Ok the stock oil dipstick is bad for checking oil, cant see where oil is on the oil mark, any solutions for an oil dipstick that is better?

 

Craven Speed.

 

Kind of expensive the Cravenspeed oil dipstick!

 

Just lay the dipstick on a white towel you can tell where the oil is.

 

+1 on the Cravenspeed dipstick. It's well worth the price.

 

I purchased the Cravenspeed dipstick fearing the potential dreaded events associated with removing a broken oem dipstick. No problem reading the oil when it had some color in it. But after an oil change, I could not get an oil reading. Tried the paper towel route and that was so so. Then I held the dipstick horizontally up to the light and and got an accurate reading as the oil "drooped" on the indicator. I suspect that would work on a gen 2 distick as well.

 

I've seen how-to posts on modifying the stock dipstick to produce better readings. $75 on a dipstick is outright stupid. Not sure how a company can stand behind that kind of pricing, I'd modify your stock one before bending over for that price.

 

The following link gives the four best methods I have found.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...732-post1.html

2011 MC, PW/B

 

When it's the only game in town, you pay the cover charge.

 

It's a specialty part, and no one else makes/sells it and critical for the 2nd Gen MINI to have a proper reading. I applaud the fact that SOMEONE like Craven took the initiative here considering ALL the MINI vendors knew what a PITA it is to read the OEM sticks on 2nd Gen MINI's and did nothing.

And since the 2nd Gen stick works for a broad range of MINI models, when / if you get another MINI, transfer it to the next one, or sell it and probably get 60% of your money back.

 

It's a tad much for a dipstick. Outright stupid? Not on the gen 1s. That money is far less than the cost of dropping the oil pan or removing parts and pieces to fish it out of the oil tube. I figure an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.

 

I'm confused at the cost though... I mean, if it's as simple as replacing it because the stock one is hard to read, and there are pretty simple DIY instructions online on how to make the stock one easier to read, where's the benefit? I mean, if you're the "Drive it and that's it" type of person who doesn't even want to do their own oil changes, I guess a little dremel work on a drip stick probably isn't you're thing. But I just don't see how a company, monopolizing the market or not, can feel good about charging $75 for a dipstick.

 

What is even more mindless is the fact that the OEM dipstick is not user friendly. For a car that needs persistent oil monitoring, its inexcusable. The engineer that signed off on that design must have been an intern from Yugo.

 

If you never check your own oil, and sell your car young, its a dumb investment. But if your dipstick is regularly flexed while hot, and you let it get more than 5 or so years old, it will likely break. If you end up with all the pieces in your hand, then the craven would take 3-4 OEM replacements to break even. But if your OEM part breaks *off* in the tube, you'll spend more getting it out and replaced than you would have on the craven. In that light, its smart pm.

But it sure is hard to read with fresh oil.

 

I guess I'm confused now then. I thought everyone replaced them simply because they let oil hang up on them and smear the reading, nothing to do with breaking. Either way my 07 doesn't have whatever crappy dipstick everyone is replacing, so I'm not worried lol.

 

That's a big part of it, because having to force it to flex through that skinny little channel every time you check it, is just asking for trouble. The Craven stick is like a skinny Slinky, it glides through the channel without stress. But the next best thing is modifying it by removing the bottom bulb (which drags oil and smears it on the tube) and making one end flat, so you can see the level.

But here is my question... is there a dipstick out there that is easy to see new oil on? Honestly, it is a serious question. The new MINI oil is so light in color that I truly wonder if ANY dipstick is going to make it easy to see. Didn't oil used to be darker, or thicker, or something? Or is it that our eyesight is getting a tad... well.... you know.

 

This whole dipstick thing confuses me. Which one is prone to break? There are at least 2 different versions OEM I've read about. Mine, is all metal, with 2 spheres and the oil is supposed to measure somewhere in between. I've also seen the one that has the red rubber end on it.
I might get the craven one, just haven't gotten around to it. I have very little trouble reading mine, I just blot it on a paper towel while holding it horizontal.

 

There seem to be several versions of the dip sticks from the factory. Earlier ones seem prone to breaking inside of the channel, and falling down into the oil pan. Later ones are harder to read, and the lower bulb drags oil up through the channel, making a reading unreliable. There are several ways to circumvent this, and what works for one person may not work as well for another. Please see Byron H's link, a few posts up, for a better understanding.

