GM recently unveiled its new/updated 5.7 liter and 6.6 liter V8 engines, which will replace the current 5.3 liter and 6.2 liter V8s that are used in GM pick-ups and SUVs such as the Chevy Silverado 1500 and Tahoe, the GMC Sierra and Yukon and the Cadillac Escalade. These new V8s will be stronger – as well as larger – than the V8s they’re replacing.
But they won’t have dipsticks.
So the only way to check the oil level will be by asking the computer to tell you what it is. Ian Stahl, who is Assistant Chief Engineer of Small Block Engines at GM, says “I’ve never been a fan of” dispticks. He says people will get used to not being able to directly check the oil level in the same way that people – most people – have gotten used to being badgered to “buckle up” by computers (and the government).
“Now, nobody thinks twice about [seatbelts] . . . so everything takes time to get accustomed to,” he says. Sure. Like a bad marriage. Or piles.
It is hard to understand why anyone – especially an engineer – would not be a “fan” of dipsticks. Let’s start with the use of that word.
I like things that work. Being a “fan” implies rah-rah cheering, as for a sports team. Liking things that work is not quite the same thing.
More than that, I like things that work reliably and simply – because that invariably works best. This includes things like dipsticks. They do not require sensors, electronics or displays. It is not necessary to trust a screen readout because you can directly and accurately verify what the oil level is via a dipstick. This is very important when you are concerned there may not be enough oil in the sump and would rather not start the engine – to boot up the electronic oil level check system – to see whether the sump is full or three quarts low. You can trust what you see on the dipstick more than what you see on a screen.
Dipsticks can’t glitch. They are also much harder to fool. A display and sensor may not let you know about – may actually be programmed to hide – oil consumption that would otherwise be recognized as excessive.
There is one other thing you can see – literally, using your eyes – when you look at the dipstick. It is how the oil looks. You can see whether it’s the color of honey or more like molasses. Or tar. We are told sensors can sample the oil and tell you how much “life” it has remaining and maybe so. But sensors cannot tell you whether the dipstick has varnish on it – indicating hard use/infrequent oil changes, which is maybe something you’d like to know about, especially if you are checking out a used vehicle and trying to suss out clues as to how it was treated by its last owner.
How long does this system last, by the way? The sensors and wiring and then the LCD display? What about ten or fifteen years from now? Well, GM doesn’t care about that. GM cares about selling you on “technology” and when it fails, selling you parts and service to repair it. Or maybe a new vehicle, equipped with even more “technology.”
GM is not alone in this business of nixing simple, reliable things with complex, potentially unreliable and inherently more expensive things. German luxury brands such as BMW and Mercedes were among the first to eliminate dipsticks in favor of sensors and displays. Think about what will happen someday when the sensors and displays inevitably fail. How much will it cost to have the sensors or the display replaced?
Now think about the simple dipstick and the tube it goes into that’s pressed into the side of the engine. There are no sensors so they can’t ever fail. And damaging the dipstick or the tube requires gross incompetence or willful physical abuse. Neither thing is a likely thing. Almost every dipstick and the tube it goes into ever installed in every engine made over the course of the past 75 years has lasted as long as the engine has lasted. The dipstick tube that was pressed into the side of the 7.5 liter V8 that’s under the hood of my ’76 Trans-Am is still there and so is the dipstick. It tells me how much oil is in the sump reliably and directly as it did back in ’76, with no need to consult sensors or screens – and I can check the oil without starting the engine or even moving the ignition key to the “run” position.
It’s not just oil dipsticks they’re doing away with, either.
They are doing away with the dipsticks that tell you what the fluid level is in automatic transmissions, in favor of sensors. This is potentially even riskier than trusting a sensor and a screen to tell you how much oil is in the sump because while an engine probably won’t be damaged if you briefly run it two (out of five) quarts low, automatic transmissions are very sensitive to fluid levels, either too little or too much. You can burn up an automatic very quickly if you operate the thing a few quarts low.
