Troubleshooting oil use, trying not to miss an easy fix. How long is your dip stick and tube?

My dipstick is about average, but it keeps the wife happy.

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99 ML320
94 SL600
92 SL500
95 E320 Cabriolet
87 560SEC
86 300SDL Grease Car
80 380SLC Euro

13 Fiat Abarth
02 Maserati Spyder Cambiocorsa
00 BMW Z3
90 Rolls Royce Silver Spur
80 Ferrari 308 GTSI
88 Jaguar XJS12 H&E Edition
99 Land Rover Discovery

IMO - that's a very personal question...and the public embarassment associated with my answer makes me feel very uncomfortable. Sorry..But I can't offer help....

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71Inka02

62 W121 190DB - Original CA/AZ Car - Excellent Example
99 E300 Turbo Diesel - 362,000...Awesome Daily Driver
01 E320 Wagon - 297,xxx (wife's work car)
01 E320 Wagon - 131,000
02 Land Rover Disco SE- 110,000
87 BMW 325is (E30) Full Restore - Son's
06 Mini Cooper 'S' - Son's
87 Toyota FJ60 Land Cruiser - Showroom Condition - 152,000

84 300D - 142,xxx :cool - "Sold"
83 300D-"Sold" - 211,456
85 300SD-"Sold" - 213,789

Dipstick measuring...it's catching on! Mine shrinks until I put more oil in, then it gets longer again. But seriously, You might want to check the o rings. And the oil pan gasket. Can you tell where it's leaking? I know that's an incredibly dumb question, but if it's not leaking it, I'd say it's burning it. I don't have to wonder about mine. It's leaking from multiple orifices. This wasn't a trick question, was it??

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"Knowing is not enough, we must apply.
Willing is not enough, we must do." Goethe

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1951 Chevy 3100

2003 Indian Chief Roadmaster

1983 GMC 1 ton Dually

1982 Chevy 1 ton Dually, service body (sold)

'90 GMC Suburban 6.2 "SS Veg-Burban"
(single tank WVO\diesel conversion) SOLD

'81 300D ~ Mama's car...my job (now my car)(but still my job) SOLD

'83 300sd ~ rescue car SOLD

2005 Ford Taurus (Mama's new car)(NOT my job!)

No puddles in the driveway, no oil trails, no dancing oil cap, 360-380 lb compression, engine runs on w/ blocked breather for 25-30 sec before stumbling, new valve cover seal, valve guide seals, dry rear main seal (checked w/ clutch job), doesn't squirt me in the eye when I open the hood, doesn't piss oil on my shoe. Cyclone separator air oil separator catches drops a week. Nothing to really explain a quart every 100 miles +/-.

Someone posted that they had the wrong dipstick, and were chronicly overfilling the car, changed the dipstick problem went away. So if I pulled & rebuilt the engine and did not change the dipstick, I'd still have the problem.

After I thought all the "dip stick' jokes had been aired, heres a serious question, what color is yours, no really, arnt the dip sticks color coded, red for yours, no really

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

I hear some famous ones are bent.

Some non famous ones too

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81 300SD daily driver/project
86 420SEL (sold)
85 380SE(in the graveyard)

Nope!

My engine says the dipstick is too big for the tube. It prefers that I check the level though the oil fill hole, unlike my other engine. The other one wanted me to check the oil though the exhaust pipe. I told it I'm sorry, you're gonna just have to suffer from oil starvation or overfilling cause I don't do that method.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

OK, thats it absolutely IT, no more dip stick jokes, I'm serious, "dip stick" needs to be placed on the banned list, hez forth to be expressed as d*p st**k I have never had a problem with my d*p st**k being too long

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

You know, I think "240Joe" would agree with you on that.

Now THAT, was one unforgettable forum character.

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'81 MB 300SD, '82 MB 300D Turbo (sold/RIP), '04 Lincoln Town Car Ultimate

Sooner or later every car falls apart, ours does it later!
-German Narrator in a MB Promotion Film about the then brand new W123.

OK, now that you've all got that out of your system (and beat me to it)...

Does your oil level go down to a certain point - say a quart low or two quarts low on the dipstick, and then stop going down? Or if you don't refill it, does it keep going down?

If it stops going down at about the same point (1 qt - 2 qt low) consistently, then that would be a pretty good indicator of the dipstick being the wrong one - and too long.

Another way to figure it out would be to do an oil change and put in exactly the factory recommended amount of oil. Start it up, let it run only long enough to get up to temp and shut it down. Let it sit 5 minutes and do a dip stick reading. If it is reading low, then that is also a good indication that the stick is the wrong one.

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1984 300 Coupe TurboDiesel
Silver blue paint over navy blue interior
2nd owner & 2nd engine in an otherwise
99% original unmolested car
~210k miles on the clock

1986 Ford F250 4x4 Supercab
Charcoal & blue two tone paint over burgundy interior
Banks turbo, DRW, ZF-5 & SMF conversion
152k on the clock - actual mileage unknown

Okay, I am game. How long is yours? My dipstick has a red knob on the end. Seems to be 20 1/4 inches to the base of the red knob.

Not sure of the exact year of the 616 engine as it was a replacement engine. This does not matter though as I think all those blocks and oil pans where the same. The other 616 is across the highway and it's dark and raining heavy out there.

I also would not want to be seen running back across the road with my dipstick in my hand.

Let the humour commence. I was not certain people would use the humour but on reflection it was too good an opportunity in my opinion. So had to have a look at your post. If you need a longer dipstick stretching it might get you there.

OK 20 - 1/4 from tip to where the red plastic starts. Didn't want to take it out and measure it at work. It would be hard to live down.

LOL, Kind of miss him, wonder if hes changed his oil you yet.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"