Absolutely true. But the system is still not foolproof.
Apparently some people are still under the mistaken belief that an engine should not need additional oil between oil changes.
Apparently some people find it unreasonable that one may have to open the hood and check the oil level using a dipstick.
Manufacturers have simplified the process by allowing one to sit comfortably in the driver’s seat and press a button, at which point the car will measure the oil level and inform you if it’s low and how much to add.
Apparently that’s not good enough because we still see engines ruined from oil starvation.
It would be hard to blame the manufacturer if the owner never visually inspected the dipstick. But if there is no dipstick, and the level sensor failed, would the manufacturer be blamed? Or is it even possible for the sensor to fail in a way that would make it appear the engine had plenty of oil when it didn’t? Hopefully they design it with a failsafe so worst case is it reports no oil, when there in fact is plenty of oil.
I don’t think that is how they are designed. They either work or they don’t. Without a dipstick, you wouldn’t know the level short of draining it all out and measuring. That’s my biggest concern with them. In 1985 I had a Merkur with an electronic dipstick… but it still had the dipstick. If parked on a hill it would sometimes give a false low oil warning.
Who do you blame when your temperature gauge fails? That’s just an electric sensor and driving with an overheating engine will ruin it in short order.
Who do you blame when your fuel gauge stops working? Running out of gas while navigating a mountain road can be deadly.
The answer is simple. If the affected part fails while under warranty the manufacturer will fix it. After that, the driver is on the hook for the repair. Seems reasonable to me.
Why do people trust an electric fuel level gauge and engine temperature gauge without question but seem befuddled by an oil level gauge?
I would love it if all my vehicles, yes even the fun car, had electronic dipsticks while retaining the manual dipstick and tube… You could easily check it from your seat even if it is raining hard, or snowing or 105F outside or whatever, and once every fill up or whatever is normal for you to normally check it, you would double check to make sure the electronic level matches the stick level…
You know, Dave, ever since owning a vehicle as a physically handicapped man, I’ve been hearing left and right that I’m to check the fuel level with a dipstick and to check the tire pressure on a regular basis.
Since I can’t perform any of these simple tasks, I would worry about my car’s health.
However, my first car was purchased in 2003, and believe me, Dave, I’ve never in my life checked the fuel level on any of my vehicles and never experienced a problem ( knock on wood ).
When I bought the Lexus in 2020, I noticed the red ( coolant ) fluid was low and asked you guys about it here. Then have Toyota refilled it.
As for tire pressure: I let the dealer check the pressure every 6 months if my car didn’t have a tire sensor thing to let me know from the dash. I’ve never had my tires prematurely worn.
Now, I’m not saying people shouldn’t check their vehicle regularly because that’s important. I’m just saying as a disabled guy who isn’t blessed to perform the necessary tasks has never ran into any issues regarding these things.
Most tire shops will check your tire pressures for free, especially someone disabled, the mechanics don’t mind helping out someone in need if not extremely busy, it is the perfectly healthy ones (people) that totally tick you off that come in asking for an air pressure check when they could do it themselves… It doesn’t hurt to tip them either…
But yeah, if the TPMS light is not on, i am not to worried about it… You can also see if a tire is bulging a little more than normal at the bottom if you pay attention…
The ONLY engine I’ve ever owned that needed oil between oil changes (5k miles) was my Chevy Vega (which was an oil burner).
I’ve owned over 7 vehicles past 200k miles (including the ones we currently own) that the oil level is just a hair below full between oil changes…at most half way to the add line.
Of course it can. However, like the other sensors in the car, they are checked for open, shorted or out of range values during the self test portion of the start up routine. This eliminates almost all of the failure modes that can be expected from a sensor like this.
I noticed some questioning the ability to self assess the oil quality by sampling the dipstick. Looking at it, smelling it… could you detect things like- excessive gasoline thinning, coolant mixing, too much combustion debris suspended etc?- possibly. But think about how many times you may have encountered that happening in your lifetime of owning cars. Especially the last few decades anyway as cars in general have become less prone to those failures.
Around 18 years ago, I worked on a fluid sensor design that used ATR to measure all sorts of properties of fluid in either a pipeline or in a closed vessel. It was successfully sold into beverage manufacturing (measuring dissolved CO2) and various industrial process control applications. When I left the program, it was being assessed for use in diesel engines where the amount of oil in the crankcase was an order of magnitude more than a car. Very expensive to replace so maximizing lifespan was very important to them.
The holy grail would have been the expansive market of cars and trucks. The reason for not going after that market was due to the propensity to proactively change oil more frequently than needed and the relatively low expense incurred in doing so. The car makers algorithms have been shown to be quite good at predicting oil degradation based on their other sensors and tracking usage over time. Plus, they build in a very generous early warning threshold- GM is set at 20% of predicted life left.
Right. I always tell the dealer to report back to me if any of my oils were low when I take it in for an oil change at 5k miles and not once am I told any of the oils are low.
This is why I wonder at times why do we need to check our oil on a regular basis.
Because it is not at all unusual to have to add a quart or two of oil between oil changes. Your experience may not be the same as everyone else’s. Some engines are more prone to oil usage than others. Or your engine may have developed a leak you didn’t notice.
I have 4 vehicles at my house. My teenage son’s car stays on the full mark between oil changes. My wife’s car uses about a quart and a half between changes. My daily driver uses some, but less than a full quart. My old pickup leaks some and uses some, probably a quart every 1000 miles.
My son’s car gets oil changed every 5000 miles. My wife’s car whenever the oil life monitor says.
My car every 10,000 miles.
My truck whenever I think about it.
I can go out to the garage or driveway and check my oil level in less time than it would take to clean a toilet. I doubt many people go 6 months at a time between toilet cleaning. Yet no one can be bothered to check their oil. In 35 years I’ve seen probably hundreds of engines ruined because of low oil level.
Really? Your cars don’t have fuel gauges? Yet you have never run out of gas? I had a car with a faulty fuel gauge, I just filled it up every 200 miles.
Now that I think about it, my riviera had an oil level sensor. I never knew it until I had a pan gasket leak and the message popped up that I was a quart low.
My olds had a coolant level sensor and that worked by grounding through the coolant. If it wasn’t grounded, the light came on. When th3 sensor failed I just provided another ground to keep the light off.
I assume that’s how all these sensors work so that a failure causes the light to go on, not the reverse. This should really be a standard option as we discussed a few years ago when we discussed the fuel pump shut off at the oil sensor.
I think that practice went out of fashion sometime around the end of Ford Model T production. In any event, trying to put some sort of stick down the filler neck of a modern vehicle would likely prove to be challenging.
This is a Model T gas tank dipstick, which was necessary because there was no gas gauge. Just try putting it in the Toyota gas filler pictured above.
Ironically, the only repair that my 2011 Outback ever needed was to replace the WW fluid reservoir because the electronic level sensor in the reservoir failed. Rather than diddle around with the sensor, they just replaced the reservoir with its internal sensor. This was done–under warranty–when the vehicle was about 2 years old.
My 1957 Karmen Ghia didn’t have a gas gauge so I did indeed use a wooden dip stick. Instead of a gas gauge it had a petcock with a reserve like a motorcycle.
