Oil level - February 2011 Mustang Monthly Late-Model Corral

TWF_John

Just wanted to recognize that our own (and, more importantly, owner of the 7up registry) stangfan had a letter of his posted in the February 2011 Mustang Monthly in the Late-Model Corral. He answered a question on oil dipstick levels posed in a November 2010 letter. He confirmed the problem that many of us are familiar with - the dipstick is just not accurate. A second letter described a solution - fill your car with five quarts and mark the dipstick where it sits. Actually, Steve suggested that here when we discussed it.

Steve, it was cool to see your name in print!

Stangfan

Thanks John. I'm glad that they printed my response, as the dipsticks in these cars are hugely misleading. I probably won't see the issue for a couple of weeks. For some reason, MM doesn't hit out newstands until much later than in the US.

Cobra2top

Congrats on the article.

Missed this discussion! I know when I get mine done at my local shop it always reads right at the top of the full area, not above it. I wonder if the shop is only putting in 4.5 qts or the full 5 qts. Are all dip sticks reading incorrectly or just a batch?

Stangfan

My shop used to use the dipstick to determine oil level when doing a change, until I showed them the manual. In my opinion, the sticks are inaccurate enough that the best thing to do is have the correct amount of oil, as stated in your manual, put in and then check the stick. Make sure that your shop knows about this issue.

DnLsredspecial

Good to know. My oil hadn't been changed in a couple years since the original owner got sick and the car sat. I learned the 5.0 has 2 drain plugs but didn't know about the dipstick.