Mazda 3 dipstick
- Thread starter buster
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Agreed. The recessed "area" between full and add drives me nuts. I can never get a true reading because oil is all over the darn thing. Why couldn't they just use the old ADD line, FULL line and diagonal hash marks between on a FLAT surface?
Does this new dipstick do the 'fake out' that the first dipstick did? I remember on my 2004 3i, the first time I checked my oil I nearly had a heart attack. I never figured out how this is possible, but when you check the oil on these cars first thing in the morning, you pull the dipstick out and there's only oil on the very end, making it look like the car is nearly out of oil. When you re-insert it and pull out again, it reads full. My Mazdaspeed 6 does this too. I don't understand how a dipstick that's fully inserted can read that low, then read correctly after re-inserted.
The way I found around the lousy dipstick was to dremel some notches in it so the oil can cling onto the ridges of the notches. Works well for a workaround.
I must have the same dipstick on my new 2.3 Fusion. I hate it. It's like a metal cable -- with the recessed metal end. I blame Mazda!
My Subaru STINKS as far as a readable dipstick.
I overfilled my 07 due to it.
Why can't MFG get a SIMPLE thing like a dipstick to read oil made?
This thing makes changing oil alot harder. I will say that this Fumoto valve keeps ALOT more oil in the sump that a suredrain. I drained the pan and put in 4 quarts and was almost 1/2 quart overfilled after 40 miles...
Next oil change, I'll drain it with the valve and then TAKE it off and measure the rest.
I'll report on the board.
Take care, Bill
PS: Honda with the V6 does the same cable dipstick and its hard to read too...
I overfilled my 07 due to it.
Why can't MFG get a SIMPLE thing like a dipstick to read oil made?
This thing makes changing oil alot harder. I will say that this Fumoto valve keeps ALOT more oil in the sump that a suredrain. I drained the pan and put in 4 quarts and was almost 1/2 quart overfilled after 40 miles...
Next oil change, I'll drain it with the valve and then TAKE it off and measure the rest.
I'll report on the board.
Take care, Bill
PS: Honda with the V6 does the same cable dipstick and its hard to read too...
Quote:
I must have the same dipstick on my new 2.3 Fusion. I hate it. It's like a metal cable -- with the recessed metal end. I blame Mazda!
Obviously for the great engine with the 'FoMoCo' on the back of the dipstick.
I've heard the new dipsticks aren't very good. The one on my '04 is fine but, as CBD explained, you have to pull it out a little and push it back in to get the actual level. I've never known why it does that.
My 2006 mazda6i has an odd and very hard to read dipstick. It isnt a dipstick as much of a thick metal cable/wire with a round 1.5" metal plug on the end. The plug is sorta cut in half with the markings on the flat side. The metal is all smooth and the oil doesnt stick at all since there are no markings to stick to.
Why in the world would a manufacturer decide to make a dipstick suck? It seems as cars get more complex, the simple components of an engine get more screwed up. My 91 Corolla's dipstick works great. It's straight, uniform piece of metal with no screwy bends and such. My Dad's 07 Tacoma on the other hand, has a not-so-good dipstick that is difficult to read. I don't even bother with it. My Mom's 04 Civic, on the other hand, has a very accurate and well designed dipstick. Honda at least got it right on this engine. Anyway, cars in some ways are getting pretty ridiculous.
My bet is that buster overfilled it.
For reasons I just can't understand, GM has decided to make the dipstick on the 3900 in my new Monte Carlo into a spiral. They essentially took a standard dipstick and twisted it a bunch of times into a spiral. It still works well enough, but it's kind of a pain to push it in and clean it off. What was wrong with the flat dipstick that they'd been using for, what, 100 years?
At least they have a dipstick. I understand newer BMW's don't have dipsticks! I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER buy a car that was designed without a dipstick!
The spiral, while annoying, I believe it is done this way to prevent the dipstick from kinking if it needs to go around a bend on the way down to the pan. I have seen kinked dipsticks.
The spiral, while annoying, I believe it is done this way to prevent the dipstick from kinking if it needs to go around a bend on the way down to the pan. I have seen kinked dipsticks.
One more thing... didn't think about this at first, but the spiral effect would tend to cause the dipstick to be "centered" in the chase, whereas I could imagine a straight dipstick could give more inaccurate readings based on the positioning of the flat part as it's sent down. Just a thought.
Good points, crw. Now that you mention it, the spiral design does make a bit of sense.
Patman
Staff member
I hate dipsticks, I wish they'd just put an oil level gage in cars like the Porsche 911 has.
I don't even bother using the dipstick in either of my cars anymore. My wife's Honda uses no oil anyhow, so there is no point checking it, and my Corvette's dipstick shows full even if it's a quart low, so there is no point checking it either. I now just measure how much comes out at oil change time, then I know how much oil it uses, and can use that info when adding oil during the next interval.
I don't even bother using the dipstick in either of my cars anymore. My wife's Honda uses no oil anyhow, so there is no point checking it, and my Corvette's dipstick shows full even if it's a quart low, so there is no point checking it either. I now just measure how much comes out at oil change time, then I know how much oil it uses, and can use that info when adding oil during the next interval.
If you make using a dipstick difficult, you can eventually phase it out. Where do we see that already?
So sad that so many quote the "superiority of OEM engineering that we never should challenge", but them factory in-gin-ear college gra-ju-tates can't even get a dipstick to work well.
BTW, I have no problem reading Mazda dipsticks. You guys need a little more patience.
So sad that so many quote the "superiority of OEM engineering that we never should challenge", but them factory in-gin-ear college gra-ju-tates can't even get a dipstick to work well.
BTW, I have no problem reading Mazda dipsticks. You guys need a little more patience.
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