So I was thinking about my wife's Nissan armada about how you cannot check the transmission fluid level unless you have the dealer spec dipstick.. do you think you could possibly manually check the physical oil level with a somewhat makeshift oil dipstick through the siphon tube? I'm thinking of finding a dipstick that fits and cutting it down to size and checking oil level when I know it's at full running level. I plan on doing my own oil changes as I have no warranty or dealer within 200 miles. Thoughts??

 

The car has a digital oil level readout in the gauge cluster. In order to check it, turn on the accessory power (hold start stop button without foot on brake) and press your trip button until the oil level readout appears in the center of your gauge cluster (where the fuel range and mileage readouts are). If you consult your manual, it will tell you wether or not you need to add oil.

For reference, my 2013 XFR with the SC5.0 takes about 7.6 quarts (7.25 liters) of motor oil, but I'm not positive if the NA5.0 is the same. Changing the oil is pretty straight forward once you get past the under tray.

 

yes, i have seen the electronic oil level read out, i just sometimes have a hard time trusting them. for the piece of mind after an oil change it would be nice to have the option for a physical oil level check. im not entirely sure how sensitive the electronic read out is, will it tell you if your over filled? will it tell you your 1 quart low or half quart low?

 

The 5.0 litre engine becomes very unhappy when overfilled with oil. Use the search function on this forum for threads discussing this subject.

The best way to ensure you have added the correct amount during and oil change is to refer to the Owner's Manual and refill accordingly.

 

exactly my point, some engines burn off excess oil, others you dont get that lucky and they dont run worth a crap. i know i can resort to the owners manual to find the specified amount of oil to be used yet, it seems easier to check a physical level and take the guess and faith out of an electronic level that isnt very accurate.

 

Search the forum as this topic has been discussed many times. There may be a solution that suits your needs that someone with a 5.0 litre vehicle has found.

 

I'm definitely planning on repurposing the vacuum tube as a dipstick holder. I hate the electronic level sensor, and consider it partly responsible for my 5.0 engine failure.

 

it seems smart also engineered correctly it can probably be left in at all times.

 

I doubt if that will work.
The vacuum tube has 8 bends in it that I can see, and the last four (down the bottom) are all 90 degree bends, so it would need to be an especially strong, thin and bendy dipstick to reach all the way to the bottom of the sump. Even then, you won't get it to dip into the sump oil until it pokes out the bottom of the tube which is only about 4 or 5 mm off the bottom of the sump pan, and the true oil level will be way above that (unless the oil has been drained), and by the time you pull the super-bendy dipstick back up the vacuum tube past all those bends the potential reading will have been smeared all over the shop!
Here's a snapshot from the Workshop Manual, the vacuum tube is part #7:

 

ive read alot of people having issues with electronic oil level, whether its not resetting it correctly or checking it at the wrong time, im also surprised i havent read of anyone doing the dipstick through the siphon tube yet, maybe i just havent found it either.

 

hmm well scratch that last post of mine lol

 

i would assume the oil level will be as high inside the siphon tube as it is outside the siphon tube, also i cant imagine there would be much residual oil inside the siphon tube especially if it sat over night.

 

im a liebherr and manitowic crane mechanic, i have seen some extremely long dipstick tubes and some dipsticks that are as thin as 14 guage electrical wire and almost as flexible. i would like to find a dipstick that is maybe easily found and cheap to atleast try though.

 

It may be possible, despite the problems you would need to overcome:

1. Will it really get to the bottom?
2. How can you tell it has got all the way to the bottom? I suppose you could measure the tube length very accurately and cut the dipstick to size, so that once the top of it hits the top of the vacuum tube (a bit like an ordinary dipstick) then you know it has gone all the way down (assuming no extra bends or kinks!).
3. Can you eliminate or at least allow for the "smear factor" when pulling it back up the tube?
4. How do you calibrate it? Could take a lot of oil draining, adding, measuring, trial & error.

I'm not having a go at you, I think it's a great concept and presents a real engineering challenge, I'm just playing Devil's Advocate.

 

I'm not having a go at you, I think it's a great concept and presents a real engineering challenge, I'm just playing Devil's Advocate.[/QUOTE]


lol i hear ya, the idea im thinking in my head is to drain as much as i can, the book states 7.7 litres? if i can get close to that amount out ill have someplace to start from.. beings as how the system will already have oil ill have to account for that i suppose.. i guess in the the end ill make the computer happy plus maybe a half a quart for good measure. put dipstick in as far as i can get it and hopefully come out with a decent enough oil level i can permenently mark on the new dipstick thus use as a physical reference for future use.

the trick like you stated is to hopefully come out with a decent enough oil mark thats not too smudged.

 

i do have an idea for the smear factor the tough part will be having it fabricated, its kind of a one off of a dipstick used to check fluid levels in a powerplant generator.

 

 

You make some very good points, although I disagree about the oil level in the tube - unless the vacuum tube is under pressure the oil should rise inside it in much the same way as in a straw in a glass of water. It may be a little higher than the surrounding oil due to capillary action, but you could measure a baseline from a known good quantity of oil.

However, the other issues you mention can be overcome by the material you make the dipstick out of - nobody said it had to be inflexible metal I was thinking of making it out of transparent plastic tubing - probably the same sort of stuff they suck the oil out with at the dealerships, then pull it out. The level on the outside of the plastic tube will have got smeared all over the shop, but you should be able to wipe the outside off and see the inside level reasonably clearly. The level inside the tube will likely be higher than the surrounding oil level due to capillary action, but you could just account for this and mark the point on the tube after you've put a known good amount in and confirmed with the electronic level gauge.

 

Another way of keeping track of your oil level is through frequent oil changes. I change my oil every 3kmi, and the filter every 6kmi as I know my sonic dipstick reads about .5 a quart low from what I have to add to get it to read full. I do a cheaper oil in Walmarts Supertech full synthetic 5w20.

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forum...Number=1403744

A full syn at $18 for 5 quarts lets me afford to do this. Been running this way the last 3 years to 85kmi. with NO issues.

 

A recent post in the F-Type forum about yet another dealership oil change over-fill prompted me to revisit this thread, and to try your idea.
A few months ago I bought an oil extraction vacuum pump for use on the F-Type, but I ran into two problems with it - none of the supplied tubes fitted tight enough to create a vacuum seal so I cobbled up a sealing plug, and the oil container level graduations turned out to be miles out, so that after I had sucked out an indicated 7.25 litres and refilled with fresh oil I found out it was about 3/4 of a litre overfilled. Turns out that when the container said 7.25 litres it was really only 6.5 litres so I had left .75 litres of old oil in the sump!
Anyway, one of the supplied suction tubes is pretty much exactly what you proposed, clear bendy plastic with an external diameter about 2/3 of the inner diameter of the car's oil extraction tube, easy enough to poke into the tube but not tight enough to create a vacuum seal.
I poked it in the extraction tube and it went a whopping 3 or 4 centimetres before it would go no further!