Oil dipstick difficult to read

[vfwjed]

2000 X5 4.4i 85,000 Miles



I just purchased my X5 two months back, I love my awesome 2000 X5 4.4i but I do have a minor nit. I found that the oil dipstick is difficult to read precisely and with any precision. Given the X5 is new to me; I do want to monitor my oil carefully until I reach my comfort level.
I changed the oil after purchase, so the clean oil color is clear with a tint of brown. Unfortunately the end of the oil dipstick is a brown cylinder which seems to exacerbate the problem of reading the level because there no contrast. Even in bright daylight, it is problem reading the level.


To make this job easier and more precise, I cut a tight fitting white straw into segments and then I slip** one straw segment over the barrel of the measuring area on the dipstick.


*** First, I cut a slit down one side of the straw segment with a razor knife.


I only do this when the motor is cold. This solution works perfectly and I DO remove the plastic straw after measurement.


Anyone else annoyed with this?


I considered an alternative hi-temp white epoxy or enamel based paint on the end of the dipstick.



For now the straws are working fine.
Would a new dip stick solve the problem? Maybe my dip has discolored over the years?

[FSETH]

It is a little hard to read, imo. My e36 is a million times easier. I seem to get better results if I have really good lighting. I would just suggest have a worklight handy.

[o. l. t.]

I guess I have been reading german dipsticks for 15 years now and most of them BMW, a few mercedes. I reckon I have gotten used to them because I read them as easy as anything else out there. They are always the brownish red plastic so it's just a German car thing.

[Naz24]

I think they are easy to read. I had to try and read my friends nissan dipstick, talk about a ridiculously difficult thing to do. the dipstick itself was bent in weird ways, and i couldnt figure out where the damn line was!

[motordavid]

Ground Hog Day...
http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...hard-read.html

[vfwjed]

I see the topic was previously discussed... someone painted the end yellow. I will paint mine too. Ah, the wonders of the KISS principle.

[NextGen]

I typically check my oil level every month. I got out of the habit of doing that and realized the other day that I had not checked it in 7 months! I typically put low miles on it. Only 6000 miles in that timeframe. I went to check the oil and I could not tell if it was full or empty. I decided that after 6000 miles it was probably a little low. So I decided to add a quart. Well it turns out I was wrong! It was still full. How is that possible?

The level now just about covers the whole dipstick.

Well today when I was leaving work I started the car (it had been sitting for 9 hours) and got a message on the dash to stop the engine because of oil pressure. Oh boy. I immediately turned it off. Waited a few minutes and turned it back on again. The warning light did not reappear and the engine reached normal temp. My drive home is about 40 minutes and the light never came on again and the temp stayed constant. I see from the owner's manual that too much oil WILL damage the engine. A quick Google search gave me more details. Needless to say I will not be driving it until I get that quart out.

I have learned my lesson when it comes to reading this goofy dipstick. No more guessing. Thanks to everyone for tips on how to read the stick.

[JCL]

The danger of over-filling is that the level is high enough for the crankshaft to whip up the oil into a froth, like a blender. If the oil isn't frothy, being slightly over-full won't hurt it. If it is frothy, the problem is that the air bubbles don't lubricate very well.

6000 miles without adding is certainly possible. I put a litre in our X3 two days ago (3.0si). 22,000 km since it was changed, first oil added. I put one top-up litre in during the first 24,000 km oil change interval as well. Pretty low consumption.

I don't have to worry about the dipstick legibility, they eliminated it in favour of a dashboard oil level display.

[NextGen]

Thanks for the info JCL. I drove my wife's car over to AutoZone and purchased a hand transfer pump. It only cost $11.99. It came with a long tube that is designed to go into the dipstick holder. It worked very well. I was able to hand pump a quart out in about 15 minutes. I then re-checked the oil level and it was a little under max. So maybe I was a little under to begin with and just didn't read it correctly. I should be good to go now.

[amacman]

I lay the dipstick on a clean tissue .
the oil on the dipstick absorbs into the tissue showing the level .
also gives a clue to oil colour .