Difficulty reading Yaris dipstick - to fill it not to fill

TechnoFreek

Can anyone advise me if my oil is low or two full please. I'm finding it very hard to interpret this dipstick.

It has a light streak of oil up past the fill dot but there's a heavier concentration of oil at the low mark.

It's a long bendy dipstick so I'm sure there's some streaking along the tube but any help would be much appreciated.

https://postimg.cc/image/k03keukcr/

knifey_spoonie

Going by your picture its low ad about 500ml and it should bring it between the dots, and 1000ml should have it to the top mark. Just be sure to add the last 500ml in smaller amounts.

tphase

looks below the minimum to me

TechnoFreek

Ah excellent. Thanks. that was my thoughts too but just wnated to be sure before going adding for obvious reasons!

I noticed a bit of black smoke out the exhaust last night. Would low oil cause that?

Leonard Hofstadter

When you're checking the oil you need to make sure that the car is on level ground and standing for at least 10 minutes.

Then you need to take the dipstick out, wipe it with a lint free cloth, put it back into the engine, and take it out again (otherwise you will get what you see in the photo where there are drops of oil scattered about the place).

Then, and only then, will you have an accurate reading.

But to answer your original question, that looks to me like it's below the minimum. Before topping up, follow the methodology I've suggested and then you'll know for sure. On most cars the difference between minimum and maximum is one litre (although for some Toyotas it's 1.3 litres, check the owner's manual to be sure). Check the manual for the appropriate type of oil to add, in a Toyota it's normally 5W30, but since it must be burning a bit you may want to consider 10W40 instead.

The black smoke wouldn't be anything to do with the low oil, it's usually a sign that the engine is running too rich (taking too much fuel for the amount of air being fed into the engine), so there must be a fault with a sensor somewhere. If it's burning a lot of oil then you'll see blue smoke.

TechnoFreek

Thanks captain.

Car was standing on flat over night. I filled up with 700ml or so thete now.

Still find it very hard to get a good dipstick reading.
Smearing all the way up past the fill dot.

Time for a mechanic I think

Toyotafanboi

Those dipstick are hard to read alright. If you added 700mls from where the first photo was you're probably in an ok position. Minimum to maximum on those is 1000mls.

Th at oil looks knackered though, you could do with an oil change.

Silent Running

TechnoFreek wrote: »

Thanks captain.

Car was standing on flat over night. I filled up with 700ml or so thete now.

Still find it very hard to get a good dipstick reading.
Smearing all the way up past the fill dot.

Time for a mechanic I think

Do what the Captain says and wipe the dipstick clean before you dip. The oil level will be obvious then.

TechnoFreek

Silent Running wrote: »

Do what the Captain says and wipe the dipstick clean before you dip. The oil level will be obvious then.

Yes, am wiping clean too.

Leonard Hofstadter

I meant to say the same as TFB, your oil looks like it's done more than the recommended 15,000 km between oil changes. For the sake of €100 I'd be changing the oil and filter ASAP. Changing the oil regularly is key to ensuring the engine will last a long time and won't let you down. They'll also be able to figure out what the cause of the black smoke is if they plug it into a diagnostic machine and get the fault codes (which there should be if it's smoking like that).

TechnoFreek

captainspeed wrote: »

I meant to say the same as TFB, your oil looks like it's done more than the recommended 15,000 km between oil changes. For the sake of €100 I'd be changing the oil and filter ASAP. Changing the oil regularly is key to ensuring the engine will last a long time and won't let you down.

Yeah, it is due a service but also nct. Put it through the nct last weekend. Failed on the dreaded emissions. 0.4% instead of 0.2% on the high idle.

There was some white smoke coming out when revved high. I normally only do very short journies, 5 mins on it. Took it for a long drive last night and now getting darker grey, closer to black smoke