How reliable/repeatable is your dipstick?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Jun 21, 2009
Messages
1,224
Location
Missouri
Have two 2.3 4 Cyl Accords (1999 and 200) in the family. An annoying trait is that the dipstick reading on these engines isn't reliable. It can vary by indicating about a half a quart difference with the same amount of oil in the crankcase. Maybe it is very sensitive to perfectly level parking surface, or hot or cold engine difference.

You'd think after performing likely over 50 oil changes in these two cars over the years I'd understand it by now. The dipstick is located on the end of the engine (drivers side, transverse mount inline 4) so maybe it is sensitive to minimal sideways tilting.

It is bad enough that I don't rely on a single checking and check a couple of times on different surfaces to ensure oil needs adding. About the only annoying lube trait of this very reliable engine. That and the filter is in a bad position for do it yourself changes. It protrudes straight off the middle back of the block.
 
It is not uncommon for dipsticks to show higher than the actual oil level when the engine is cold and it has been sitting for a while. It is known as the capillary effect. The oil creeps up on the dipstick over time. Once you clean off the dipstick and check it again, the true oil level will be apparent. I learned this when I used to fly light aircraft with heavy engine oil. The dipsticks almost always showed overfull when checking a cold engine before a flight the first time you pulled the stick. Not so after the second try.

My 2014 Ram always shows overfull when cold. My 2015 Challenger never does. Can’t tell on the 2011 BMW because it doesn’t have a dipstick. It is an electronic check after the engine has been running for about 5 minutes. On the 2006 HD, the oil always shows the same level whether hot or cold.

I try to always check the oil on my vehicles under the same circumstances to minimize the variables. Usually in the AM when cold before driving for the day.

Hope this helps.
 
I understand that a cold check can be different than a hot check because more oil flows back to the crankcase before a cold check. I don't think I'm dealing with surface tension causing oil to climb the dipstick.
 
My daughter's 2001 Civic seems to have the same issue. I hadn't thought of the capillary effect; certainly possible.

What did occur to me on cold checks was the oil filter had time to drain back. When hot it doesn't have the time since it would only be sitting a few minutes and the rest of the hot oil in the engine would drain back into the sump pretty quickly. That seemed the most logical to me.

I realize they aren't supposed to do that, but with a horizontal filter, it does happen no matter the brand. When changing the filter, it sometimes has oil in it, but commonly doesn't which tells me it's draining back in. It isn't a half quart, though.
 
Some dipsticks have markings for checking the oil when cold and checking the oil when hot. Use that and check my oil when I'm filling up gas because it's a level surface that gives me a consistent reading. Don't know about the accuracy when hot, but it's consistent.

Next time I think of it, I'll check the level of my oil cold using the cold markings, and then check the level at the gas station using the hot markings, to see if they're in sync with each other.
 
The poorly designed dipstick is the one and only real complaint that I have about our Subaru. To start with it's almost black colored rather than silver, and the oil darkens very quickly. It makes it very hard to read. It's also hard to get a consistent reading; I've learned to pull it out, wipe it, put it back in, tap it a few times, let it sit about 10 seconds, and then check it again. Otherwise the level on the dipstick will show full on one side and a quart low on the other side.

Every other vehicle we have is consistent and accurate.
 
Does half a quart really matter? Even if it was over or under filled by a half a quart it wouldn't hurt anything. I had a truck that the owner's manual stated if the oil level is between the full and low marks do not add oil.
 
The dipsticks in the cars I have seem to be accurate if the oil is hot or cold and the level does not change much at all between the temp extremes. Only time it changes is when the vehicles are parked on non level surface.
 
My Toyota 1.8L dipstick is good for ONE pull and only when cold.
My Toyota 2.5L can be pulled anytime and reads a perfect straight indicator line on one side (lower of the two) so it is much less finniky.
 
Originally Posted By: ledslinger
Have two 2.3 4 Cyl Accords (1999 and 200) in the family. An annoying trait is that the dipstick reading on these engines isn't reliable.

That's interesting because my 02 w/the same engine has a dipstick that's always bang on -- hot or cold. Same with my Pilot.

The VQ35, though, is a super PITA. The only time I ever get an accurate reading is with the first cold dipstick pull after the car's been sitting overnight. Any other time, fuggedaboutit.
 
Honda Odyssey... fantastic dipstick, has a textured end that holds oil and is completely repeatable...

Subaru Impreza... not so good. If i remove dipstick, AND remove o-ring on dipstick, then wait 5 minutes, then check, it seem to give a better reading. The suction or vacuum or something seems to mess up the oil level line ... no idea why, but it works WAY better if you take the o-ring off.
 
Originally Posted By: michaelluscher
My VG33E Nissan engines are such a PITA

They put a fishing weight at the end of braided steel

Cold, first wipe is the only accurate way

The one in my 2010 Mazda3 was like that. It looked like a braided steel wire with a putter bullet with a slit on one side. In that slit was 2 marks. It was a PITA to read. Because of the dark colour of the "bullet", it was especially hard to distinguish where the oil was when said oil was clear (valvoline, sopus).
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top