Useless Dipstick

[toocrazy2yoo]

My 05 Accent has a nice straight flat stick, two dots, and they even roughed up the end of the stick that the oil is measured on so you can see it when the oil is new. Gee..readable dipstick in a $10,600 car, what a revelation!

Wouldn't you think SOMEONE in a focus group, an engineer, prototype tester, or SOMEONE in the process of building a $30,000 car would see what they did with the dipstick and say, "FIX THAT"?

Ok, ok, I'm over it..

 

[ChrycoPsycho]

quote:

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Originally posted by acewiza:
Oops sorry, I thought this was a thread about my boss...

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LMAO LMAO My sides are still sore...Good one!
Chris

 

[The Critic]

Oil Dipstick in the Saturn is fine...gives me a clear reading everytime. Don't know about the Toyota, I just don't check it. No need to, as the oil level light will tell me if I have to.

OTOH, my Saturn's ATF dipstick is the worst. If you don't withdraw the dipstick within a second of re entering it, it'll smear all over the stick.

I just hope that my next car will have no engine oil or transmission fluid dipstick. :dance:

 

[JHZR2]

quote:

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Originally posted by OriginHacker21:
Sounds like my 2.2L Ecotec has the same thing - long silver dipstick with a blob of metal on the end. Often times oil smears up the tube so you can't get an accurate reading.

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My saab has the same dipstick - and it is quite tough to read. A friend's aspire had a similar one, and that dipstick was near impossible to read with clean oil on it!

Worst of all - the ATF dipstick on my 98 S10. Can't get a reading on it no matter what - usually comes up dry, sometimes is smeared - but what good is that?!? And,m giuven the difficulty of knowing at an AT is at a propper level, and given the fact it has to be hot and running to take the reading, its really annoying.

JMH

 

[Gary Allan]

My 92 Caravan required a wigi board to interpret the dipstick reading ..especially when clean oil was in there. You had to read both sides of the stick and guess which one was correct. The lower reading was assumed to be true. I don't know how Chrysler managed to adapt that to the Japanese engine ..but I recall having to do this with our 61 318

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

Acewiza, STEP INTO MY OFFICE NOW!

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by LarryL:
I wonder why there isn't an oil level gauge that you could read on the dash, or just an idiot light.

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Some cars do have low oil level warnings. My Chevy will give a "check oil level" warning if the oil level gets low.

One big problem with agage is that the oil level varies drastically when the engine is running. You and I could make sense of that, I'not so sure about the average car owner.

 

[racer12306]

quote:

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Originally posted by toocrazy2yoo:
Racer!

quote:

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the nissan 3.0 and 3.5 engines are the biggest pain. those are the two that gave me the most problems of all of the engines i have touched.
the 3.0s were 4.25qts and ship it out the door. cant remember what the 3.5s took.

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Gave you the most problems? With the oil level, or other problems? This is my gal's car, she's been taking it to the dealer every 7500 (which has been the OCI for the life of the thing). Probably dino. That's the table in the owner's guide, too. You really have to dig into the owner's manual to find a severe service recommendation on OCI. Then, they only say "may have to change more often".

Oil was pretty filthy a month ago (last at the dealer in Feb.), and the fill-hole is showing black and grainy under there (what I can see) with a flashlight. I changed it for her with AA SM 5W30, and then again yesterday at Tires Plus (nice peeps over there, torque-wrenched the lugs 122 inch-pounds for the new tires, nice touch, no?) with 10W40 High Mileage Pennz from my stash. Guy there put 4.25 qts. in it with the new Puro filter I gave him, he stated he knows it has the correct amount of oil in it, but dammed if he could tell what it was on the stick.

The stick plugs into a hole in the block, no tube, and NO WAY to see the level. Too smeared. Makes me wonder if that's why it has the sludgies. Anyone checking the stick for her in between dealer trips would see some oil on the stick and say it's "got oil".

Original fill and recommendation in the O.G. was 5W30, 10W30, and 10W40. SJ/SG. That why it's sludged? Oil back then, 7500 OCI, jeez..

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i know this is an old thread but ive been away for a while. dont worry it was just reading the dipstick that i had big problems with. afaik the vq series are great engines.