Oil Levels

[crb1011]

I wish Audi had employed the oil level indicator system used by Peugeot. My lads 206 uses a light system on the dash which indicates the oil level. He is currently showing 3 lights out of a max of 5 when first turning on the ignition. He will need to add oil soon. This system is much better than the Audi one. You only get a low level oil light when its low not getting low.

 

[hollyrescue]

In one of my (now ancient posts), I got an oil warning light on the M6 motorway, I called in at Blackburn Audi who were very helpful. They couldnt read the dipstick, so took it into the workshop, after an hour they said it needed a litre of oil, for which there was no charge and wished me a pleasant journey. So top marks to them.
On arrival home I took it to my dealer and asked if they could explain such a massive rise in oil consumption, unfortunately England were playing footie on the telly, so I was as welcome as a boil on the posterior. Reluctantly it was taken into the workshop where they drained an excess of 1 litre of oil, and advised that the oil warning light was easier to read than the dipstick!! No problems since.
So yes the dipstick is useless unless your oil is so dirty it needs changing anyway, even then it's difficult to read.

 

[Xiter]

Strangely enough I was trying to read the oil level yesterday and the dipstick is really a pain to read. The oil level on the front side of the dipstick shows about 3/4 of it's scale but when rotating the dipstick 180 degrees shows less than 1/2.

 

[Will]

Has the dipstick design changed over the years? I found my MY 2004 dipstick ok to read. Am wonderig if mine is different in anyway to older cars.

 

[Xiter]

I have the 2005 model and the dipstick is from what I can tell made of black
plastic with an orange "ball" about half way down the stick. I would rather have a stick made out of metal because the plastic isn't really giving me confidence. I think it will eventually break and the parts will fall into the sump.
Hmm, the Smart has no sump plug? That is in my opinion a really bad design. I want to get rid of as much oil and sludge as possible when servicing and there is no way to get it out throughly without a plug or correct me if I am wrong.

 

[crb1011]

I looked at mine again today get different readings everytime grrrr put in .25litre as I have done nearly 2500miles since service. I felt .25litre would be ok. It did read max at one stage after putting in .25litre. At least putting that ammount wont be over filling it and should be ok. Someone at work drives a passat and when their oil lght came on put in 5 litres had to have it drained out by the garage.

 

[Xiter]

You pump the oil out with a suction pump. As far as I am aware, the openings for this are as large as a sump plug opening although you can't flush the engine. Apparently, it's to do with environmental reasons (i.e. not having a leaking sump plug) but some owners have 'drilled' (!) a sump plug opening to them.

Yeah I know about the suction pump but the question is if it is as good as a drain plug?

I've recently seen in an ad in a swedish car magazine about a company that offers engine cleaning. They connect a machine to the engine that pumps a cleaning solution through the engine and back to the machine. Sounds like a pretty good idea if you really want to clean out old residue.