Also, search the forum for dipstick posts, which will include ideas on how to read them, how to fix them, what happens when they break, and what happens when it is too hard to read them, and you give up and stop trying...

 

I've read that thread before, but its for the rubber looking red ended dipstick. seems to me, something as simple as a dipstick couldn't get screwed up, but guess I was wrong...

 

Then tell us how you feel about $250 intakes that do pretty much nothing. (and are nothing more than some tubing and a filter)

 

I don't have one on my car for a reason.

 

Now this is the part that gets me. I have he same dipstick. It's all metal and flexible, same as that Craven one. It has 2 bulbs on it to represent high and low levels, just like yours. And as you said, it's not hard to read at all. I get a simple reading every single time. Why are you thinking of changing it out? There's nothing flawed about this particular dipstick.

 

if there's a new OEM style that is sturdy enough to not break ( I never had a dipstick break on any other vehicle ever) then the readability issue is not in craven's favor, because it is hard to read also, and not likely as modifiable as the plastic bulb on the OEM one. but the OEM stick that came on my '06 broke about in the middle. thankfully, I noticed while it was "hanging on by a thread" but that's literally what it was doing. the stick had creased and broken, and before I threw it away, I looked at it and it looked like it was some form of coated fiberglass. there appeared to be a hard plastic sheath with fibers underneath for strength. on mine, the sheath was creased and broken, and all but one of the strands underneath had broken. The replacement I saw at the stealership ($39 there, I believe it can be had for <$20 online) appeared to be the same thing, so from that perspective I thought the craven was a reasonable replacement. If there is a new style OEM that is not prone to breaking, I am unaware of it.

 

Most of the time it displays false readings of actual level, there are many posts about it.

Issues is with top bulge on the OEM sticks reader.

Borrowed this pic from one of the threads.



Typical method is to check oil when engine is HOT. Some folks are checking when cold, not sure that is accurate way IMO. Anyways....

Remove stick, wipe it down, insert and remove it, and that bulb at the top drags on the inside of the dip stick tube grabing the oil residue dragged up from the first removal. Folks pull it out, see shiny oil at the top bulb and assume "it's full"....

As far as the OEM one for the 1st Generation goes, it is made of thin fiberglass and they will ALL eventually snap off about 3-4 inches down from the bottom of the grip, lower half ends up falling down into the pan, rendering it un-retrievable ( 99.9% of the time ) absent dropping the front sub-frame and then removing the oil pan.... This obstruction also prevents a new stick from being inserted.....

Most clubs have group buys for the Craven sticks. Ours had one, they were $60.00 ea and Craven included free shipping to club's shipping address.

These are quality parts specific to one model line ( MINI ) which required R&D by folks earning a pay check using equipment and computer software, and distributed by employees with health insurances paid to move the product to you from a building/business......not a drop shipper with basically zero overhead, a paypal account and an iPAD.....

 

DIY
I measured the OEM dip stick 3 times from the stop on the handle to the high and low level points at the bottom on that stupid thing you can't read.
I did that sometime ago before it broke.
*Note* the last step is trimming the stainless steel spine.
Do not cut the stick to length yet
Disclaimer here, these are the measurements I arrived at and used, your results may be different.
Stop to high oil level = 55mm
Stop to low oil level = 57mm
The metal for the stick is the stainless steel spine from a 26" windshield wiper blade. I was all set to buy a new one but lucked out when I got to the auto parts store. I found what I was looking for sitting right there in front of the store in their trash can, they replace wiper blades for customers right in front of the store, score!
Anyway, cut off whats left of the stick from the handle, then drill or Dremel the handle out enough to just go past the two O rings. Test fit stainless steel spine into hole often, you don't want it to big. Well there isn't much there to work with anyway.
Now cut some notches in the end of the spine. I used JB Weld, two part epoxy to bond the spine into the handle.
Let it sit and harden up per JB Weld instructions.
Now you can measure 3 times and cut once at about 59mm.
I used metal number and letter stamps to mark high (55mm) and low (57mm) level lines and filled in between those lines with IIXXXXXXII> stamp to give the oil something to cling to.
On the end of the stick you want to shape it like a spear point and polish it up so it will slip by that step you can feel when inserting the dip stick.

That's about it.