dipstick

[nickpolo]

hi guys,

well i cleaned the car yesterday, checked the oil and found it was rather low, very low infact, see point (a) on the diagram, so i stopped by vw and bought a 1ltr bottle of oil, proceeded to top it up, put half in to start with, that brought the level up a bit, and the added the rest after checking the level again, now i've started to drive myself paranoid when checking it as i'm worried i could have overfilled it (but i dont think so, just wanna check)

when i checked the oil this morning the level was up to (b), i wiped the dipstick and replaced it, and checked again, - again there was a very definate level that stopped at point (b), what worried me was that from point (c) upwards there were streaks of oil on the dipstick, my question is are these just from the removal and replacement of the dipstick in the shaft?

i dont think it is overfilled, as it was very low to start with,a nd also the mark at point (b) is so definate, its just the streaks that worried me, but i guess if it was overfilled then the line at point (b) where the oil just stops would be higher, and none of this gap with streaks?

now i'm paranoid, just other people tell me they get streaks on their dipstick when they do this and i'll be fine

thanks guys

[Del_GTi]

If it stopped at point (b) then you're fine. Streaks are normal.

The dipstick is never totally clean above the max mark. As oil is sloshed about while driving and pumped round the engine.

[cyhliu]

Man, mine's so streaked I cannot even make out which is the definate level mark! Ha ha ha, at least yours is a little more distinct!

[nickpolo]

thank you guys, peace is restored inside my head - cyhliu whereabouts in london are you?

[cyhliu]

Down saaff, saaff of the river, around the Docklands area...and you?

If you wanna chat some more then my MSN is somewhere on here or you can pm me, dont want this post ending up to be a long personal chat for the world and his dog to see!

[andyg]

Yeh the dipstick on the polo is crap, v hard to tell the level and the engine holds a pretty small amount of oil too so its easy to overfill.

From min and max is 500ml i think.

[liviococcia]

Hello Members, if you look at the 'Handbook', the oil levels are shown as area's 'A'(max), 'B'(middle) and 'C'(min).


(min point}--->['C'][////'B'////]['A']<---{max point)


Is it best to always have the oil level at the very top of the 'A' (max) area, i'm thinking this may maintain a good strong oil pressure (keeping the hydraulic tappets clear and fully pressurized), or is this wronge?, and that having the oil at the very maximum level could mean that, during the cars motion, over speed bumps say, oil is burnt in combustion, with more chance of showing engine 'Check' lights (emmission issues), and shortening the life of the Catalitic unit.

I also have problems when reading the oil level, because there dosn't seem to be a distinct line, should the car rest on flat ground for a day to have any chance of an accurate reading? any tips would be great!

regards