The question resurfaces: Why replace a simple, inherently durable and reliable method of checking the engine oil (or transmission fluid level) with a method that is complex, inherently less durable and for exactly that reason not as reliable?
The answer is – basically – because GM and other manufacturers are in the business of making money more so than seeing you a useful thing. They also think you’re an idiot and lazy. They think you’ll be sold on the convenience of not having to raise the hood and pull the dipstick – such dirty work! – and that (sotto voce) the truth is you’re too dumb to do it. Too simple minded to find – and read – a dipstick.
That you are the dipstick.
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is: EPautos 721 Hummingbird Lane SE Copper Hill, VA 24079
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2026/09/29/no-dipstick-for-you/&media=https://www.ericpetersautos.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/dipstick.jpeg&description=It is hard to understand why anyone - especially an engineer - would not be a "fan" of dipsticks. And yet there are a few.){kind=link}
[…] https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2026/09/29/no-dipstick-for-you/ […]
> They are doing away with the dipsticks that tell you what the fluid level is in automatic transmissions, in favor of sensors.
They’ve been doing this for over two decades, but with a twist: no dipstick and no sensor. I had a 2004 Oldsmobile Alero that only had a small plastic cap on top of the transaxle, under the exhaust crossover (it was a V6). The location of the cap under the crossover would’ve made adding fluid a pain in the ass, and it’s doubtful that anything approximating a dipstick would’ve been attached to the underside of the cap. The thinking behind it (most likely) was that the transmission fluid was a “lifetime fill”…though obviously not the owner’s lifetime.
This sucks! How is one supposed to check the oil color and quality? Is it possible to make a makeshift lipstick shaft on the side of the oil pan?
(dipstick; friggin’ auto-correct)
I think our Saab has some kind of sensor. Got a message on the display to check oil level. It was a quart low.
Why the hell do windows and windshields still exist?! All the glass should’ve been replaced with LED screens and cameras by now! Who gives a shit if the screens glitch out mid drive, and you end up ramming in the back of another person (etc.)? The 20K HD clarity is FAR superior to standard auto glass! “Saaaaaaaafety first!”
Seriously though, I’m surprised we’re not forced to watch an ad or a saaaaaafety PSA on the telescr…I mean, “infotainment” screen, before we’re allowed to start driving! This IS 2026, after all!
Ugh… can you imagine trying to drive while your windshield flashes ads the entire time? While in contradiction, the saaaafety features are also screaming at you to keep your eyes on the road? And I thought the touch screens in vehicles were not hated enough…. they said “here, hold my beer”.
Forget LED’s! Military vehicles use windshields from synthetically grown sapphire. I want a sapphire windshield; it’s far more chip resistant than glass.
I think it was Bernays, nephew of sex freak Freud, a sick jew motherfucker who convinced companies to stop making good , reliable products to save $ by changing the customer, the people via advertising. You bombard them with lies that a piece of shit is a chunk of gold. Now you pray something you buy makes it to 5 years and politicians have adopted the method, what you see and hear, ain’t gonna be what you get.
Easy to sell the average American a shit sandwich.
1. Charge enough money, so he thinks it is really valuable.
2. Tell him there are only a limited number available, so he had better get his before they are all gone.
3. And of course, tell him it is “really good shit.”
Morning, Adi!
You’ve got a Masters in marketing! (Trump has a PhD).
Chef Julian would approve.
I wonder if the block will still have the cast in hole for the dipstick? Maybe some markets outside of the US would demand it. It could be a business opportunity. Sad that such a thing would be needed.
I believe it is for the same reason that crank windows were replaced by power windows. Like power windows, those sensors are cheaper to manufacture than a dipstick. Also, when the sensor inevitably fails, it will cost you your first born child to replace.
How the hell is a sensor cheaper to manufacture, than a metal rod and a tube? The last sentence in your comment, is the ONLY reason automakers are doing away with simplicity.
It could be cheaper to slap a sensor on than a tube & dipstick. It’s not a big government conspiracy.
