Does your car have a dipstick?

[noseall]

In the olden days, dipsticks were used to monitor fuel levels in the tank.

Luddites, doncha just love 'em.

 

[Trazor]

 

[transam]

petrol tank I purchased for the cobra has an inbuilt visual sight gauge peice of clear tube running the height of the tank

Old school lift the boot and check your fuel
Very reliable nowt to go wrong

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

On this car, you could check your oil level, in the dark, in the cold, in the rain wearing your finest clothes and do it all from the comfort of the drivers seat. What’s not to like about that?

And when the sensor fails, or is simply wrong? Dipsticks never fail, never go wrong.

 

[transam]

Similar caper on boilers

Water pressure read by actual pressure on an analogue gauge

Than some manus decided to go digital converting the pressure into an electrical signal via resistance and all that caper

 

[Mottie]

And when the sensor fails, or is simply wrong? Dipsticks never fail, never go wrong.

Your oil light relies on an electrical switch. How many times have you heard of it not working?

If you stopped the first hundred drivers that came along the road, how many of them do you think would know what a dipstick is, where to find it and how to use it? Mrs Mottie wouldn’t have a clue and like most women, has no f'cking interest in checking her engine oil level. That’s 50% of the driving population.

How many of the same one hundred drivers would understand a warning on the dash that’s says 'STOP, low oil'? Mrs Mottie would. She pulled over and stopped once and phoned me when a warning light came up on the dash. It was the low windscreen washer fluid light!

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Your oil light relies on an electrical switch. How many times have you heard of it not working?

Once, and it stranded me far from home - it was telling lies..

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

How many of the same one hundred drivers would understand a warning on the dash that’s says 'STOP, low oil'? Mrs Mottie would. She pulled over and stopped once and phoned me when a warning light came up on the dash. It was the low windscreen washer fluid light!

W|hich goes to prove that no one really understands what all those lights and decals actually mean.

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Your oil light relies on an electrical switch. How many times have you heard of it not working?

You are in the motor trade and have never heard of an electrical switch going wrong.

B S

 

[Mottie]

Once, and it stranded me far from home - it was telling lies..

I might have known….

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Had one today with a sensor and no dipstick. Audi S5. Said oil was low and to add 1 litre. I was servicing it anyway so when I filled it with oil, I started with 5 litres and kept topping up until it told me the level was at max. It took 6.8 litres. Quite a good idea - as has been said, plenty of people never check their oil and plenty more wouldn’t even know how to. On this car, you could check your oil level, in the dark, in the cold, in the rain wearing your finest clothes and do it all from the comfort of the drivers seat. What’s not to like about that?

Relying on technology rather than tried and tested basic means can catch you out. In the 80s my friend had a Rover SD1 with various computer displays. The one that gave wildly inaccurate MPG and range info was always good for a laugh. Just as well it wasn't monitoring oil levels too, otherwise the engines (6 cyl versions) on these would have died even sooner than they used to.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Worked with someone who had a Morris Marina. He thought the oil warning light was his cue to add some more oil. So I suppose in a way he had one of the first sensors that monitored the oil, reminding you when it was top up time.

 

[Mottie]

Relying on technology rather than tried and tested basic means can catch you out. In the 80s my friend had a Rover SDi with various computer displays.

Newsflash: Things have moved on in 40 years!

 

[robinbanks]

It's a beautiful thing to drive on a sunny summer day.

Not for the poor sucker behind though, who has to breathe in vast quantities of unburnt hydrocarbons

 

[Brigadier]

A friend's oil warning light came on.
Two hours later, the AA man turned up to find him dribbling oil down the dipstick tube

Similarly, the bloke with the leaking (car) radiator at a former workplace, was advised to put an egg in, to seal the leak.
Next day, when asked how he had got on, replied that it hadn't worked. Transpired that he had fried the egg first, then stuffed it into the rad.......