So the dealer purposely over fills the oil.....and by the time one realizes that they have a carbon build up issue the car is out of warranty and guess who has to pay out of pocket to clean the intake valves? Thats genius!!
Those sneaky sons of.............

conspiracy?????

 

Compare the end of the Craven with the end of the stock dipstick, it is the same length. So, the top of the notched part of the Craven, where it widens out, is 'full', and the bottom is 'one quart low' I believe, the same as between the two ***** of the stock one.

 

exactly!

 

No, I have a good dealership and they overfill too. I think that they just put in a rounded off number, maybe 5 instead of 4.5, or something like that. I pumped out half a quart too, after the first dealer change, and now when I go in, I look right at the SA and say "Don't overfill please, I check it every week and I like to see it right where it should be" and he makes a note on the paperwork... he probably says "do what the crazy lady wants please."

 

Nooo..... actually, it is much better.
1. It won't drag oil up through the tube, misleading you as to the level.
2. It is easy to remove and to replace, it won't break off in your tube.
3. It has notches where the oil can be seen, instead of a slightly textured surface that is hard to see clean oil on.

The top of the notched area is full, the bottom of the notched area is one quart low... so, the notches are gradations of one quart. It is exactly the same length as the stock one, so it reads the same... only, you can actually READ it.

 

lol ... a crazy lady in a mini named winnie ... rofl

scott

 

Even more crazy than you think, Scott... I tell them NOT TO WASH HER.

As in, "No one touches her but me, or the detailer. Do not wash her. Step away from the hose and no one will get hurt."

So they stamp the paperwork and write all over it, and they even put a FLAG on her roof number that says DO NOT WASH.

She is clean when she goes in, and she would be less clean if they washed her.

Yeah, they know her. And me.

 

i still have my oem dipstick

tomorrow i will take some photos side by side to illustrate the add/full comparision for everyone

i'll try to take some photos with oil on them both too, but i doubt they will photograph well ... maybe in b&w...

scott

 

Here you go...
In this photo, they are compared side by side, so that you can see the lengths. Unfortunately, I had used the stock one first, so it dragged the oil up the tube before I used the Craven one. You can't see the oil in the photo, but you can in person. You can see where it is puddled in the notches, even when it is very very clean. The oil simply didn't photograph well at all.

 

So, looking at the photo above, which dipstick could you quickly get used to reading?

As as for the fact that it is hot to touch when the car is at operating temperature, well, use one paper towel to pull it out, and one to wipe it off and reinsert. The handle is made of turned aluminum, powder coated, and it will last forever, but it does hold the heat more than the (cough, cough.. plastic) handle on the stock stick.

 

Thank you JoanieB, that helped a lot. Come to find out the dealer over filled it!

This dipstick is freaking amazing btw lol!

 

You're sure welcome.

One of the best parts, is to open the hood and ask one of your friends to pull it out for you... because when they pull it out and realize that it's a slinky spring, the look on their face is priceless! Everyone expects a dipstick to be hard to pull.

 

The dealer changed the oil today I believe they overfilled it. How would I go about pumping some of it out? What's the best method? When I use the Craven gen 2 stick it shows oil above all the notched areas and on the "slinky" or spring area above the notches. When I tried the OEM stick it also showed oil above the notches and on the "slinky" area. Also I called craven speed and told them I would be returning the dip stick I cannot read it any better then the OEM. Oil levels are critical for the mini engine so these problems are not trivial issues.

 

I can easily see the entire OEM brick colored section is wet with oil, but the Craven dip stick says there's NO oil in the engine!

Sorry Joanie, I couldn't resist. Even with a magnafying glass I can't see oil on the Craven stick... Where did your oil go?

 

Looks like I grabbed the wrong photo!! Yep, that is the one that I took after I wiped it, just to show comparison of length. I can take another for you tomorrow if you like! The oil lays very nicely in the grooves. But not in this photo....

Need new glasses. Getting old stinks.

 

Here's a better photo of the dipstick. It is so hard to see in photos, especially when the oil is clean! But in person, you can see where it pools in the grooves. The oil level is right up to the widened area, which corresponds to the upper bulb on the OEM. If it were not, one or more grooves would be obviously dry, which is easy to see in person.