2009 impala 3.5L and the engine was warm and had been running for a few hours. On a level surface when checked.
I can't read the dipstick. One side of it won't show an oil level and the other side is way above the mark (I know it's not high). Never seems to have a consistent level.
Is there some trick? This seems to be the most asinine design I've dealt with.
I still don't understand why all vehicles don't have automatic "fluid level checks".... In this day and age, there is no reason (IMO) why we should still have to manually check oil, trans, power steering and brake flud levels manually via a dipstick! I mean we get alerted when the fuel level is low - why can't we just be alerted when the other fluid levels are low? Let's face it, oil is pretty damn important - yet the car doesn't monitor the oil level?!?! Why???
But they do. My 2002 Impalas both have the low oil level sensors on the pan (LA1 3.4L), and I'm pretty sure all my other, newer GM's do as well.
The sensors don't report a level value, just whether it's good/bad. They have coolant level sensors as well. So these cars are indeed slowly advancing into the 21st century
Some things are not easy to measure or cannot be dynamically measured. For example, both the trans fluid and power steering fluid (for us dinosaurs with hydraulic steering) need to be checked while hot, transmission with the engine idling, p/s with the engine off.
So simply having a level sensor on these two is not enough - they need to be measured under the right conditions. The result of that is that the reported level may not be real time; instead the value would be the last measurement taken when conditions were right.
Also, in the case of the transmission, I think other measurements already in place correlate to low level. If the sensed pressure is too low, the system can alert.
I agree, following the theme of modernizing, with automated cars becoming a reality, it's not unreasonable to think that, if a car can drive itself, it ought to be able to check its own oil
Yeah, I've had GM cars that will let you know if the oil level is low - but not until you're about 3 quarts down! I don't think I've ever had one that alerted of low coolant level though. And I'm pretty sure the LFX doesn't have a low oil level sensor - you'd have to wait until you get the low oil *pressure* warnng, which again, is *way* too late, IMO. I'd rather know when I'm 1 quart low on oil!
I mean my 2012 will alert me of low fuel (before it's too late), low winshield washer fluid (before it's too late), but won't alert me when my oil level is one or two quarts down... Just doesn't make sense to me.
I realize that certain fluid levels need to be checked when certain circumstances are met - but the car can sense those circumstances better than I can (such as transmission fluid temp!). Why doesn't the car check it automatically when the trans fluid is hot and the car is in park? You always put the car in park after a long trip - it should check the level then! Same with other fluids.
I just don't understand why that stuff isn't done automatically. I do still want the option of checking it manually (I hate when they don't have a dipstick for the trans fluid, for example), but check it automatically as well!
I'm thinking that the decision was probably made by a bean counter. We all realize that those guys are so anal that it gives anal retentive a bad name.
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