Strange?

[PhoenixTL]

Just picked up our new ride..2010 MDX...

The first thing I did was look under the car for the location of the filter and drain plug!!!

Wife not amused...

 

[DreamerGT]

Well, tell her you need to draw out a plan a of attack for when its time to change the oil. lol

 

[Lethal1ty17]

women just dont understand

 

[rpn453]

Not that strange. I'd want to check that stuff out even before I bought it! The BMW salesman may have thought I was strange when I popped the hood and started assessing the accessibility of common maintenance items.

My buddy has an S4 on order. It doesn't have a dipstick and relies on electronics, so he confirmed that aftermarket dipsticks were available before purchasing the car and ordered one after placing his deposit. He went into the dealership a few weeks ago to test it out on the showroom S4, just to make sure it works properly!

 

[xxch4osxx]

Originally Posted By: Lethal1ty17
women just dont understand
Mine understands! She is a rare one, lol

 

[HTSS_TR]

I don't understand why lately European car manufactures don't include the basic items such as oil dipstick with the car ? Why consumers pay more than $30-40k for a car then have to buy an oil dipstick to check oil level for $10-20 ?

 

[BobFout]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
I don't understand why lately European car manufactures don't include the basic items such as oil dipstick with the car ? Why consumers pay more than $30-40k for a car then have to buy an oil dipstick to check oil level for $10-20 ?


Oil level sensors replace the dipstick. You don't need to buy one. Mercs haven't had dipsticks for some years now.

 

[Russell]

Originally Posted By: rpn453
Not that strange. I'd want to check that stuff out even before I bought it! The BMW salesman may have thought I was strange when I popped the hood and started assessing the accessibility of common maintenance items.

My buddy has an S4 on order. It doesn't have a dipstick and relies on electronics, so he confirmed that aftermarket dipsticks were available before purchasing the car and ordered one after placing his deposit. He went into the dealership a few weeks ago to test it out on the showroom S4, just to make sure it works properly!


New BMWs do not use dipsticks as well. Wonder if there is an aftermarket dipstick for BMWs as well. However I owuld expect BMW to void the warrenty if you use one.

 

[xxch4osxx]

I think I will stick to having a vehicle with a dipstick. Sensors can stop working but a dipstick will always work

 

[river_rat]

Originally Posted By: rpn453
Not that strange. I'd want to check that stuff out even before I bought it! The BMW salesman may have thought I was strange when I popped the hood and started assessing the accessibility of common maintenance items.

Me too. I've walked away from potential buys with poor access engineering.
I wish more people would so that word would get back to the designers.

 

[AlienBug]

I wonder if they intentionally make it difficult. Think how many threads we have here that start out with "The manufacturer specs 5w-xx and an OCI of x miles, but I "feel" that doesn't "seem" right, so I'm going with..."

Wouldn't surprise me at all if they do it so consumers would stop fooling around under the hood trying to outthink the engineers.

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
I wonder if they intentionally make it difficult.


No. Accessibility ..or lack of it is an incidental casualty of the assembly process. Streamlining that ..shaving nickles in that production process point trumps just about everything else.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: Lethal1ty17
women just dont understand
+!

 

[river_rat]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
No. Accessibility ..or lack of it is an incidental casualty of the assembly process. Streamlining that ..shaving nickles in that production process point trumps just about everything else.

As I was laying on my back today in the garage, with half the lower dash removed, looking up with a flashlight to see if I could find the power source between the PCM and air-conditioning system on my wife's car, I was actually thinking the same thing.

It looked like a snap to factory assemble with almost no chance of making a mistake...what with all the multi-wire locking connectors.

A real bear to work on though.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
No. Accessibility ..or lack of it is an incidental casualty of the assembly process. Streamlining that ..shaving nickles in that production process point trumps just about everything else.


You said it all right there.

If it's a high volume production car expect them to analyze any and all aspects of the process for even a penny savings!

 

[Spector]

Also,, no dipsticks for oil, no dipsticks for transmission fluid or drain plugs either in many cases drive customers back to the dealers for service in lieu of DYI. No doubt a planned move by manufacturers

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: xxch4osxx
Originally Posted By: Lethal1ty17
women just dont understand
Mine understands! She is a rare one, lol


+1

My wife understands too. She doesn't question me about checking, or repairing anything. She wants our stuff to last, and doesn't want to get stuck on the road somewhere.

 

[ottotheclown]

Maybe she is jealous of the attention you are giving to the car. Would be alot smoother in the world if all of us gave this type of attention to selecting our better half. IMHO
Originally Posted By: PhoenixTL
Just picked up our new ride..2010 MDX...

The first thing I did was look under the car for the location of the filter and drain plug!!!

Wife not amused...

 

[river_rat]

I'm lucky I guess. My wife is happy to get greasy helping me work on cars or dusty working on the house.

When we were dating, I noted she had her own pile of Guns and Ammo magazines. A good sign.