This might sound terribly basic, but every other car I’ve owned has a longer, flat dipstick face. I can’t say that I can tell what the level is other than there’s oil in there? I could interpret this as anything between “needs a top up” and “totally full” from one dip to the next. I’m probably being a bit obtuse, but what’s the best way to do this and interpret it?!
Looks pretty straight forward to me, 2 marks on the flat area of the dipstick, if you have followed the correct dipstick procedure it looks over filled to me.
It looks like you have a Mk3 there.
I blot the stick totally dry with kitchen towel, no hints of oil dampness anywhere in the crevices. I also wait a minute or two to allow any oil in the tube to finish running back down so the stick doesn’t collect any en route. Then it is straight In (no twisting) and immediately Out. That works most of the time.
Or you could buy the revised stick as mentioned in other threads, but I see no need.
However, if it has been recently serviced it is likely to be overfilled. Most of the time this is not a problem.
Hi Rubberduck.
Maybe I’m presuming too much. I’ll double check exactly what it says in the user manual that came with the car. The issue seems to be that the dipstick acts a bit like a vessel, and if you move much it just runs around. This is from cold on a flat driveway. Looks straightforward to me too, I was just a bit surprised to get slight changes in result even though I seemed to be doing things the same each time. I think maybe tipping it to the side to read it is a mistake and I should keep it vertical.
It was serviced just before I bought it about 9 months ago. I check the oil from time to time and have always just thought, yep, not dry, looks like there’s plenty in there!
However, I’ve been getting the engine management light and a diagnostic code for “knock sensor” recently. I enquired with a few places and a guy said he see this sometimes on MX-5’s that are oil starved. Doesn’t look oil starved to me, but I suspect the fact that I checked several times in a row means I may be suffering from the issue you’re trying to avoid by waiting a few minutes to ensure oil isn’t running down the service tube between checks.
Ah well, thanks everyone for being patient with what looks like a total dork of a question - I was just really questioning myself as my other cars have a 3cm or so wide and flat strip that is a bit more obvious to my engineering newbie status.
How’s this look then?
I’ve been dipping car oil dipsticks for 50 plus years. I don’t mind being called a dummy, nor being referred to Specsavers. BUT, the mark 3 dipstick is very hard to read. Even when the oil is getting discoloured.
So I’ve just ordered another from MX5 parts.
I’ve been told numerous times that the ‘Ford’ engine mustn’t run low on oil, so wish me luck,
The MK3.5/3.75 dipstick from MX5parts is flat & much, much easier to read, do as davidds has done order one.
Take the guess work out of checking the oil level especially so when your engine oil is clean.
Thanks for that. Nice to know it’s not just me being stupid.