France in Focus

A few days ago, someone asked me if I could check whether the oil needed topping up – a Ford Focus owner with one of those 1-litre EcoBoost engines, which do tend to need a bit of extra attention in practice. He couldn’t quite make it out. Neither could I at first: a dipstick made of shiny black metal. It was only after trying a few times that, with the light falling just right, I realised roughly where the oil level was. I topped it up with the special oil specified by Ford to prevent problems because the engineering design fails as many once lucky owners already discovered, timing belt failures. So you find yourself wondering why they chose such a hard-to-read colour for that dipstick, especially on a type of engine where the oil level and oil specifications are so crucial

I was a bit surprised, actually, as the cars I’ve driven so far have always had a bare-metal dipstick. To put it to the test, my 2010 Mitsubishi Outlander – with a traditional 2.0-litre/147pk petrol engine. Picture perfect, and the dipstick is easy to read too.

I was even more surprised after reading this article.

So they are replacing a simple, cheap, fail safe steel dipstick with a system of sensors that costs more and is more likely to develop a fault over time and because you might not notice could cause catastrophic failure.

So a job that would take just a few minutes is replaced by something that requires you to call in a proper professional garage – only they have the equipment and the trained staff capable of carrying out such a technically challenging task. At least, that is what I think I have gathered from reading the passage below from that link:

" It's important to note that while many vehicles monitor oil condition and mileage electronically, not all systems measure oil level directly, making professional inspections still important."