- My model of MX-5 is: __2014 NC 2.0 Sport
- I’m based near: __Cardiff
- I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __Kit to provide in car oil level. Being disabled dipping the oil manually is difficult, it would be very useful to have a warning light to tell me I need to check the oil. Does any one know if such a kit is available?
I very much doubt whether an aftermarket kit even exists?
You obviously know that the car has a “Low Engine Oil” warning light, but that’s a dangerous practice to rely on of course.
As it must be a very accurate and perhaps expensive bit of electrical gizmos.
If reassurance is needed I have had my 2013 one since 2016 and has NEVER used a drop.
My Volvo V60 has the engine oil level electrical system and oh I so miss having a dip stick!
I believe some manufacturers are going back to fitting dip sticks as we have a surplus of dip sticks in the world, (last bit is just a joke). 
Got a mate, friend neighbour who wouldn’t mind checking it for you once a week.
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Welcome BigG1 from Part-Disabled 2005 NB 1.8 Icon Owner in Staffs [Owned Her Since 2007] 
Good Feedback From Scarletpimpernel 
Owned Various Vehicles of Various Ages Since Passing My Test in 1979 [Bullit Being the Oldest]
And Have Tended to Service Them in Part or In Full Depending On Mileage/Usage Rather Than Recommended [e.g. Every 6 Months etc]
I’ve Never Had an Oil Warning Light Come On and Rarely Had to Do a Top Up on Any Vehicle as the Services Should Cover This
[I Did Have an Engine Warning Light Come on Once on a Mark II 1.3 Escort…But to Be Fair …I Was Regularly Hammering Her Up and Down the M6…I Was Young Grasshopper 
]
What I Have Found Since Becoming Part Disabled Is I Feel More Vulnerable and Therefore Mrs 
Especially About the MX-5
Hope This Helps 
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I’ve been unable to find a kit to do this but there are ways to accomplish something similar if you’re willing to think outside of the box.
I have a tap fitted to the sump plug that allows me to change the oil without undoing anything. I simply attach a tube and turn on the tap. This tap combined with a length of clear tube could enable you to be able to check your own oil level should you wish to do so. By routing the tube to somewhere easily visible by you, the oil could be checked with a glance. The only tricky part would be the route of the tube must not go above the bottom of the sump until the point where you would want to look at it. Perhaps the tube could run back from the sump and then come up through the floor of the car just on the side of the console. Markings on the tube once fitted would show upper and lower limits. The top of the tube could then disappear behind the dash to enable enough height to prevent oil from escape should you indulge in some enthusiastic cornering, or you could cap the tube but then you would have to uncap it to measure the level.
Hmm, or maybe not. 
The crankcase can be under a varying partial vacuum for a lot of the time, unless there is an unfortunate problem with blow-by from worn bits (rings, guides, etc) in which event it is pressurised!
In either case the reading in the “Manometer” will be erratic, and in the case of pressure potentially catastrophic.
Good lord 
I admire your thinking outside of the box, but extremely complicated and probably wouldn’t work.
All the best.
You’re right it would need capping. I forgot that modern engines are vacuumed. The top end would have to go back to the rocker cover. Hardest part of this would be finding a fuel tolerant clear hose that can take pressure
Any level sensor would be erratic though which is why we check oil levels with the engine off
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I doesn’t have a ‘Low Engine Oil’ light - it has a ‘Low Oil Pressure’ light. If it comes on while the engine is running, the life of the engine will probably be measured in seconds before it grenades.
I am not aware of any kit which can be retrofitted to replace the dipstick - others may know different,
Yes, I know a low oil pressure warning light will indicate a “low oil level” which was my point.
It’s not for me but the chap who posted. 
No, sorry - your first reply said that the engine had a ‘Low Engine Oil’ light. The ‘Low Oil Pressure’ light cannot be interpreted as a ‘Low Oil Level’ light. It does not mean low oil level, it means zero oil pressure. If the light comes on, it’s about to go BANG! It may well have enough oil, but no pressure. If it was a low level warning, there may some leeway about topping-up; that is not the case.
I know what I mean.
If THE warning light should come on it indicates low oil pressure which in turn 99 times out of 100 is related to low oil level.
Which is when normal people would stop the engine and thus check the oil level.
They don’t always go bang either unless you continue to run the engine.
My deepest apologies for using the wrong word.
PS let’s keep on topic and move on.
Not for the Mazda. Chrysler in the early 80s used electronic dipsticks in the dipstick tube, and after market dipsticks with a neast LCD display can be had for Harley Davidsons.
There are aftermarket sensors, but not for the dipstick tube.
Peugeot use an oil level sensing system. I have no idea how it works though.
As does Jaguar-Land Rover, BMW, Mercedes etc etc
They’re based on solid state capacitative technologies, which go wrong necessitating dropping the sump
well… I have an idea how you could do it and it should work but its expensive, extremely impractical and not really intended how you use your car but… hey its an option.
All you will need is an aftermarket dry sump kit . This effectively means that you fit a much smaller sump that will contain a feeder pump that will move the oil and fill an external oil tank. Then the oil from the tank will go into a pressure pump that will continuously feed the engine with oil. All you need to worry about the oil is you will have to fill the tank and it usually has a glass indicator to see how much oil is it. If you really need to see how much oil is in the reservoir you could get a fabricator to add a manometer type tube on it so you can visually see the amount of oil at any point. The benefit of that is now you can take the car for some serious track driving not having to worry about oil starvation.
Now seriously talking, lets assume you give 5 quid for someone to check the oil in the car once a month for 10 years. For the sake of argument lets assume there is no inflation and deprecation of the 5 quid and that we are still alive in 10 years, so that’s £5 x 12 x 10 = £600
Honestly most (if not all) garages will do it for free especially if you use them to service the car. To be honest If I was in your shoes and had asked a garage to check the oil once a month and they suggested to pay them, I wouldn’t use that greedy money grabbing garage again anyway.
So… I hope this helps
They worked well on Chieftain and Challenger Tanks!
To the OP unless you’ve guessed by now, get a friendly garage to dip the oil.
My first job involved dipping customers oil, topping coolant up, checking tyres then fill her up please (the car) with fuel.
Yes I was a pump attendant as a teenager. Not many around now as its mostly get on with it yourself and don’t hog the forecourt.
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In the late 1960s and early 1970s our local Shell pump attendant was a very, very dishy blonde girl with an extremely low summer cleavage and tight shorts. Only one snag, she knew everything about every car, and let you know just how much she knew.
A friend’s brother had a Coombes modified 3.8 Jag Mk2 with overdrive and they’d added a custom-built extra fuel tank in the useless space above the back axle, taken out the rusty boot floor and tank to somehow finagle in a second spare wheel, fitted S-type tanks in the wings for two fuel pumps, and moved the old filler up to a central Le Mans style filler. Capacity now gone up from 12 galls to 14+42 gals.
First time we took it to the pump-girl my friend said “Fill it please.”
At first she could not find the filler, but soon twigged it.
As it reached 12 gallons she eased off the pump, but it kept on taking more.
At 30 she looked under the car to see where it was leaking out to.
At 45 she stopped and looked at us, most unusually lost for words. My friend said “Full please.”
In the end it took 54 gallons on top of the two gallons we primed it with.
The expression on her face was well worth the extra half a penny per gallon.
This was just before the oil crisis, but fuel cost on the Continent was already much higher than in UK, and it was enough to get to Italy and back via cheap top-ups in Luxembourg.
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I wonder how much electrical grubbins would be needed to adapt one of the VW group oil level sensors ?
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