Re: Some details of the 2AZ-FE engine

On Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:58:47 -0500, Steve <no@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>>How may car owners ever use the automatic transmission dip stick?
>> 
>
>
>All of them with half a brain.
>
>
>How often do you actually add ENGINE oil? I never need to between 
>changes, but I still CHECK it weekly. Same with the transmission fluid. 
>The whole idea of maintenance is to CATCH a potential problem before it 
>becomes costly. Eliminating the transmission dipstick pretty much 
>guarantees a low-fluid failure will ultimately destroy the transmission, 
>be it at 10,000 miles or 200,000 miles.

Hard to imagine not having a trans dipstick.
Might as well tell this story, even if it's about my U of I engineer
son.
He had a Hyudai something or other.  Saw it a couple times and it
looked and sounded decent enough.
He drove it almost every weekend from Champagne to Chicago and back.
He bought it used, and had a couple grand in it.
One Friday he calls me from his mom's house saying his check oil light
is coming on, but the dipstick shows normal.
He said he had an oil change a few weeks ago at a fast change place,
checked the oil after that and has been checking it at least every
week.
I told him he might have bad mains, bad oil pump, or a bad sender, and
to get it to my mechanic to have it checked out.
But it was the weekend and he had to get back to school.
Sunday evening a daughter is visiting me, driving the son's Hyundai
because her car is down.  I walked her out to the Hyandai when she had
to get back so the son could take off for school.
I chatted with her a bit before she pulled out, and the Hyandai didn't
sound bad.  Didn't see or smell oil burning.  No drips on the
driveway.  Something told me to check the oil, just out of habit, but
she was in a hurry and I pushed it aside.
Next morning she calls to say the car broke down on him on the way to
school.  Engine shot.  The tow truck driver found it dry of oil.
Turns out my son had been checking the trans dipstick the whole time.
Saw his mistake when the tow driver pulled the right dipstick.
Can't tell you how bad I felt in not checking the oil when it was in
my driveway, but I really never thought for a second my "smart" kid
couldn't check his own oil.  He's a successful engineer now, but still
doesn't give a crap about cars.  He does know how to pick the right
dipstick though.

--Vic