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one of my female colleagues who happened to be in the T.A. at the time, also wondered what 'that red light' was until she sized a big 10 liter engine solid !
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Well, at least one recent thread has shown there are still people who think you never need to check. And that it certainly isn't just a 'woman' thing.
If disaster had struck it would have been a good illustration that the warning light only comes on to tell you that it's already far too late....
Edited by mike hannon on 01/01/2010 at 16:49
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The damage has probably already been done, and to be honest its hard to be sympathetic with someone who obviously can't be bothered to spend a few minutes carrying out the most basic of checks once a month.
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There is very little likelihood of damage unless the oil pump has drawn air into the lubrication system.
Oil levels on most engines are conservative - an engine has to be capable of giving full output at max ambient temperature with the vehicle inclined in the least favourable direction to the limit - at the minimum level indiciated. This is a fairly standard engine design pass off test.
Modern oils are also incredibly good at providing high levels of protection under less than ideal conditions.
An oil and filter change and a bit of operating tuition might not go amiss though.
659.
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Interesting answer, 659.
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SWMBO bought a Toyota Paseo from a Toyota garage - this car was 18months old and she picked it up Friday night after work - being a good hubby I checked car over sat afternoon and pulling dip stick it was dry - I topped it up and rang salesman at garage - we did a deal following Monday and although the car lost oil "somewhere" we never did find where - no drips no smoke at all anytime in four years we had it and it never missed a beat or rattled.
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32 years ago I was working in the centre of Manchester, when a collegue came in to work asking something like, "whats this flashing red light for"?
A short question and answer session showed that he did not know what an oil pressure light was, or what it was for, or what it was now indicating.
A full one gallon of Duckhams Q20w50 oil later and the light was out and the oil level (he had no idea how to check it) was about right.
He was still running the car (I think it was an Avenger) two years later when I moved to another job.
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I once topped up a Toyota Corolla (1966 vintage) belonging to a work colleague who had covered thousands of miles before wondering what the red light was for - it took almost a full container of oil to top it up, but never missed a beat afterwards.
Says more about Toyota than the owner....:-)
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I serviced a mates 2.8 Granada many moons ago that was sounding particularly rough, i drained exactly 2 pints of oil from the sump.
The rest of the car was just as badly neglected, after servicing the car ran perfectly for many years to my astonishment, much underrated car imo.
He was a genius with lab equipment and could repair and calibrate the most complicated electronic measuring equipment in his sleep.
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Completely different situation, but I was reading an interview with the former head of Honda Racing recently. He was discussing the ill-fated Honda NR500 GP racer, an oval-piston V4 4 stroke with 32 valves that was intended to take on the then-dominant 2 strokes in the premier class.
When they finally got the engine running right, Mick Grant had it in the top 6 in a national race, but retired when the engine seized. It turned out the Honda mechanics had reduced sump capacity by a pint as dyno tests showed it gave a extra 4bhp due to reduced oil drag ... overlooking the longevity issues :-/
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I serviced a mates 2.8 Granada ..... much underrated car imo.
Well AFAIK it is similar to the Mercedes W124 platform underneath, or was it the W123? Either way, they were nice - especially if you had a Ghia. :)
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Why the oil pressure gauges were removed from dash board??
Did they not indicate low oil?
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My Focus ST has an oil pressure gauge, useful if you know what it means though I doubt the OP's daughter's friend would have any idea.
The ST also has an oil temp gauge, both a great reminder to let the engine warm up well before reving it hard because the oil temp takes longer to rise than that coolant temp therefore the oil pressure can be off the gauge (on the high side) until it has warmed up.
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the oil pressure can be off the gauge (on the high side) until it has warmed up.
Is your oil pressure relief valve working?
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Is your oil pressure relief valve working?
No doubt it is Old Navy, the gauge reports the operating range with the objective of informing the driver of low, rather than high, oil pressure.
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Oil pressure gauges and warning lights monitor oil pressure, not oil level. You may have low oil pressure with plenty of oil, eg if pump fails or inlet gets blocked (as my colleague discovered when the oil light went on in the middle of a rush hour contraflow. One wrecked TDi engine followed very soon...)
Very few cars have low oil level warnings (some Renualts did, for example)
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A friend had an oil pump driveshaft snap on an Austin Maxi, plenty of oil in the sump but instant no pressure. Fortunately he was switched on and stopped the engine immediately and saved the expense of a replacement.
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Strickly speaking, neither the oil pressure light or the pressure gauge indicate low oil quantity.
If the oil pressure light is on, it would normally mean that the level has dropped lower than the pump inlet - hence no pressure & heavy damage to shortly follow. Low pressure would normally mean a worn engine. The exception being that a very worn engine may have little pressure when idling - hence the oil light may flicker.
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>>Strictly speaking, neither the oil pressure light or the pressure gauge indicate low oil quantity.<<
Agreed but
1. that if the level is low. the pickup pipe may come out of the oil (cornering might add to this problem) causing the light to flash as an early warning.
2 the oil will runner hotter and therefore thinner causing the (low) pressure switch to operate and turn the oil warning light on - before damage is terminal?
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I serviced a mates 2.8 Granada.....much underrated car imo.
I had a B reg 2.8 Granada auto. Great car, if a little thirsty. A motorised sofa. Cars from that era and before had an excellent ride, but maybe didn't handle as well as they do now. I still loved it though. The Mk 2 before mine had nicer looking rear lights, why do manufacturers change the things that don't need changing, like the Maserati 3200 GT rear lights?
