Oil change shocker

miniyazz

miniyazz

miniyazz

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Joined
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Sheffield/Norwich
Took my car for a service today (12 months since the last) and when changing the oil they noticed the sump plug was loose :o
It seems the previous garage last year failed to tighten it up properly.

I've only been driving the car since March/April time (was parents') but had to top it up with two litres in that time (put the second litre in a couple of weeks ago when the oil light came on just before getting on the dual-carriageway, luckily). And yes I know I should've checked the oil level before leaving but the dipstick is ridiculously hard to read for no apparent reason :(

Anyway, slightly disconcerting to know I could've had a catastrophic loss of oil at any time in the last 6+ months, and a definite loss of faith in the previous garage.. unless there's any way they can loosen themselves?
 
I cant see that it's worked it's way loose, unless it was the wrong size plug but thats a long shot.

Why is the dipstick "ridiculously hard to read"? What car is it?
 
In sig - Toyota Avensis. Basically it's next to impossible to see where the oil is up to on the dipstick. Half the time the only oil is past the maximum (i.e. some got transferred when pulling it out) and most of the rest of the time there's either none except well below the minimum. Only rarely is there a reliable reading showing oil where I'd expect it to be.

The guy at the garage said it's not uncommon, but he might just have been agreeing with me so he could get me to leave quicker since I'd been sitting there all morning :p
 
I'm sure you just added that to the sig lol :p

Make sure you're on level ground when you do it and give it a little while to drain properly back into the sump - if there's oil inside the tube it might rub off but shouldnt be a problem really. Just wipe it off so it's completely clean and push it in and out carefully
 
I shall do so again tomorrow since it's too dark now, but I'm not holding out much hope :p

My dad said he's always had issues with it too.

And my sig's been like that since April, honest - I swapped the 1.4l 106 for that when I changed cars ;)
 
Sounds like when you've been checking it, it's actually been well below min. Isn't the oil light more of a 'omg I'm out of oil' than a 'oil level is at min mark on dipstick'? In which case you've been running with low oil for quite some time.
 
InvaderGIR said:
Sounds like when you've been checking it, it's actually been well below min. Isn't the oil light more of a 'omg I'm out of oil' than a 'oil level is at min mark on dipstick'? In which case you've been running with low oil for quite some time.
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Oil light is a loss of pressure on the threshold of being too low to protect the engine I believe. So could be due to running low for a while, or could be due to a sudden leakage out of the sump.

I'd agree with you that the dipstick might genuinely have been showing no oil if it weren't that my dad's always had issues with it.

Fortunately it went on as I was approaching the roundabout and I was able to turn off and find a suitable stopping point to fill up within 20s so no harm done I hope :)
 
Oil pressure due to low oil doesnt really work on a "threshold". One second it's picking up oil from the sump, the next it's not so pressure goes from fine to zero
 
Ah, cunning. In which case I'd guess it takes oil up from the rear of the sump as it happened under braking - and fortunately reduces the engine's moment of pain from 20s to about 5.
 
What I'm saying is actually that it could have been low all the time for your dad and neither of you fully know how to read a dipstick. :p

I'm just being horrible. :D
 
Yep, braking or cornering generally, but that point is well below minimum on the dipstick anyway.

5s may not be a lot, but how would you like to live without blood for 5s?:p
 
InvaderGIR said:
What I'm saying is actually that it could have been low all the time for your dad and neither of you fully know how to read a dipstick. :p

I'm just being horrible. :D
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He had it from new so while I appreciate the sentiment, it seems unlikely ;)

iaind said:
Yep, braking or cornering generally, but that point is well below minimum on the dipstick anyway.

5s may not be a lot, but how would you like to live without blood for 5s?:p
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Och, it'd be fine. Most of me can handle 4 hours without a blood supply and I'll just have a bit of pain and tingling when it comes back :D
It's quite fascinating actually, in Theatre they use high-pressured cylindrical cushions that can be 'rolled' up legs and the like to force the blood out, and then an inflatable cuff to keep it out, while they're doing surgery on limbs. There's next-to-no blood at all as they're going in, it's a bit surreal.
 
Sounds like a similar problem that a woman (urban legend(?) from my mech days)) had. Came in wanting to buy a new dipstick as the one that came with the car wasn't long enough to reach the oil :)
 
Yep usually when I check the oil it's not been driven (I know you don't get an accurate reading just after driving).

The drive at home is gravel so it wouldn't be as obvious as normal but we've not noticed anything. At Uni I park it in different places so it's not surprising I haven't noticed anything.
 
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