticks are also an annoyance, as are the jet black dipsticks in my TDIs (because the oil is also, duh, jet black). I've found scuffing up the dipstick in the 'normal' range with some fine sandpaper can make it much easier to read because then you're looking for the change of reflection of the shiny oil and the matte dipstick, not for color.

 

[Klutch9]

My Focus' transmission dipstick is metal, but the very end that registers the fill reading is yellow plastic

Now, you'd think that a pink/red transmission fluid should show well on yellow plastic, but no... not at all. Whenever I take a reading, I have to do it like 3 or 4 times just to see what's going on.

 

[SLCraig]

'11 Civic plastic orange dipstick too.
Only part of my car I can honestly say I hate. With fresh oil you basically can't read it. I have to do the oil change, let it sit for a bit, put in the dipstick, let it sit. I may be able to see it, but I've usually resorted to pulling it out after sitting and laying it on a paper towel, and rotating it to the side to see where the oil is left behind to tell the level. What a stupid idea these things are.

 

[Colt45ws]

Originally Posted By: exranger06
You don't need to be not-colorblind to see wet, shiny oil on a dry, matte dipstick. Maybe I'm missing something?

They are typically gloss.

 

[Astro14]

Even with perfect eyesight (fighter pilot...OK, reading glasses needed for anything within 3 feet...), those plastic dipsticks are irritating. The plastic trans dipstick on both Volvos is hard to read: shiny yellow plastic with shiny red fluid is not the best contrast, but it's all the "helpful" little marks on the dipstick that attract and hold fluid that make it really difficult to determine the actual level.

I like the small holes suggestion...I might try it...what's the worst that could happen? I buy a new plastic Piece o' Junk?

 

[Spazdog]

It's not the color or the fact that my Chonda's dipstick is plastic, It's the threads.

Anything less than surgical precision and you'll destroy the soft plastic threads on the dipstick.

 

[Klutch9]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Even with perfect eyesight (fighter pilot...OK, reading glasses needed for anything within 3 feet...), those plastic dipsticks are irritating. The plastic trans dipstick on both Volvos is hard to read: shiny yellow plastic with shiny red fluid is not the best contrast, but it's all the "helpful" little marks on the dipstick that attract and hold fluid that make it really difficult to determine the actual level.
I like the small holes suggestion...I might try it...what's the worst that could happen? I buy a new plastic Piece o' Junk?


This.

 

[mewisemagic]

maybe you can get a metal one from an older toyota or something as long as it will fit in the tube at the sealing end, if to long measure the plastic one and cut the other to fit

 

[ahoier]

I don't know......I'd think a plastic dip stick would be EASIER to read.....I've had metal dipsticks on all 3 of my cars, and all of them had their days

But yes, I did do the sandpaper trick to "scuff them up" a bit, to give them a sort of "roughness" and to help the oil sort of "cling" to the stick.


On top of that, the metal dipstick is now kinda bent/curvy, so I don't even know really how accurate it truly is

Something you may try (and I was thinking about it too....) was get some "high heat" rustoleum spray paint from Walmart/AZ/AAP/etc....it's automotive grade stuff.....and spray paint the dip stick

The "high heat" says it's good to like 350 degrees or something.....how hot does a typical crankcase get? And bear in mind, the dipstick is in there full time......sort of "bathing" in the oil....so no idea how well it would hold up Lol.


Now, my Aries, it has an annoying power steering dipstick too. It's very tiny, and I basically have to careful pull the cap out, without losing the fluid on the stick....and kinda maneuver it into the sun light to catch the "sheen" of where it's wet, and where it's dry.....since it is black. But the fluid is red....

 

[Astro14]

Originally Posted By: ahoier
I don't know......I'd think a plastic dip stick would be EASIER to read.....I've had metal dipsticks on all 3 of my cars, and all of them had their days

But yes, I did do the sandpaper trick to "scuff them up" a bit, to give them a sort of "roughness" and to help the oil sort of "cling" to the stick.


On top of that, the metal dipstick is now kinda bent/curvy, so I don't even know really how accurate it truly is

Something you may try (and I was thinking about it too....) was get some "high heat" rustoleum spray paint from Walmart/AZ/AAP/etc....it's automotive grade stuff.....and spray paint the dip stick

The "high heat" says it's good to like 350 degrees or something.....how hot does a typical crankcase get? And bear in mind, the dipstick is in there full time......sort of "bathing" in the oil....so no idea how well it would hold up Lol.


Now, my Aries, it has an annoying power steering dipstick too. It's very tiny, and I basically have to careful pull the cap out, without losing the fluid on the stick....and kinda maneuver it into the sun light to catch the "sheen" of where it's wet, and where it's dry.....since it is black. But the fluid is red....


Yeah...I don't think I would try getting any kind of spray paint to stick to plastic that's been soaking in oil under heat for years, it won't stick...and until you've tried reading one...the plastic is harder to read than metal...I know, sounds counter-intuitive, but it's true....hence the rant...

 

[Hokiefyd]

The Cadillac Northstar engine used to, and may still, have a metal cable dip stick with a plasic tip on the end. And it was brown in color, believe it or not. You could not read the oil level at all unless you looked at it in the light to see what was wet and what was not.

Our Honda's dip stick is almost impossible to read with clean oil. It's slick metal with just two holes (low and full). No other markings in between. Oils tend to be clearer than they used to be, and that probably contributes to it as well.

 

[GMBoy]

Could you burn the dipstick a little with a lighter to change the color from yellow to a burnt flat brown/black to help?

 

[Artem]

Originally Posted By: SLCraig
'11 Civic plastic orange dipstick too.
Only part of my car I can honestly say I hate. With fresh oil you basically can't read it. I have to do the oil change, let it sit for a bit, put in the dipstick, let it sit. I may be able to see it, but I've usually resorted to pulling it out after sitting and laying it on a paper towel, and rotating it to the side to see where the oil is left behind to tell the level. What a stupid idea these things are.


Same dipstick in my 07 Civic EX. I find it difficult to read fresh oil on the yellow dipstick but it's not so bad.

Wipe the tip off REALLY well, turning the paper towel over to a fresh side and wiping it off again and again, making sure to soak out the oil from the little holes.

Then when you re-examine the level, you can clearly see either A: the shiny oil on a very clean dipstick or B: oil in the little holes, marking where the oil level is @.

You can also rotate the stick towards the light, helping you see the shiny oil (again, the stick must be very clean to help read it)

Works for me every time.

 

[addyguy]

I've never liked the plastic dipsticks, either.

 

[shadow7]

I drive a Yaris too, i always feed him 3.8 or 3.9 qts according to the Owners manual. I usually look at the dipstick under a light or the sun, it's shiny.