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Cars from that era and before had an excellent ride but maybe didn'thandle as well as they do now.
185 x 14 tyres if i recall, agree handling was perfectly fine as far i was concerened, it had the abilty to plow through vergside standing water at virtually any speed without the slightest twitch on the very comfrotable power steering.
I had a 2.5 n/a Diesel (pug 505 engine) in the same shape as yours, it was painfully slow but remakable economy for it's time and oh so simple to work on.
Facelifts do sell cars, lots of people have to be first in the current model, despite it looking quite ungainly compared with the original....think Cit C5 mk 1.
I wonder of there's a thread in unsuccesful facelifts...not celebs that try to make themselves resemble a creature from nighmares though.;)
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>> I wonder of there's a thread in unsuccesful facelifts...>>
Interesting, I have thought the same though not got around to doing it, may well now you have mentioned it, perhaps later or tomorrow am.
Edited by cheddar on 02/01/2010 at 12:55
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My 320i does not have a dipstick (well I certainly can't find it and I consider myself to be ok with things mechanical) - instead it has an electronic read out on the dash that pulls up a oil gauge - problem is the engine has to have been running for about 5 minutes on the flat or you have to drive about 4 miles before it will give a reading. I think this is barmy as when I wash the car on a morning and then want to just check the oil I can't.
Any other silly oil related stories ??
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Are you sure about that? What year is it? Surely the Germans would provide a dipstick, even if it's a late model, although I may be wrong. What if the electronic display fails?
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A friend's A4 does not have a dip stick, nor does my son's SLK.
A daft idea IMO.
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Our 98 Clio has an electronic dash level reading AND a dipstick, so much for progress.
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i remember around 30 odd years ago getting a lift in a mates mk 2 cortina, he failed to stop at a T junction and hit the kerb square on, luckily it was in the middle of nowhere at about 1 am, we think the bump decapitated the oil filter hence 400 yards later and the poor engine was completely seized, it was a long walk home that night
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In 1974 I had a New Allegro 1500 which I drove to Scotland when it had under 300 miles on the clock. It was an ideal way to run it in. 10 miles south of Montrose, the oil light flickered on. I saw it, stopped and switched off the engine and looked underneath. The sump plug was 3/4 undone and oil was gushing out. I tightened it by hand and drove VERY slowly to Montrose. The light flickered on on every corner.
An AR garage there retightened it properly and put in - iirc - 6 pints of oil. Sump capacity when full was 8 pints - or something like that.
I did another 50k miles in it with no engine issues at all..
( Shows how bad AR quality was..)
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madf, from the factory the sump plug was loose?
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madf from the factory the sump plug was loose?
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A few years ago a person I worked with took delivery of a new Metro.
75 miles into its new life it came to a halt. The sump was empty and the big ends were very past their prime.
There was no oil in the sump. IIRC the sump plug was missing.
He accepted the garage rebuilding the engine and it then ran OK for many years.
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My 2003 C class Merc also has electronic oil level system, tube for dip stick is there which can be bought from main agent for the sum of £65 ! I don`t know how they make a living to be honest !!
SQ
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 03/01/2010 at 14:00
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I'm obviously not keeping up with the times. So in the future I'll be deprived of even that simple pleasure, checking the oil! Sad isn't it?
Roll on electric cars and lets just be done with it!
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. So in the future I'll be deprived of even that simple pleasure checking the oil! Sad isn't it?
It need not get to that, choose cars from makers who don't go too far with silly ideas like that, when buyers of unserviceable/unrepairable (unless you have a footballers income) cars find that they have no second hand value then sense may return.
Wont it be odd in ten years time to find that a hitherto valueless (according to some) Korean used car is worth good money being serviceable and durable, whereas high tech European cars you can't give away. Just musing it won't happen.
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If the Koreans carry on the way they are GB, they are going to be coming up with some very nice cars, like the japanese have, by learning from European car manufacture and then ironing out the faults and improving.
I'm amazed how far Skoda has come. The new Skoda Superb estate could pass for a big Mercedes these days. According to customer surveys, Skoda listen to what people want and respond accordingly. Isn't that what most car manufacturers should be doing? (Although if VW decide to bring out engines with no dipsticks, they'll filter through to Skoda eventually).
A friend of mine has an Octavia VRS, and he prefers driving it to his wifes BMW 330D Touring. Much lighter on the controls and great handling. He's never had a problem with it, apart from a few private golf club snobs turning up their nose....
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A friend of mine has an Octavia VRS and he prefers driving it to his wifes BMW 330D Touring.
I'm still a sucker for RWD but an all wheel drive Octy could easily find it's way to my drive too, only problem for me is i want proper auto, however if auomated manuals become the only auto choice i'll go back to manual.
The golf snobs in question will follow the dinosaurs soon enough.
Sooner or later Hyundai will filter their Genesis range through with RWD, i can't wait to see them here, my sons itching for one of those, he's never found anything to rival the reliability of his two Hyundai's.
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I'm still a sucker for RWD
Same here, and the thing he didn't like about his BMW (E46) was the woolly steering. I told him that the front wishbones or bushes don't last long, and he said he'd look into it. Thats the trouble, if you don't know the cars weak points you think they're all the same, they don't handle well.
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