The underlying reason is having access to the engine for routine maintenance is limiting to how tight they can pack stuff in & how they design around it.
They did this to interiors a long time ago. Being forced to put 3 pedals, steering columns & transmission & transfer case shifters in certain placed dictated by the mechanical linkages was deemed too constraining to the interior designers.
So the first to go was stick shifts and rod links to throttle & such. Then using a cable was replaced by switches, dials, actuators & solenoids.
Now everything inside is wired so they can put the touch points anywhere they want not where they have to be. To some extent this makes sense. Eric’s Trans-Am probably has a cable to the console shifter. Makes the console lower & the lever in a comfortable place. In the 1950s it would take a maze of rods & linkages which needed attention to keep working smoothly. A cable was better. And cheaper.
BMW has been doing this for at least a decade now. Considering how infrequently the average motorist checks the oil I’m surprised this isn’t more widely adopted.
Royalty Auto Service has a video on their YouTube channel where they diagnosed a problem with a computerized oil level monitor. Luckily it was just the connector, otherwise the front diff, axles and a whole bunch of other stuff would have had to come out to replace the sensor that is only accessible by removing the oil pan. The truck did have a dipstick so the owner could use that if it did need to come apart.
A more concerning issue is that if a defective sensor reads low and you add enough oil to make the defective sensor happy what happens when the crankshaft whips through a couple quarts of oil that shouldn’t have been there.
I of course just park my car on level ground and pull the distick on a cold engine.
Now you know what the dreaded TPMS nanny was teaching you to accept.
Did you guys see the bullseye as the assholes pic opened too?
My Cayenne has an oil level sensor. It’s nearly 10 years old, working fine, however, it’s infuriating to deal with.
First of all, if you open the hood (there is a hood opening sensor), the oil level sensor reading is disabled for the next ~30 miles driving after opening the hood. Why? I don’t know. The sensor gives a reading in “millimeters”. The oil level indicator in the dash has some formula it applies to show you an oil level, and I don’t know what this formula is. So, when doing an oil change in the car, you have to have a scan tool attached, which is showing you live sensor readings, and you need to know how many millimeters of oil you need. This didn’t have to be so user-hostile. The fuel level gauge in the dash could have shown you approximate level with a disclaimer that it might not be perfectly accurate.
My previous car, which the Cayenne replaced, was a Focus RS. It had a dipstick, but the dipstick was unusable. It had many large bends in it (looked more like a spring than a metal rod), and when you use the thing, pulling it out coats the tube with oil, and it’s damn hard to get an oil level reading.
On both the Cayenne and Focus RS, dipstick or sensor, I’ve learned how much oil it needs on a change and just go by volume.
As for reliability, these things are stupidly simple. It’s a float attached to a rotary encoder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_encoder). This kind of stuff is very reliable, but not dipstick-reliable.
Your mistake was buying any Porsche (that’s Pour-Sha) in the first place. Ferdy Porsche got it right when he plagiarized the Tatra 97 when designing the VW Beetle. His proposals for both versions of the Tiger tank were rejected by the Waffen Amt Pru 6 for being too COMPLICATED.
Nah, it wasn’t a mistake. It’s the best road trip and family car that I’ve ever had, but the price you pay is increased complexity.
It depreciated 70% in 4 years, and when I bought it used, I knew what I was getting into. I tow with this thing, I drive it in really deep snow, and I got on long trips up a mountain all the time. 520HP V8 is awesome.
Easy maintainability isn’t always the only reason to buy a car, you just have to know what you’re getting into.
Agreed, OL. I love my Cayenne. The oxygen sensors are a PITA, but all in all she has been a fabulous car. Fast, comfortable, sporty, and pretty dang affordable if one buys it on the used market.
Speaking of enshitification, the goal is electronic hood locks that will only open for an “authorized technician.”
