https://youtu.be/SYmAJkPRmgQ Today I am going to show you how to measure your engine oil level on a sloped driveway. You probably have heard that don’t check the oil level on a sloped driveway, and make sure the car is parked on a level ground as a slope may give an inaccurate oil reading. But it is not convenient if you have to drive to a level ground to just to check the oil level. Also many people choose to change their car oil from the comfort of their own driveway, saving time in addition to cutting costs. So in this video I will show you how to calibrate your car’s oil level, once it is done you don’t have to repeat the measurement every time as long as you own your car and parked on the same inclined driveway.
Because different car may have different oil pan shape and different dipstick location, I will provide multiple methods to suit your situation and accuracy requirement. It’s recommended you check the oil at least once a month, or before any long trip. So a few times calibrations will save you time in the long run. Please leave comments because the more data or feedback we got, more viewers with different cars may benefit.
For many cars to check the oil, you’ll need to get under the hood and use the dipstick. All the methods presented here use the standard dipstick checking and reading process. Here I will provide it for convenient:
Wipe clean dipstick and push it all the way back into its tube. Pull it back out and check where the oil line is in relation to the holes or notches on the end. You’ll see 2 marks notched or two holes on the dipstick for maximum and minimum oil levels.
If the top of the oil streak is between the min and max marks, the level is fine.
If it’s close to or even below the minimum mark, then you definitely need to add some oil.
Some newer cars do not have a dipstick, instead they have an electronic oil monitor which shows the oil level on your dashboard. The same principle should apply, leave a comment if your car has something different.
Just a reminder, using jacks or ramps are not very safe, you can avoid using them when you change your oil, see this video on how to do that: https://youtu.be/KwJRQKDszyo
Chapters
0:00 overview
0:28 method 1: requires only 1 time calibration
1:10 appears overflow too much oil
1:53 condition that method 1 works
2:55 alternative method 1 record keeping
3:37 method 2: guaranteed high or low oil level with 2-time calibration
5:36 method 3: multiple time calibration
6:56 compare method 1, method 2 and method 3
7:56 method 4: use jack or ramp