I landed our long-term 2008 Ford Focus for the weekend.
I again enjoyed its respectable point-and-shoot power on the freeway while simultaneously feeling annoyed at its four-speed automatic transmission. It seems antiquated next to most five-speed autos. The space between gear ratios is too wide for comfort, and the delay on downshifts is, well, a delay. It occurred to me that it might be fun to take the Focus on a back road on Sunday afternoon, but the transmission talked me out of it.
This morning I opened the hood to check the oil. It's not pretty in here, but the dipstick is right there at the edge, and the tube is nice and straight, so I didn't get even a smudge of grease on my hands. The oil level registered smack in the middle of the range on the dipstick.
Erin Riches, Senior Editor @ 14,061 miles
altimadude00 says:
05:58 PM, 11/24/08
How come there is no cover to the engine cover advertising the "Ecotec" engine?
autoboy16 says:
06:55 PM, 11/24/08
Hey altimadude, Ecotec is GM's engine... Its in the Cobalt, HHR, Sky, Solstice, and G5.
Personally, I'm not a fan of the covers hiding the engine, but I do understand how they do keep the car a bit quieter and people do have the option of taking them off.
For Plain Jane and Average Joe(Joe the Plumber lol XD) that don't really look at or listen to their engine, the cover only exposes the oil cap, radiator cap, and washerfluid which is more or less that they have to "deal" with.
-Cj
84skyblue says:
07:12 PM, 11/24/08
I'm no Mr. Gooodwrench, but unless your last oil change lacked a few bottles of the good stuff, it seems your Focus may be excessively burning oil. No dipstick on a new car like that should be registering smack dab in the middle. It shuld be registering at full.
firstwagon says:
07:25 PM, 11/24/08
From add to full is only 1 bottle, halfway is certainly not a few bottles.
It has 14,061 miles on it, has it had an oil change yet?
jaguar36 says:
04:38 AM, 11/25/08
I love the lack of crappy plastic engine cover, such a waste of time, money and weight.
dougtheeng says:
05:30 AM, 11/25/08
Its nice to see the actual engine in a car for once!
joefrompa says:
07:07 AM, 11/25/08
I agree with the other sentiments....in an economy car, where cost-cutting is a state of mind, I'd prefer not to see engine covers and have those funds go into plastics I actually care about.
I actually just took off and left off the engine cover for my 2008 Subaru Legacy GT. It's a really nice cover, but the "pop-its" that keep it in are crap. 2 fell out which could make the engine cover rattle. So off it went.
Now I have a nice exposed engine to check out :)
Mmm....boxer goodness.
1487 says:
07:41 AM, 11/25/08
when you have an oil life monitor you really dont need to check the oil with the dipstick.
farvy says:
08:33 AM, 11/25/08
An oil LIFE monitor doesn't tell you how much oil you have in the engine. It just tells you it's estimated condition based on your driving characteristics.
I think you are thinking of an oil LEVEL monitor such as on BMW's. I'm not even sure they tell you the current level - just if it's normal or low.
joefrompa says:
10:06 AM, 11/25/08
90% of oil life monitors don't read the oil at all. All they do is calculate driving conditions or fuel consumption since their last reset (note: not mileage driven, but fuel consumption).
Some, supposedly, monitor some characteristics of the oil.
I know Porsche has used an oil level at startup electronic gauge in their dash since at least '99....showing if the car is down on oil at all (and that's in a 10 quart sump).
It's incredibly important to monitor oil level on a regular basis. Even for cars that "don't consume any oil"....if, god forbid, the jiffy lube you took your car too didn't tighten the oil filter enough, or forgot to use a new crush washer and you are slowly leaking out, or your valve cover gasket wears out and begins to leak out oil...
FYI, all 3 of those things have recently happened to friends or extended acquantices resulting in low oil levels.
On all of their cars (including 2 cars that had an oil life "monitor" which is completely baseless in most cars anyway), they noticed it when either lifting up the hood (valve cover gasket) or due to a puddle in the driveway.
Neither of which would be noticed by John Q. Public who maybe parks in the street or doesn't notice the oil stain when he/she pulls away.
There is a reason that even today's modern engine manuals tell you to check your oil every so often (most times it's every fill up or every other fill up).
Joe
greenpony says:
08:05 PM, 11/25/08
Just how checking oil should be.
roadburner says:
08:39 PM, 11/25/08
This is kind of like the ugly guy/girl with the "great personality". The Focus may be a very mediocre hunk of tin, but checking the oil is a real pleasure!
jerrywimer says:
08:39 AM, 11/26/08
Good post Joe. But I would disagree that the oil life monitor in most cars is completely baseless, having read up on exactly what factors the GM OLS accounts for. It doesn't directly test the oil, but it most surely is a very accurate measure of useful oil life, and can be used to determine change intervals. That doesn't make it less important to monitor oil levels though, for the reasons you've listed.