Reading the oil dipstick....

[HankD]

After performing some painful gymnastic maneuvers to check my rear tire pressure, I decided to take the bike for a short ride, let it idle a bit, and then shut it down to check the oil. I only have about 1,500 miles on the bike, so it is new to me.

The problem I'm having is that the end of the oil dipstick is made of light grey plastic, and the oil is rather clean and new....so I can't really see the oil level well at all. I am pulling out my pocket magnifier, going under a shop light, and I still have trouble getting a good visual on what the oil level is between the two "knobs". Is there a trick to this? I have been around cars and bikes for awhile, it seems that a regular steel dipstick is a heck of a lot easier to read than this one.

2017 RT-S

Thanks for any tips!

 

[JayBros]

Pull the dipstick out and lay it on a clean piece of paper towel. It will give you an accurate reading. You can see on pg. 129 of your operator's manual the dipstick range from min to max is 17 oz. The 1330 ACE engine doesn't use oil. You won't have to add oil between changes--if there are no leaks. Here's a detailed explanation of how to check your oil level, provided by BRPCare: http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...-engined-Spyders&highlight=level+verification.

 

[HankD]

Pull the dipstick out and lay it on a clean piece of paper towel. It will give you an accurate reading. You can see on pg. 129 of your operator's manual the dipstick range from min to max is 17 oz. The 1330 ACE engine doesn't use oil. You won't have to add oil between changes--if there are no leaks. Here's a detailed explanation of how to check your oil level, provided by BRPCare: http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...-engined-Spyders&highlight=level+verification.

Ok thanks. I'll try the paper towel next time. I had done some reading and knew the run/idle tips and did those. Sounds like I don't need to worry about checking that often anyway (unless I get shifting problems or an oil warning light).

 

[Chupaca]

Problem is....

Both surfaces are shinny....Oil, especially new oil, in those amounts is basically clear. So you need to make the surface of the dip stick dull, opaque, frosted so the shinny oil will show up. But the paper method works fine and you need it to wipe off the stick to check anyway....:thumbup: