2009 Audi S5: Where Have All The Dipsticks Gone?

Are there any non-German cars that do this?

Dipsticks! You guys are so spoiled! In my day we didn't have any dipsticks. We just stuck in the tail feather off a Dodo bird to see how much oil we had. Back then, the oil was still kinda chunky, with visible t-rex bits..

To everyone wat is ur problem? Do u babies want a dipstick to see how much fuel is left in the gas tank too? Or don't u trust ur feul guage either?

A moment of silence please, for the death of the English language, assassinated by gtrb3nz.

gtrb3nz,

I've driven a few old cards with broken fuel gauges, and motorcycles with no fuel gauges at all without issue. Fuel depletes at a (mostly) predictable rate, and, if you run out of gas you just get a jerry can full and fill 'er up.

Oil is a different matter though. since it doesn't deplete as predictably as fuel does, you need to be able to check it at least periodically, which would be impractical if not almost impossible with a broken oil meter. Plus, if you run out of oil you'll need more than a refill.

Plus, it's hard to overfill a fuel tank, and the worst case consequence of doing so is smelly clothes or dirty paint. Overfilling oil is very easy to do, and carries much harsher consequences.

Dipstick please!

LOL, Fuhteng!

I'll take a dipstick or both....rather not have just a sensor. My wife's 3 Series doesn't have a dipstick, kind of weird. But it's a lease so if it blows up due to lack of oil and warning, it's on them and their sensor.....where's her loaner?

Then again.....my Titan doesn't have a dipstick for the trans...guess I'm up a creek after 60K if it fails due to fluid level?

heartless, you took the words right out of my mouth.

As someone who as a 19 year old, whose engine tossed a con-rod out the side (1977 Granada with the straight 6) when it ran out of oil, I can attest to the dangers of not enough oil.

In my case, I had a dip stick and an idiot light. Unfortunately the idiot light was broken and the idiot behind the wheel, driving his first auto equiped car, was checking the transmission fluid level instead of the oil level.

@gtrb3nz

You don't need to check the color of the gasoline periodically. The color of the oil can tell you a lot about how your engine is preforming,I'm pretty sure there no electronic meters out there that can tell you if the oil is burnt.

Scott, do you enjoy poking sleeping bears with sticks in your sleep? Man, you're just antagonistic this week.

I see one here:

http://blogs.edmunds.com/roadtests/2009/07/2009-audi-s5-theres-a-monster-in-there.html

As long as there's a physical dipstick, virtual ones are okay.

Scott, you shouldn't knock the IDLS!! They're a fierce bunch!

Considering the cost to add a real dipstick can't be more then 5 or 10 bucks, I can't see why they would remove it.

Go ahead and add an electronic one for the people who can't master a complex mechanical measuring guage like a dipstick but please leave the real one for those of us who aren't totally clueless.

I appreciate that the screen lets you know that you are, in fact looking at the oil level of the "car". If I have a bike, will it tell me its oil status too?

I hope all of u realize that there's something called technology and it actually improves overtime so I'm guessing that in a couple years there will be failproof tech for engine oil level. Really,do you feel like a man or really superior knowing you checked the engine oil instead of a computer? Manufacturers try to make things easier for us and you criticize it.

What's the reading for the A/C in red, mean?

Heh, I remember checking the oil on my old 1990 Plymouth Sundance RS with the 2.5 non-turbo engine. All I got was a bit of brown sludge at the bottom. I had the oil changed the next day, but the car had run great.

It continued running great until it died when someone turned left into my sister's path when she was driving it.

One question, I'm sure technology has come a long way, but how can a car's oil level be accurately checked with the engine running?

As a civil engineer, I detest unnecessary active engineering. When you design something that works passively and works well, you barely need to worry about maintenance, repair, catastrophic failure, or anything bad like that. The dipstick is passive. Sensors are active. I don't think I've seen a single type of sensor that hasn't failed at some point and thus been a total pain in the butt to deal with later on...fuel gauge senders, coolant level sensors, sensors that tell you if your bulb has burned out, schizophrenic brake pad wear sensors. Enough sensors! Sensors only discourage proper maintenance.

@Clarkma5

No I'm def sure sensors are a good thing. Ur saying that if ur flying in an airplane and a main part fails, that u don't want the pilots to know that something is wrong. Because that's how I'm reading ur comment.

An electronic sensor in addition to a dipstick makes for a wonderful luxury and probably better maintenance. If I had that, I'd check my oil every morning, and would occasionally confirm its findings against the dipstick.

An electronic sensor along is just an electrical problem leading to a mechanical problem waiting to happen.

gtrb3nz, could you please write in proper English? No one here is going to become the grammar and spelling police jumping on any little error, but it would certainly add credibility to your argument if you represented yourself as an intelligent person and we could actually read what you're trying to say without having to reread it and guess at an interpretation.

Hazarding a guess at your last post, it seems as though you are trying to make an argument that sensors allow pilots to fly planes. Now applying my point here, there is nothing wrong with a sensor giving you instant feedback, so long as it is backed up by simple, relatively fail-proof indicators that can be checked to confirm the sensors' findings. My father is a private pilot, and I would routinely fly with him. We did preflight checks together, and I can tell you for all the gauges and sensors the aircraft had, our physical inspections were very thorough. We visually checked the fuel level in the tanks themselves and checked the fuel color. We visually watched the control surfaces as the yoke was moved to make sure everything moved "free and correct". Gauges and sensors are aids, but not replacements for real maintenance and inspection.

above post should read: "An electronic sensor alone" to start the second section.

Amen clarkma5. I'm a chemical engineer and I worked in the oilfield. Nothing in that industry is only reliant on electronic/computer control. EVERYTHING has a manual override.

stovt01 you're right. With the tire pressure gauge in my G8, I quite literally check the pressure daily. It is so nice! The M3 is just like that, but without the backup of the little nipples on the tires. That would be just daft. Just like with the lack of a dipstick.

gtrb3nz, please name me one electrical device that never fails. Sensor, TV, radio, computer, you name it. Find me one.

@ Everyone

I'm typing on my iPod and the battery is low so please forgive me for spelling and grammar

And stovt001 those are good points I do agree that if both a sensor and a real dipstick are present it is even better, but I don't like the fact that mostly everyone writes off electronics as if they are the devil.

@mopar,

"I appreciate that the screen lets you know that you are, in fact looking at the oil level of the "car". If I have a bike, will it tell me its oil status too?"

It says 'Car' because that function is in that section of MMI. Your bike would be under 'Bike'.

That's good to know. I'd hate to forget whether I was driving my car or my bike.

"Really,do you feel like a man or really superior knowing you checked the engine oil instead of a computer? "

No but I would feel like a fool if I trusted an inaccurate sensor and had an engine fail when I could have easily used a far simpler, far cheaper, more reliable and more accurate measuring guage like a dipstick.

@gtrb3nz:

No one here is arguing broadly against technology, as you seem to say. There is a legitimate apprehension that something as simple and reliable as physically checking one's own oil is being *replaced* by an electronic solution that could possibly fail. Nobody here has any problem with a sensor in addition to a dipstick. That'd actually be pretty convenient.

But, the gauge or the sensor might. This would be problematic. I doubt a plastic dipstick will ever malfunction. There's also a zero percent possibility that catastrophic engine failure could result even if it did.

Not to mention i'd imagine it could get pretty annoying having to constantly run back and forth from the engine to the dash if you ever tried changing/adding your own oil.

@bimmerjay:

Does MMI have a subcategory for my alpaca?

Im not completely against having an electronic meter, but what exactly was wrong with a regular do-it-yourself dipstick. I think for once a little simplification of the automotive world wouldn't be a bad thing. At least have a dipstick in the engine bay to be sure the electronic read out is working right.

Because Audi chose one versus the other doesn't mean that one is the wrong way of doing it. I don't really care. Either way, I can handle it. Although the electronic one is kinda cool and makes the maintenance of the vehicle simpler I imagine. Even with my Audi and its "old fashioned" dipstick, there is an electronic warning on the dash that chimes when the oil gets low.

As a DIY'er, I hate this. Canadia is so right about ducking back in the cabin (with oily hands) to see if you've added enough when doing a change.

But at least there is a way to check the level. The Pontiac G8 GT's automatic transmission fluid level is a complete and utter mystery.

There's been a lot of discussion of this topic within the pages of the BMWCCA magazine Roundel...

From what I can gather, this isn't (surprisingly, given the direction that most german manufacturers have been going) a matter of technology for technology's sake -- evidently there's an emissions angle here as well (though you must be getting deep into diminishing returns if the lack of a dipstick makes a noticeable difference).

Personally, I like being able to see my oil level at a glance like this, both for convenience's sake and for the "wow" factor.

But the lack of a dipstick has two problems: first, as discussed ad nauseam, sensor failure (had this happen in my E46 BMW, but that sensor was just a low level warning, backed up by a dipstick)

Second, how do you accurately add oil when needed? Evidently overfilling is common. My A4 is only a few weeks old and I haven't had to add oil yet, but the sensor system is not real time. According to the owner's manual you need to add oil a small bit at a time, then run the car for a while, then turn it off, wait some period of time, then restart and recheck. Not exactly the same as sitting there with a funnel, a bottle of oil and a rag to wipe the dipstick and check level in real-time.

"But the lack of a dipstick has two problems: first, as discussed ad nauseam, sensor failure (had this happen in my E46 BMW, but that sensor was just a low level warning, backed up by a dipstick)"

The E46 had a simpler single-point oil sensor, IIRC. The E9x's system is completely different - it has multiple sensors in the system that continuously monitor and maintain calibration. There is redundancy in case any point fails.

This 'active' oil sensing system will give you real-time feedback if you start to lose oil or experience a low oil condition while you drive BEFORE it becomes critical. A metal rod sticking in the engine cannot do that.

"Second, how do you accurately add oil when needed? Evidently overfilling is common."

At least with BMW's system, overfilling is only 'common' for people who don't follow the instructions. The manual specifically states DO NOT ADD OIL unless the system tells you to. When and only when you drop low enough to need a quart, the system will instruct you to add 1 quart. Done. I've done this and it couldn't be any simpler. You only over-fill if you try to second-guess the system and fail to follow the instructions. If the oil level has dropped even lower, you will be instructed to add 2 quarts.

I only agree that a dipstick provides a good backup. It sucks as a primary means. For at least 96% of the time and for 99.9% of drivers, the active oil sensing system is far better than a dipstick.