“Dipsticks can’t glitch”. I have one exception to that. I was working on someone’s old wrangler and the plastic handle broke right off when I gave it a pull. However, to make your point, my fix was a long wood screw I zipped in with my drill which worked for a few weeks while I got around to getting them a new dipstick.
As for the GM transmissions that got rid of the dipstick, it’s at least trivial for most of them to add an aftermarket dipstick because of the way they designed the fill plug. Will these engines be the same?
People are consumed with convenience, the latest gadget, the “new and improved”. Electronics thrive in such a market.
“Well, GM doesn’t care about that. GM cares about selling you on “technology” and when it fails, selling you parts and service to repair it. Or maybe a new vehicle, equipped with even more ‘technology.’”
People used to complain about GM’s “planned obsolescence” 50 years ago. Back then, it meant restyling the fins on Cadillacs. But then, if you didn’t care about the fins, you could drive your Cadillac for a long time.
Now, planned obsolescence is really here!
Cadillacs used to be what a “Knee-Grow,” could maintain, either as a chauffeur or, if he realized his lifelong dream.and BOUGHT one.
I prefer “Hebrew Canoe” myself. The group you refer to had no problem making do with a Pontiac which of course is “Poor Ol N Thinks It’s A Cadillac”
An added bonus is that by deleting the dipstick, in favor of a sensor, this allows the manufacturer to monitor it OTA and track if maintenance is performed at proper intervals…and then use it to deny warranty claims accordingly.
Bigggest mistake of gearheads is to assume the rest of the auto buying public is like them.
A huge chunk of the auto buying public can’t identify a dipstick. A large percentage if those people don’t actually know how to check the oil level and do it wrong, overfilling or under filling because they don’t know about waiting for oil to drain back to the sump or even how to wipe the dipstick to get reliable readings.
Most people don’t even change their own oil.
So the fact is we gear heads don’t have to agree or like the removal of the dipstick but most new car buyers wont even care.
EG, most car buyers don’t care about dipsticks because they ARE them. Got it.
Nailed it. My poor elderly neighbor has for years thought the ‘F’ on the dipstick meant “FILL” and not “FULL” meaning you start -adding- when the oil has gone down and hit it. She would add until oil flowed out of the dipstick tube. She’s apparently had engines die (no surprise, right) and thought she was always low. She of course doesn’t do her own and it’s been Jiffy Lube for 10+ years since her husband passed. Jiffy Lube never checked first, they’re all about thru-put, the drain is pulled before the car is even in park I imagine.
Fact is the number of people in a circle of about 6 city blocks around me who do their own maintenance is about 4 homes out of maybe 40. I only know this from observation since we can tend to know all the other people by listening to the occasional midnight wrenching or seeing them working on their vehicles.
‘It is hard to understand why anyone — especially an engineer — would not be a fan of dipsticks.’ — eric
Who knows? As humanity — most of it, that is — emerged from the Bronze Age, engineers used ‘slipsticks’ (slide rules) to calculate. Even young Jim had one, as a high school lad. They were replaced by Texas Instruments calculators that originally cost several hundred dollahs, at five times the puny purchasing power of today’s worthless Trumpenschrift.
But young Ian Stahl [‘Howdy, I’m Jim Stumble, pleased to meetcha!’] — an inauspicious name for a small
boreblock engineer — appears too young to harbor such old bad memories.Eric makes a vital point about a dipstick serving up a sample of oil to be examined for color, smell and viscosity. I’ve seen some good, bad and ugly examples. But quite possibly Ian
FalterStahl is one of them ‘book learning’ engineers who finds engine fluids ‘yucky.’So at considerable cost and complexity, Ian’s designed around the simple but revealing procedure of checking the dipstick. It’s like getting a $30,000 body scan to find out whether you’re constipated. That’s why Jim
BalkStahl decided to become an engineer instead of a proctologist. Now bend over.‘German luxury brands such as BMW and Mercedes were among the first to eliminate dipsticks.’ — eric
Well, there’s our problem — just as Bosch gave us the hated CAN bus. Germany is a nation in the midst of committing industrial suicide, as it casts its lot with its NATO occupiers and pipeline saboteurs. Everything the blockhead krauts do is backward, upside down and wrong.
Any time I work on a German automobile (with the occasional exception of some of the cheaper VWs -although changing an air filter in a VW 5 cyl is obnoxious with multiple torx screws and removal of part the intake plenum), I curse those damn Krauts for over-complicating and over-engineering shit.
I remember changing oil on a gen 1 Porsche Cayenne which would take me 1-2 hours. I recall there were about 25 fasteners to remove plastic belly panels just to gain access. Then, trying to get the cartridge filter housing was a miserable task, where I’d have to turn it various angles (including upside down) to chase it about halfway to the back of the car to fish it out of the labyrinth of exhaust pipes and drive shafts until I could find a large enough gap to get it free. All the while, I’d have dirty oil spilling on the driveway and all over my arms.
Compare that to a made-in-Japan Lexus, which had wide open access and a built-in drain bolt for the cartridge filter housing and a little oil deflector to prevent any chance of oil dripping on the engine. This was about a 15 minute job.
>engineers used ‘slipsticks’
Still have my K&E. 🙂
TI ? Nah. HP.
RPN forever. 🙂
Me too Adi,
Always wondered if it might be worth money as an antique someday. Either that or when my kids go through my stuff after I die they can wonder – WTF is this? 😆
LOL.
Never hung it on my belt, though. 🙂
I also have the detailed (hard cover) instruction manual.
So, no guessing how to use it. 🙂
And then there was FORTRAN IV on punched cards.
Great familiarity with IBM O26/029 keypunch machines.
Submit as batch job, only to receive the dreaded “syntax error.”
I cheated, though. One of my flatmates, Paul Mockapetris, worked P/T for IBM Cambridge Scientific Center, so PVM, I, and our third flatmate, J.P. Cross, had access to IBM CSS via remote terminal in our flat @ 168 Elm St., Cambridge. Modified IBM Selectric w/ 300 baud modem & acoustic coupler.
JP used it to solve model rocket problems. I used it to test ideas for my job as an employee of a consultant to NEGEA Service Corp. in Central Square.
Reams and reams of wide carriage fan fold tractor feed paper.
First time I ever saw a VDT (@ New England Electric, circa Jan 1971) was very exciting. 🙂
Still have friends who live on Inman St., just off Central Square.
Haven’t seen them in many years, but they are still friends.
Ask me about skinny dipping in Lake Waban under the Jack Moon with the great love of my young life, when I was classified 1-Y in July 1970.
JAM & I used to meet for lunch on Boston Common many a day in summer 1970. $1 concerts on weekends @ Harvard Stadium. Big name acts, too.
Those were the days. 🙂
Those were the days Adi,
Not sure how long it’s been since you’ve been to Kendall Square but you definitely wouldn’t recognize it today. All the industrial businesses – Allis Chalmers (where I worked nights as a janitor), Carr Fastener, NECCO, Cambridge Tire, etc. all gone. Replaced by bio-tech labs and other assorted high priced tech firms. A lot of those companies are moving out to the suburbs now because the rents there have gotten ridiculous. I do miss those days.
Friend of mine’s dad worked for the Kendall Company, which specialized in polymer chemistry, and among other things, manufactured Bike brand athletic supporters.
Bob’s dad ws named Phoenix N. Dangel and he went by “Nix” as a nickname. So, he was Nix Dangel in jockstraps. True story. 🙂 His son Robert, my classmate, was named Robert, ot Bob for short.
Good and easy RPN is.
Wise you are to use it.
Ever use “Forth”?
Nope.
Took me awhile to grok functional programming, but once you “get it” there is no going back. LISP (for me it was AutoLISP, since I began as a CAD jockey in early ’90s) ML, F#
HUGE change from writing FORTRAN IV in 1970.
