Reading the dipstick on a GM 4.3l V6

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Ladies and Gents,

I've been checking the oil on vehicle for 50+ years. I have never had a problem on any vehicle I've checked, until I got my new Sierra 1500. I just can't seem to read the dipstick and feel comfortable. The placement/orientation of the dipstick and it's travel to the oil pan is different from anything I've maintained before. My main concern though is trying to read the dipstick. The measuring area on the dipstick is the smallest I've ever encountered. And, the color/shade of this area on the dipstick makes it extremely difficult to read the oil level. I'll be the first to admit that it may just be age and declining eyesight, but I have no problem seeing these things on my wife's Nissan Frontier. Is it just me or are there others that have noticed this? I just changed the oil for the first time on my Sierra and approximately six quarts came out, which is the fill requirements with a new filter. So I'm happy it didn't appear to burn any oil. But, if my life depended on it, I couldn't read this dipstick well enough to see it had an adequate level of oil in the vehicle. Man I hate getting old.
 
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Or you can lightly score/hatch mark the area, it might hold the oil a little easier.

Is your garage well lit? An additional well placed light might help too.
 
Does the dipstick have holes in it? If so, shine a flashlight through the backside of the holes; you'll see the oil then. My dipstick has 5 holes in between ADD and FULL.
 
Oil dipstick on a 4.3? Pretty sure mine has notched that make it easy. ATF in the 4L60E is another story, the reading is different side to side...
 
The 11 hoss B+S flathead on my mower is like that. The oil stays clear and my bad eyes don't see so well.Luckily it is cross hatched. Fill it up , wait a day and figure out a full sump. Booger up the stick at that line.
 
Originally Posted By: Warstud
Does it have a black tip like this?

http://www.equinoxforum.net/index.php?topic=4194.0



I just went out and looked again. My is cross-hatched completely save for the small margins, top and bottom, that are not cross-hatched. Checked the oil again while I was out there to make certain I wasn't losing it. It is still painfully hard to read this dipstick.
 
How about if you hold a piece of colored paper as a background for the dipstick? Just wondering.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
Maybe shine a flashlight on it?


First thing I tried.

Given the many dipsticks I've checked in my day, I just think this one is the absolute worst I've ever encountered. This is certainly no life altering event for me. I was just curious if others had encountered the same thing.
 
Well, there are a few possibilities. Maybe the oil is hard to see because there isn't any. In my cars, such failures are rare, but not unheard of. In the J(h)eeps of yore. It was said that if your jeep isn't leaking, its because its empty.

The 528e has a low oil level light that lights up in the check panel. It comes on when the sump is a liter low. The stick coincides with the light. My first used oil, so when the light went on, I pulled a qt out of the trunk, no big deal. I did it for over 12 yrs and 200k miles. most of it pre Bitog. Theres one for coolant too. They are just float switches. Nothing fancy. If you melt an engine, it is because you're an idiot.
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Originally Posted By: Jimkobb
How about if you hold a piece of colored paper as a background for the dipstick? Just wondering.


A brown (non-bleached) napkin works good. Just lay the dipstick on the napkin and roll the dipstick to expose the wet spot. Then line up the wet spot to the markings on the dipstick.
 
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