inside the cab using a guage of sorts? i am wheel chair bound and it is not always convenient to check the dipstick, i am not just being lazy.

thanks,

 

Ken-

I've wondered the same thing now that my truck is burning so much oil. It'd be nice to see at a glance...

 

Who changes your oil? If it's a place close to home, most of them will check the oil and top off as needed between changes for free.

I've never heard of a gauge to check oil level, but there's lots of stuff I've never heard of. Have you tried calling or emailing one of those shops that converts vans & trucks for those in wheelchairs? This would be an issue that I'm sure has come up with them before. Perhaps they could point you in the right direction.

 

Is this what you are looking for?
Oil level indicator alarm and fluid level sensor products

 

that is exactly what i am looking for. i always try to support the small guys but jee whiz, i don't want to buy the fellers a new house. thanks for finding that, now i am going to go build something on my own. will post up when i figure something out.

ken

 

do you think all of the oil will be in the oil pan when the engine is off and the oil has had time to drain down? thinking that mounting a sensor in the oil pan from outside the pan could be the perfect spot for it. tia.

 

You'll have to drain the oil first before you cut a hole in the side of the pan.
14 quarts is a LOT of oil.
An alternative solution, and probably the easiest, is to manufacture a sensor that becomes the drain plug with a detachable wire lead.
It would need to be shaped like a tower so that it would stick up into the sump and give you a warning when the oil drops to, for instance, 10 quarts.
You don't want it to be set too high, like for instance 12 quarts or you would be getting too many false alarms due to the truck moving around as you operate it.

 

I overfilled my oil once, before a long trip because I couldn't check it on a level surface. For some of you guys that have seen a oil pan off the truck, how critical is the level of the truck in this issue?

 

I know that the 2.9 powered rangers 86-89 had a low oil sensor installed on the oil pan which can be bought for about $30. it is basically a float and a reed switch. Aircraft have electrical capacitance sensors for the fuel tanks
but these solutions are all going to need a hole in th pan.

 

The technology is out there. My '95 525i tells me when I am one quart low. My wife's '07 335i doesn't even have a dipstick. When you change the oil you add the required amount, then read the indication level on the dash. It even works when the engine is running. I think one designed for an oil reservoir would be cheapest.

 

Heck, my 1994 Ford Explorer sends a low oil warning light to my instrument panel when I'm ~1 1/4 quarts low. There's a hole through the side of the oil pan where the sensor mounts. But again, this requires a hole to mount the sensor through the side of the oil pan.

 

I wonder if there is a way to feed a sensor wire into the pan through the inspection hole near the oil filter. The top of the pan is only about an inch below the inspection hole.

 

I'm thinking that the easiest way might be to modify the dipstick and tube to be accessible in an area the O/P CAN easily get to, like the grille area or the right-side fender-well.

Shortening and maybe bending the tube and stick can't be all that difficult.

Pop

 

Good idea Pop, although I'd be scared about bending the tube because of the infamous flange leak that might ocurr.

Maybe some vinyl/PVC tubing to extend the tube (fitted over it?) around a corner to a spot.
Then couple of junker dipsticks brased/welded together into one long one to slide through this cockamamey thing. Should be easy to calibrate by taping them together until you get the length right (before welding) and reading the same level as the stocker did. Then weld together.

 

If I were going to go that way, with a longer dipstick instead of a shortened one, I think I would find an old mechanical speedometer cable repair kit and use the replacement cable.

It's very similar to what our trucks already use for the 4R100.

Just thinking out loud......

Pop