Hard to see oil level on dipstick...

[Rickmeister 48]

Why do so many people on this forum refuse to listen to what the manual says?? Then tell someone they are wrong after they state what's in it.
First off, no one is going to sit at the station for an hour when refueling ,and they recommend checking it Every time you refuel, second , it says wait approximately THREE minutes in plain English.

Sponsored

 

[CivicNerd]

Definitely miss the dipstick in my old Civic where there wasn't a random orange plastic part and just the steel stick with holes. It is really hard to read using the holes on the plastic, but if you turn the meter on the sides where there aren't holes, you can see the level better. Then I track the "line" when I turn to look at the marks.

 

[Snoopyslr]

Never heard about that and with what you are saying I will run away of these place.
What kind of people do you think they work there ? Fully licensed mechanic ? IMO it is anybody who walk on the street.

Dropping oil from the pan may take an hour. Doing fast job is leaving lots of dirty oil in engine.
I always do my own oil change ans keep my cars more the 12 years

That is so many threads about over fill oil, people don't know how to read

Listen to me or don't, I really don't care. What I'm saying is fact and my knowledge stems from being a former ASE certified mechanic, I've built engines, and I now design cars. My entire life has been cars.

 

[Porsche tech]

The point the OP makes is that the dipstick is difficult to read. Those with a lot of experience I'm sure would agree that some are easier to read than others. I've always felt it's best to have as much oil in the pan as possible when checking (on any car with a wet sump) since that's where the dip stick dips. Porsche actually did away with the dip stick and wants you to rely on a digital readout (bar graph) in the instrument cluster. The amount of time it takes to get that reading is dependent on how much time the engine has had time to drain the oil back into the sump.

 

[pyropinky]

Listen to me or don't, I really don't care. What I'm saying is fact and my knowledge stems from being a former ASE certified mechanic, I've built engines, and I now design cars. My entire life has been cars.

ignore him he's from Quebec.

 

[Gruber]

We need to keep the dipstick threads going. This the hard core essential topic for all car enthusiasts.

Crankcase oil is not like transmission fluid. The level is not so sensitive to conditions, it doesn't need to be so accurate and there is a wide range of levels where it is just as OK.

There are two factors: time and temperature. 3 minutes are not enough to have all oil back in the pan, but it is good enough for the accuracy needed.
The amount of oil that will drip from the engine after that is quite noticeable, but will not make a significant difference on the dipstick.

Oil expands with temperature, so it would read higher with hot engine. The cross section of the pan where the dipstick goes is rather large, so the temperature rise is not great. (It's not built like a liquid thermometer ) This T effect largely cancels the opposite effect of less than complete dripping, and as a result the difference between 5 minutes and completely cold engine should be insignificant.

For these reasons there is also NEVER a need to start the engine. Checking the level in cold engine is just as good.

It is easier to check cold, because of oil present in the dipstick tube. In some cars, mostly with bigger engines like SUVs and trucks, the dipstick may be very thin and long, sometimes bent and goes through some curves. It is almost impossible to see the oil level before the excess oil is removed from the dipstick tube.

Honda and other car makers prefer the driver to check oil often than to wait until it's cool and of course never do it. For this reason they say it is OK to check oil after only 3 minutes (its fast and easy!). I would wait at least 10 min, but who has time to sit for 10 minutes at a gas station?

 

[Swordfish]

probably if someone made an aftermarket dipstick then patented it, they could sell the much better design to Honda for $.

 

[CobraCommand]

ignore him he's from Quebec.

Oil dip stick isn't designed well though. It's not the end of the world awful, but could be better.

 

[chestypuller]

i still think they need to add a oil level sensor.

 

[marauderguy]

Has anybody checked to see the difference between waiting approx 3 minutes or 3 hours. From my own findings, the difference was approx 1mm higher after waiting 3 hours. I don't think this is enough to consider Honda or the owners manual as being wrong.

Not much diff between hot expanded oil that hasn't all drained back to the pan or cold nonexpanded oil that is all in the pan.

The orange part on the stick is a poor design and does make it tougher to read especially with new oil.

 

[Charley-TX]

i still think they need to add a oil level sensor.

A hell NO!
Have you owned a late model BMW? there is no oil dipstick.
The only way to check the oil is through program menu on your DIC, scroll through a menu system.
I want to see what that oil look like. I want to see its color, smell it, look at it, touch it. After owning one or two bmw, I promised myself to never own a car that has no spare tire or oil dipstick. (minus electric cars).
Did my own oil change on the bmw... and can't really tell if you put in enough or too much oil in unless you start the car, warm up the car, and the program runs through it which includes raising the idle speed for about 30 seconds (can't remember the exact timeframe)

 

[Gruber]

You betcha. They knew there will be lots of fuel going into oil and they didn't want the owners to see exactly how high the oil rises because of the blow by.... Honda says: if it covers the upper hole on your dipstick it's all you need to know, you don't need to spy where the level really is. Now shove that dipstick back in the hole and go for a long ride to evaporate that fuel back into the intake.

 

[Swordfish]

The irony is that the solution is already available. When dipsticks were the regular metal they were not a problem. An old Toyota we had literally was a piece of smooth metal with 2 metal divots. It was very reliable.

Sponsored