Dipsticks or the lack there of

[Barry]

At the mention of dipsticks in another thread I'm going to have little rant about modern cars - something I've never owned and increasingly don't want to.

My sons BMW 1 series is burning oil as every modern car he has ever owned seems to do.

How much oil says I ?

I don't know says he because it has no dipstick only a warning light to add oil.  

What !  let me get this right we had a simple and accurate 100+ year old measuring device which cost tuppence and was a great aid when sampling and topping up the oil and it's been replaced by a crude inferior electronic system which only works when you get back in the car and start the engine. And they call that progress.  

O I get it now this is designed for the idle sods that can't be bothered lifting the bonnet (hood) now and again. They could have pleased the idle sods and left the dipstick as well just to please me.

Preserve me from idle sods and dipstick car designers.

[Luca]

And they call that progress.

It's not progress for you, it's progress for the dealership service department and the auto manufacturers.  Obscure the basics and make the advanced diagnostic equipment necessary to monitor them prohibitively expensive for small garages and owners.  It's dirty business, but the way things are going.  Cars are getting built like iPods.

I had a friend who worked on Audi's before he went into the Air Force.  Every I questioned the rationale behind some crackhead design choice from VW group, he'd say, "Dealer tech job security."

As far as modern cars burning oil, I suspect it's often a clogged PCV valve rather than worn rings or valve guides.  As much as I dislike them in their plastic trappings, these modern engines are generally built much more tightly than their predecessors.

[Barry]

As far as modern cars burning oil, I suspect it's often a clogged PCV valve rather than worn rings or valve guides.  

That's what I thought and I told him to check that first as BMW's have a known issue with the PCV. Then maybe valve seals. There have been cylinder lining problems with several modern cars though including VW and Toyota.  My lad had a VW with that problem so he had to move it on as using the dealer to fix it was so expensive it would have effectively written the car off.  They have all been relatively low mileage issues. Modern engines should be lasting 250,000 miles not 50,000

[nhmaf]

Lately, I've really been questioning the intelligence/sanity of ALL the BMW designers (and VW, Audi, Porsche)...  Maybe something in the water?

So, what happens if the light (OK, it is probably and LED) burns out on the dash, or the sensor fails - you have no idea how much oil is in the engine and may be running it to its doom?   No sane engineer designs things with such a catastrophic failure potential these days, except in Germany... and the company that Toyota contracted their engine management computer systems to...
 :-/

[Bob_W]

My oilhead RT requires a long procedure to check oil.
1. Centerstand bike
2. lay on ground on left side
3. shine flashlight through the small opening in the fairing lower
4. try to see the center dot to determine if oil is low
On the airheads
Stand up the bike and remove the dipstick.
Progress.
Not only German engineers, but also Austrian as in Rotax. F650 has an easy to see sight glass, but bike must be operated to normal temperature and then wait five minutes for the oil to settle in the oil tank.
It is water cooled and the burp tank can be seen by looking through a slot in the fairing. Yellow antifreeze is hard to see.
Using a long water bottle and carefully removing the rubber cover water can be added to the tank, but the seat, eight screws, turn signal-mirror and left fairing must be removed to access the radiator cap and my hands are not large.
Progress.
Old fart with old ways
Bob

[Lucky_Lou]

I have been in the cleaning equipment trade for many years and that well known German brand Karcher replaced one of the best engineered products with frankly a piece of junk, the old steam cleaner range was replaced by "C" series machines, These feature a "swash" plate pump with an operating speed of just short of 3000rpm they are well known to suffer water ingress and require oil changes every 500 working hours.
Problem is there is no way to check the oil level no sight glass  or level plug you have to remove the pump and motor assembly carefully strip the pump which has some (3) hefty springs in it drain the oil and refill with the required amount then re assemble......
Now in there wisdom they are fitting plastic parts on the pressure control system operating at up to 2000psi ..... stand well back
Lou

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

I like my 12 year old Honda car just fine.  Coming up on 100k miles, getting ready for a timing belt.

Thanks for the heads up.  If I ever go looking at newer cars, I will make sure it has a dipstick!

[montmil]

I like my 12 year old Honda car just fine.  Coming up on 100k miles, getting ready for a timing belt.

...As I like love the 28-year old dipstick in my reliable VW Cabriolet. [smiley=thumbup.gif]