Proper oil level checking

frankly, that's the way it should be. the computer can be relied on - "my grandpop used to do it this way, so i'm doing it this way too" usenet ignorants cannot.

OK. I give up. As much as I hate to admit it, I agree with Beam - this is a retarded thread.

it's retarded because some people [like you] don't want to learn. all this "I've been driving for 45 years and have yet to encounter a car with a dipstick calibrated in that way" bullshit is completely ignorant of the facts. just open the freakin' manual and learn what the freakin' manufacturer has taken the trouble to write down for you. any reading that is /not/ taken in accordance with the manufacturer spec is WRONG. if you measure with the vehicle on a slope, it's WRONG. if you measure with the engine running, it's WRONG. if you measure cold, it's WRONG. again, open the manual and LEARN how that manufacturer wants you to do it RIGHT.

I can only repeat (and rely) on personal experience built up over 50 years of owning and servicing my own vehicles. I accept what you say but I don't necessarily have to follow or agree with it. It works for me and that is my main concern. The only other point that I would add is that the vehicle had been serviced by Trident Honda in Ottershaw only a week or so previous to my check and they would have put in the correct amount of oil. Whilst the oil showed a level midway between min and max after stopping the engine and standing for the aforementioned three to four minutes (actually it was nearer fifteen), it showed smack on max the next morning. You may call it superstitious bullshit but it would have resulted in overfilling had I followed it.

it's not "overfilling"!!!! dude, please try to understand, any reading that is /not/ taken per the owners manual is not correct. there's a massive difference in oil level between the correct and incorrect way to read a detroit auto transmission level, but you wouldn't try to are that they're both right would you?

this is why the manufacturer spends the time and money providing you with a manual. if you didn't need it because all your 1950 superstitions were relevant, it wouldn't be necessary!

correction: "argue"

But HOW would it have resulted in over-filling? If the reading was between min and max, why would you add anything?

Where does it say you should add oil when observing a midway reading? You only add at min or below.

I am not arguing either way. Simply saying that I will use the method I have always used. I see what you are saying about the manual but I still come back to the fact that the oil only reaches the full mark when it has stood for a long time. The undeniable fact is that I only got that reading by leaving it. I think we will have to agree to disagree on this one because my own experience of my Honda makes me regard the manual, however expertly written and well meant, as questionable on this point. Curiously, the manual for our other car, a Peugeot 406, advises checking the oil before the car is started and warns that checking when the car has recently been used will give inaccurate readings.

Where does it say that you shouldn't? I suspect that many people, having taken a reading on the garage forecourt and finding it halfway down to the minimum, would indeed put more in to avoid it dropping too far. You may know that you should only add at the min level but the average motorist would probably regard halfway down as needing a top up.

Maybe it's a logic issue then. I see no reason to add when it's "between the lines". If I was supposed to add when it's below the "max" line, then the shaded area between the lines would be labeled "add oil" while the line below min would be labeled "holy crap that's low".

I see max and say to myself, stay away from there cause you could go over. Between the lines is the "perfect medium". Not too high, not too low.

dude, that's not "full". that's "been standing a long time". "full" is when it's at the top mark a couple of minutes after switch off. like it says in the book.

so how do you dip the transmission on a detroit vehicle? what reading do you "believe"?

that's because /that/ vehicles system is calibrated that way - the honda is not!!! that's why you need to do it the way it says in the book!!!

Then why have a Max marking when the level is supposed to go above that later on? Surely that is a nearly Max mark, which makes no sense at all.

I haven't the foggiest idea what a Detroit vehicle is. I assume you are referring to automatic transmission which is rare over here as we mainly use manual gearboxes. You check the oil in those by crawling underneath the vehicle and squirting oil into the filler hole (which is in the side of the box) until it starts to run out. Simple but your back aches afterwards.

Which leaves the question of why, when it had only a few days before been serviced by a reputable Honda agent, does it reach the Max mark only after standing for a longer time. By that reckoning it should be above the mark by then.

To be honest, I don't think, from what we have discussed, that it makes that much difference. Next time I am at the agents I will quiz them on it.

I am not trying to be bloody minded. I am, more than anything, puzzled why Honda should be different to every other car I have owned. I have also seen the problems that can be caused by over filling, something to be avoided like the plague.

Keith

it makes sense if you read the manual!!! the whole point of measuring /anything/ is that you're able to do so in a way that is not only accurate, but consistent. you don't use a rubber tape measure for this reason. you get much more consistency measuring oil level at full working temp, on level ground, a couple of minutes after shutdown - just like it says in the honda book! all other readings, as you have proven, are arbitrary and INCONSISTENT.

jeepers. logic. get some..

the point is, detroit transmissions typically require dipping with the pump working. if you dip with the engine off, the level is /way/ above the mark. you have to dip according to instructions to get it right!

eh?

have you ever considered the possibility that it's because they actually know what they're doing???

like avoiding the owners manual like the plague?