FWIW, I have, quite literally, worn out the keypad on more than one HP calculator. That’s OK, they have more at the store.:)
I’ve been running Free42 on my “smart phones” for years. With my father’s passing I grabbed his collection of HP calculators including the 41CX sitting in front of my keyboard as I type. It’s become my goto calculator and it’s been fun figuring out how to fix the printer, magnetic strip reader and barcode scanner. I even had ChatGPT generate a barcode test program. Really amazing system.
Makes you wonder what might have been had Apple not wanted to build devices for people who can’t think.
The model T Ford and many other vehicles had no dipstick, they had a high level and a low level petcock. To check oil you crawled underneath with a pair of pliers, opened the top, which usually should produce no oil, then open the bottom one which should produce oil. Manual transmissions and differentials still have similar, if you pull the plug and oil runs out its overfilled, and if you can’t touch oil with your finger it’s too low.
The dipstick was simpler, cleaner, easier to use, and more effective.
Unfortunately ambitious engineers have been trying to get rid of the dipstick since, the Lincoln V12s of the 1930s had a float/sight glass on top of the engine. Various sensors have been tried since the 1970s that I’m aware of. Many small engines have a sight glass which tends to get dirty and hard to use, and is often in a bad spot to check.
There is such a thing as a mature technology, the modern fork, spoon, and knife haven’t been improved on in a very long time, the spork notwithstanding.
They are right, most (probably 98%) never check or change their oil. But it is guaranteed to lead to more vehicles being scrapped sooner. Which to an unethical seller is a bonus.
What this trend really speaks to is the arrogance of the credentialed class, who (believe they) get to make decisions for the (uncredentialed and thus unqualified) rabble.
Ditto … Bravo!
I never saw any METAL Spork. I’m more likely to see “,Mister Spork” play “metal”, jamming with Adam (the late Charles Napier) on his weird-ass Vulcan harp!
We’re headed down Terry Gilliam’s Brazil universe. “Central Services. We do the work, you do the pleasure!”
Problem: People don’t check the oil and find it “icky” to have to look for the dirty hood latch.
Solution: Tell people that they need to check the oil, in bold text right after the lawyer’s disclaimer about not actually using the nav system for navigation. Marketing: “But people don’t read that shit, and besides it implies that our cars aren’t reliable.”
Alternative solution: Engineer a complicated system that attempts to electronically check the oil. Marketing: “Oh, that’s high tech! We can sell this!”
When it fails and the car won’t start, will Harry Tuttle come to rescue us with a dipstick?
What’s next?
An “electronic” radiator cap?
No, Adi. It will be a “smart” cap…connected to the internet…demanding software upgrades every six month for the first 3 years. Then, it will no longer be “supported”…ooopsie…time to buy a new car…
Idiots and knaves control our world.
Good grief, do not give them any ideas. But yeah, wait until they demand direct access to your bank accounts just to open the vehicle door, never mind starting it to drive somewhere. Go too fast? Accelerate at the green light too fast? Did not use your turn signals? Sorry, that will cost you a fine (tax) which will automatically be deducted from your account. The possibilities for them are endless, sad to say.
No doubt.:)
Having low oil stop your engine isn’t all that new. Back in the 1970s I know GM cars with EFI had a cut off on the electric fuel pumps that was controlled by low oil pressure. I don’t remember if it was supposed to be a safety to save the engine or just a simple way to control the fuel pump so it would only run when the engine was running. I think it was the later.
No Tuttle possible: https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2026/09/26/what-to-buy-thats-not-new/#comment-1211464
There is one other thing on those new engines that will fail and become a big expense. There is a coolant distribution box on the upper left front of the engine that has 5 ends coming out of it and a diaphragm inside it that controls the distribution of the coolant. The part is made of plastic instead of cast aluminum. I see nothing but headaches that will occur when it becomes brittle and breaks.
That’s actually not a new problem—1970s Chryslers with AutoTemp had a plastic body control valve. Mercedes used that same valve—but had the body made of metal.
