My check oil light is on, but my engine oil stick doesn’t reach the oil. I want to check how much oil I have though, so it’s not very helpful.
Google says just add more oil, but I don’t know how much oil I already have. Can someone tell me what to do here?
Edit: If you can, try to figure out how much oil your car/truck can hold before proceeding. You don’t want to be adding 8 quarts or something. If you add 2 quarts and don’t see anything on the dipstick, I’d be very skeptical unless you have like 8 quarts or more for your engine.
It’s hard to imagine this isn’t a joke, but assuming you have a factory engine with a factory dipstick (I can’t imagine any other scenario) and in case it isn’t a joke, add a quart, wait about 2 minutes for it to settle, then check again. Repeat until you see some amount of oil on the dipstick, then add something like 1/4 quart at a time until you’re near the top (closest to the handle) of the hatched area on your dipstick. It’s better to be a little below the line than way above it, so try not to exceed the top of the hatched area.
Dipstick picture for reference: https://teon-files.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/slide/image/582ed8c3b95ce800040001ef/watermarked_large_17.04.jpg20161118-4-qdvoj8.jpg
Yep, add a quart, check, and repeat until it is on the stick. Then check more regularly because you’re either leaking or burning oil. Fix the problem if you can, but don’t let it run dry if you don’t want to destroy your engine. Don’t wait for the engine oil light to tell you, by then it is dangerously low.
The other place to get a factory dipstck is at a junk yard. Find a vehicle that matches yours exactly and grab the dipstick. It will be super cheap.
Good call on the junkyard.
If you don’t have the factory dipstick, then you need to go buy the factory one, which is probably only available from your dealer. Dipsticks are not interchangeable, so you can’t just buy a longer one to solve this problem.