No, this tread was started by someone who paid for an oil change and received one quart less oil than they paid for. The solution is to add one quart of oil.
It was several others that don’t trust this world of electronics.
I have seen dozens of vehicles towed in with ruptured oil cooler lines and the engine was saved because the oil level monitor alerted the driver in time to pull off of the road to a safe place. You can’t check the oil level with a dipstick at 65 MPH.
+1
Similarly we have some people who think that there is no need for TPMS, because they check their tire pressure manually. When they have posted that naïve type of statement, my response has been something along the lines of…
So, you regularly pull-over on the shoulder in order to ensure that you haven’t lost pressure as a result of a puncture?
Even though they don’t substitute for manual checking of certain systems, modern electronic warning systems are potentially very helpful in the event of an unexpected problem.
Any reputable shop will have a counter on the dispenser, so the mechanic will know exactly how much oil he’s added to each and every car
If he doesn’t know how to reset it and read the numbers, he’s an idiot who should find another job
Nevada seems to think I am against the Audi system. That is not the issue. The issue is that it also needs a dipstick.
The TPMS system is probably an excellent analogy. Is it really a system you want to rely on without an independent second check? We all know that a visual check of a tire is not sufficient. Do we want the tire installer to say “looks good and the light is off”, and skip the pressure gauge? And, what do we want the driver to do when he has used a gauge and found the tire is just fine. Do we want the driver to drive around never checking tire pressures until the TPMS light is on?
Any such system can give either false negatives or false positives.
Oh, I don’t really think it is either, I’m just a “trust but verify” kind of guy.
I am not against oil level monitors, I think they should be standard on all cars, I wish my 2012 Toyota had one rather that 3 different ways of telling me what my average fuel economy is. I don’t need a gauge for that at all. I just think it is ridiculous to have a dipstick tube with a plug ,rather than a dipstick. They obviously want the shop tech to have an accurate and simple way to check the oil in case the gauge and the amount of oil added at a change don’t agree.
Cool story @ OP
What ’ cool story by the OP ) ? They only made one vague post and never returned .
That’s what I was referring to. They told a “cool story” and left. I hope they return.
That’s because OEMs got lazy with a problem that had already been “solved”. At this point I don’t think OP is returning so I’m fine with continuing to discuss the sensor/technology issue. It amazes me that anti-technologists will b**** and moan all day about vehicles not having dipsticks anymore, but never raise a stink about something like this. As you’ve said here, low fuel sensors can have all sorts of problems, even though the basic technology (a float and armature) have been around for decades. When is the last time anyone bothered to manually measure their fuel level?
Contrast that with modern sensor technology: Oil Level Sensors - More Than A Warning Light (underhoodservice.com)
Not only are modern oil level sensors more precise, they’re built on more reliable, solid-state technology. If fuel level sensors were built like this, there would be a lot fewer people stranded on the side of the road without gas (it wouldn’t be zero though, lol, some people just want to push the needle).
But I bet we’d have to endure people coming on here complaining about ‘newfangled’ fuel sensor technology, or trying to blame these sensors every time they have a problem with their fuel systems.
My 1981 Accord used a heated thermistor to trigger the low fuel warning.
Independent from the fuel level float.
When the fuel level dropped below the thermistor it would get hot and trigger the light.
As long as the thermistor was in the right position the threshold was pretty precise and repeatable.
A dipstick is also “solid state technology”.