My neighbor bought a GM pickup brand new and it is already burning 2 quarts of oil between oil changes. Only noticed this because of the dipstick.
Hi Tick,
Thanks for bringing this up. These sensors can be programmed to mask excessive oil consumption; you can’t do that with a disptick.
The only solution to this whole thing is go back to the 3000 mile oil change. At $60.00 for 5 quarts, it is getting a helluvalot more expensive.
Last week my 4L bottle of Motul 20W50 for the scooter arrived, $75.00. Yikes.
I guarantee this is a cost saving move. One less feature to cast into the cylinder block. No longer have to source the tube and dipstick, and probably already had the sensor inside ‘measuring’ something else. When a certain company was going to low tension rings and a new cylinder bore material for low friction, they kept building engines with oil consumption problems that especially showed up in the manual transmission version. A business case was put together for an oil level sensor that would have saved thousands of engines from failing. It was rejected. I’m sure GM has had the same issue and now finds itself with a solution. Transmission dipsticks were removed a long time ago.
I agree, Auto outsider –
The enshitification continues…
Don’t be so sure they reworked the casting. I had a Chevy Lumina Z34 I bought used when I had my first well paying job that developed several annoying and one major problems. The annoying problems: Transmission fluid replacement interval was every 15K miles (and it did need it). The $200 dashboard light dimmer that intermittently failed, but at least I learned how to tear out the dashboard to replace it. The rear spark plugs that required unmounting the engine and rolling it forward to get access to them. And the worst thing, at about 120,000 miles it began burning oil. About a quart every other fuel fill-up. It wasn’t coming out the tail pipe, it was coming out of the hole in the block where GM used to install the distributor. This was one of the early ignition block designs, which was a really good reliable system. But instead of coming up with new molds for the engine castings they just installed a plug. The plug had a rubber gasket that failed at about 120K miles. Oil seeped around the seal and would burn on the block. The fix was easy, replace the $1 gasket. But getting to the gasket meant you had to remove the heads and most everything else too. AFAIK there was no work around.
So I topped up the oil, took it to a dealer and traded it in for a Pontiac Grand-Am. It had its own dead-engine moment but that’s for another day.
What a dip shit.
This is another example of fixing something that is not broken. As you said, Eric, a dipstick does not glitch. Nor does it need to be updated, nor can it be hacked. Can you imagine someone hacking into your dipstick App via the vehicle’s computer, and erroneous informing you that you are low on oil? You go to put more in, and whoops, you over filled. Awful sorry about that, I guess your car got hacked! Borrowing a song line, “…awful sorry about that” (Nancy Sinatra).
The old bromide “sell the sizzle, not the steak” is reaching its peak. This constant drive toward computerized, homogenized, synthesized, tap, swipe and twinkle crap (I’m channeling my inner Samuel T. Cogley) is lowering us to the level of a seagull pecking at a piece of aluminum foil on the beach.
It has to die under the weight of its own BULLSHIT, Mr. Stahl…how fitting a name for today’s automotive engineers.
We’re already BELOW the level of the machine. Just ask those WRONGFULLY ARRESTED thanks to being “,fingered” by a Flock camera!
The enshitification continues…
It’s literally like GM (government morons) wants & intends to go out of business, by the slowest and hardest death possible, that of a “thousand cuts”.
Eliminating what the market & customers want & desire, and cater only to the (((government))) requirements and demands….
The deja vu of 5.7L and 6.6L sized engines???
How could they possibly be as good and durable as the previous iterations???
I won’t be holding my breath to see, SMH.
I feel just Charlie Brown, lining up to kick that football Lucy is holding up for him, to just have it snatched away at the last second, leading to catastrophic results…..
Oy Vey, Goyims, they’re after all the shekels now!!!
YMMV….
The problem is the masses DO want this. They shop on Car Play and tech and razzle dazzle. The companies are tripping over each other to accommodate people who constantly upgrade phones and have 6 streaming subscriptions. They VASTLY outnumber us.