hard time reading my diptick, any tips?

[SCASEYS]

wait, I may have figured out his issue!

maybe he did search for diptick and it came back w/ no hits!

[Max Capacity]

wait, I may have figured out his issue!

maybe he did search for diptick and it came back w/ no hits!

 

Or may be he did a google search and came up with this,

 

http://www.google.com/search?q=FILE%2CNF+DIAMOND+2172+&sourceid=ie7&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-ContextMenu&ie=&oe=&safe=active#hl=en&safe=active&tbo=d&rls=com.microsoft:en-us%3AIE-ContextMenu&sclient=psy-ab&q=dipstick+urine+test&oq=dipstick&gs_l=serp.1.1.0l4.0.0.1.2156.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.5YBToB7yzm8&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=95de99d2aacf4e5d&bpcl=38625945&biw=1014&bih=592

[jmobe]

This is not ok.

Engine oil level is literally the most basic maintenance requirement.

There really is no reliable way to read the oil level on these engines.

Someone should force a recall of some kind.

 

What do the dealers care?

They drain the oil and replace it.

They know the capacity and the residual amount.

Subtract the two and add that amount.

They don't need to read the oil level.

 

But I certainly do.

Do you?

 

This is a tremendously reliable car, but this is outrageous.

 

Blow-By?

Sorry, but that's ridiculous.

Nobody checks the oil while the engine is running, and any pressure issues would resolve soon after stopping the motor. Further, even letting the vehicle sit over night, you can't count on being able to read the oil accurately. Sometimes you can read it on the back, but not always. This is not acceptable. Do not buy a Subaru until they admit this is a problem and solve the issue. If they don't admit this is a problem, then how will you know if they have solved it?

 

I love my subaru. It has been very good to me. But this is a big deal. The last three times I had my oil changed, they deliberately overfilled it. They said they were doing me a favor, but the truth is, they couldn't read the level, so they decided to put in too much rather than too little. Unfortunately, there are problems with having too much oil. (not clear to me why, but I believe the many write-ups that I have no read on this.) Seals blow out. Even the soft part of the head gaskets can blow out. Ie oil and water mixing. And that is what happened to me as a result.

 

Note that they didn't ask me if they could overfill it any of those times, and they didn't tell me they had done so the second time. That is when I started the leak of oil into my cooling fluid. Last night I had to drain out a quart in my driveway. What a pain in the rear.

 

You can't tell me that these many decades into automobile development that these very talented engineers can't find a way to allow me to easily and accurately measure the oil level? The dipstick needs to be more vertical. Period. Perhaps the tube could also be wider, that would help. These things are do-able. Why are they not being done

 

Subarus are known to have head gasket and seal problems. Is this why? Is it because mechanics are unable to read the oil level and sometimes overfill it? Would make sense for the seals, for certain. Would it make sense for the head gaskets? Depends. I don't think it would impact blowout of the metal compression seal in the head gasket, but it would increase the number of failures of the soft part, as I mentioned, allowing oil and water to mix. How many of the head gasket failures are in the soft part? I don't know. I thought the famous failures were with the higher compression engines, ie the outbacks, and would therefore be the metal part of the gasket... but I don't know that for certain.

 

This is ridiculous.

[mwiener2]

I don't have to read your post to say... Your post is ridiculous.

 

 

 

OK, I read it.

 

 

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[05wagongt]

:munch::munch:

[iNVAR]

What the hell, I don't understand why some of you guys have such difficulty reading the dipstick.

 

I drive. I come home. I park on level ground. I shut off the car. I open the hood. I loosen the oil fill cap just in case. I pull out the dipstick. I wipe it off completely from top down. I insert the dipstick. I remove the dipstick. I check the level. I wipe it again. Check it once more to make sure the reading I got the first time around was correct. Add oil if necessary. Check level 2x more. If oil level is good, button everything back up and close hood.

 

You guys are way overthinking it. As long as the mark is somewhere in between the low/full mark, the car isn't going to explode.

[jmobe]

I think the posts that recommend pulling the dipstick out a couple of inches to break the seal, etc., before letting the car sit for a few hours, then pulling the dipstick out and cleaning it before reinserting it; are right. But I will add two things:

 

1) Somewhere around the max fill level, or a tad above that, even the above method stops working. All you will see is the big smear that generated this thread leaving you in the dark.

 

2) The owners manual does say to make sure you align the dipstick with the picture on the handle correct when viewed from the front of the car looking in (as opposed to from the side). Not sure you can get it sideways, but you can get it upside down. So, don't. Not sure it really matters, but it's in the instructions.

-----------------

 

I think people should be carefull where they get their oil changed. Either do it yourself as you learn these issues, or get it done at the dealer, or by someone that you are certain is familiar with these issues. Don't go to just any franchised tune-up shop or tire center, even the good ones unless you speak to them and are certain they know these issues.

 

The last three times I got my oil changed they overfilled it by some large amount. Two different mechanics at two different reputable places. I believe that probably occurred because the dipstick is exceptionally hard to read and they were in a hurry.

 

If overfilling the oil is as dangerous as I have read, then this is a serious issue. The last place overfilled it at least 1 1/2 quarts. I drained exactly 2 quarts afterwards, which is an absolute pain in the ass, and the level went to midway between the marks, dead-on. This was late at night. I had a long tripped planned for the next morning.

 

If you use the break-the-seal method and wait a few hours, and the true level is between the marks, you may get a good reading. But that reading is a tiny little dry semicircle on one half of one side of the dipstick. That just isn't a good enough method. Clearly. This is bad engineering. Yet it apparently remains a part of this product over generations. Why?

 

A) Do the dealers have different dipsticks that they use... unlikely, or do they just go by known capacities and residuals as I previously asserted... or what?

 

B) Is overfilling the oil really as dangerous as I have read? I don't understand why it would be because it isn't a sealed system, but since I see this stated on many polular mechanic sites, I have to worry about it. If somehow it behaves as a closed system, then overfilling it would result in large pressures when the engine gets hot, and way overfilling it could result in enormous pressures which could plow out seals.

[mwiener2]

It's a dipstick people, not a calibrated measuring device. It just needs to be close.

 

It would take more than 3 qts over filled to cause catastrophic damage. The motor will start smoking at an extremely high oil level. Higher than that will cause hdryolocking issues.