Dry dipstick

[globey]

I spend my military off duty time working as a parts manager at an auto parts store. The other day, a lady comes in and she asks me to check her oil. She drove a later model Camry with a 2.0L engine (I think...just glanced at it). She told me she just had an oil change and pointed to her sticker that said it was serviced at Firestone just four days ago. I also noticed that there was a new plain white generic oil filter installed.

I checked the dipstick and it came up COMPLETELY dry. I wiped it because I really wasn't believing what I was seeing. I checked it three more times and touched the dipstick to make sure there was something on the stick. NOTHING. Apparently, they didn't fill the crankcase or she had a major oil leak but either way, she had NO oil in her crankcase. When I say that her dipstick was dry, I mean there wasn't even a film residue registering.

She was mad because someone else had told her there was no oil there either. She had her oil changed four days earlier.

Honestly, has anyone seen anything like this? How far could you drive with nothing registering on your dipstick? I checked for leaks and she assured me that wasn't the case. I saw nothing indicating a leak. I'm just glad it wasn't my car.

 

[Syntec-Man]

for joining the military!

 

[Doc8404]

so you added oil or the thing blew up?

 

[globey]

Well, she purchased some oil. She drove it to the parts store after someone told her there was no oil in the crankcase, purchased five quarts and drove off after her friend added some to the crankcase.

 

[Merkava_4]

That's exactly why I do my own oil changes; plus, I like to run a quart over so I don't have to check level every day.

 

[Syntec-Man]

a quart over is not a good idea, i burned a cat doing that

 

[Jerryb]

Thirty years ago my father drove to my house in his 1969 Dodge with a 383 ci engine. I checked his oil and it was bone dry. I added 5 quarts of oil to his car. He told me he had his oil changed, drove from NYC to Philadelphia and back. He hen drove 35 miles to my house. I figure he drove about 240 miles with no oil, most of it on the NJ Turnpike at 65MPH. That car lasted another 6 years till someone stole it.

 

[Mokanic]

Quote:

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I spend my military off duty time working as a parts manager at an auto parts store. The other day, a lady comes in and she asks me to check her oil. She drove a later model Camry with a 2.0L engine (I think...just glanced at it). She told me she just had an oil change and pointed to her sticker that said it was serviced at Firestone just four days ago. I also noticed that there was a new plain white generic oil filter installed.

I checked the dipstick and it came up COMPLETELY dry. I wiped it because I really wasn't believing what I was seeing. I checked it three more times and touched the dipstick to make sure there was something on the stick. NOTHING. Apparently, they didn't fill the crankcase or she had a major oil leak but either way, she had NO oil in her crankcase. When I say that her dipstick was dry, I mean there wasn't even a film residue registering.

She was mad because someone else had told her there was no oil there either. She had her oil changed four days earlier.

Honestly, has anyone seen anything like this? How far could you drive with nothing registering on your dipstick? I checked for leaks and she assured me that wasn't the case. I saw nothing indicating a leak. I'm just glad it wasn't my car.

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It's quite common in shops that use a bulk tank with air- pumps hanging from the roof. If the warm body doing the oil change neglects to check the oil level after pumping it there's no telling how much oil is in the crankcase. They are not super accurate when working properly and who knows how accurate if they have a problem. I'm sure many people have seen "lube techs" that just slammed the hood after the pump stops pumping.
The Camry holds approx. 3.8qts of oil. It could not have had more than 1.5qts in it to not show on the stick at all. Fortunately for her, the oil pick-up is within an 1/8th of an inch from the bottom of the oil pan in those 2.0 Camrys.
She would do well to avoid the place that changed her oil regardless of whether it was a dealer,ind. shop,or lube-chain.

 

[ThirdeYe]

My dad ran his lawnmower with nothing registering on the dipstick for years, and the rest was just all sludged up and dark black. Just added 1/4 of a quart to it to get it back up to the dipstick and it's still going fine. Poor analogy, probably...

 

[Vilan]

Quote:

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Honestly, has anyone seen anything like this? How far could you drive with nothing registering on your dipstick?

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I know a, um, friend

who let his car get 3 quarts low and the oil pressure light went on. Nothing on dipstick. Add a quart, still nothing. Another quart, now it's up to the 'add' line. I, er, he was probably driving a month or two with very low oil. So you can get pretty far actually.

 

[Lonnie]

In my early days as a mechanic on British and Italian cars I looked up to my tool box as I hit the starter and noticed the cans of oil that should have been in the engine. I nearly lost control of my hand trying to get the engine turned off. It ran for about 10 seconds. I told the service manager and pulled the pan to look at the bearings. They looked perfect. So I poured the oil in, it started and I never pulled that stunt again. I told the owner what I did and followed that car, had him come in a bunch of extra times to check it. Nothing ever showed up except my red face. I think the way that a lot of dealers work today, the customer would have never been told about something like this, and maybe the service manager would hot hear about it either.

 

[Chris142]

I used to work at a Goodyear auto repair center. I got a work order that just said "Check oil leak". So I went and got the pickup, drove it onto the lift and left it running while I lifted it up to see what was leaking.

Got it up in the air, grabbed my flashlight, walked under it and found the crank and rods just spinning! Seemed like forever for the lift to come down so I could shut it off.

The customer had someone else remove the oil pan to replace the gasket and that someone never came back to finish the job.

 

[Dr_No]

When I purchased the car the dealership only filled the oil half-way before charging me for "premium oil change"

 

[Camu Mahubah]

Just because the dipstick is dry does not mean there is no oil in the sump. I had an old Ford pickup with a 302 that leaked out the rear main seal. Every other day the dipstick was dry. 2 Qts and it would be back up to full.
No oil on the dipstick is not a good thing, but don't over react. Top off and then you will know how much the engine was short.