Well every car I've ever owned has always used a consistent amount of oil such that it's either been topped up at a fixed mileage or changed at a service. & every vehicle I've encountered recently has a low oil pressure light. In fact 7 out of the last 8 vehicles I've owned used less oil between services than the max to min mark on the dipstick.
Oh, so if that's true for every car you've had, it's true for every car, is it? Riiight. Based on my experiences, and by that logic, you should be checking your car weekly - I had two (3 year old ZX and Tipo) that used no oil between services, and two (1yo Metro and 4yo 416) that required filling. My others do need checking weekly, because the Triumph weeps oil from the manifold slightly, and the BX likes to mix it with the diesel. Mind you, it's done nearly 200k, and has probably recieved no checking of oil than it should've previously had.
Thing is, you don't actually /know/ unless you look at the dipstick more than once. Anything else, and you're leaving it to the service personnel, which depends on how much you trust them. If it's not your car, go ahead and treat it like a disposable item (with all the non-eco- friendliness that entails) - but personally, as I'm spending my own money, I'd like to know either way. Since checking the oil, tyres, lights and whatnot takes naff all time, why not? You learn about your car, and you can potentially save yourself an expensive blow-up, or in the case of safety critical stuff, possibly killing someone or yourself.
Maintenance is simple - and even though modern cars are apparently more complicated, they do make it easy for you to check stuff like this. All the 'user servicable' bits are poking thru the plastic covers in the engine bay, and tend to have brightly coloured plastic caps so you know what to do. Rocket science it ain't - you just have to be bothered.
Cheers,
No hence the point that it's only relevant to cars that don't use oil
Wich I can't be bothered to check the oil weekly on things that don't need it. I have to check the oil on the rear diff of the Triumph 2500 every
500miles but that would be an insane check to bother making on the Audi, wheras it gets it's engine oil topped up every time it's filled with petrol. The LDV didn't use any oil at all in 60000miles so, oddly enough I didn't bother checking it once a week,
A low oil pressure light is _not_ a substitute for checking the oil level. C'mon - by the time you've registered low oil pressure due to loss you'd be well off the bottom of the dipstick, not just at the min mark.
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