Got back from a business trip to Australia over the weekend and upon starting her up on Sunday and then again today I noticed a slightly unusual engine sound. When I got to the office this morning, I did the oil check from the service menu to see if there was any obvious issue.

Now, more often than not, my car has been showing "engine oil level unavailable" when I take a look (yes, following all instructions in the manual) but this morning it did indeed tell me that the oil level was below the minimum level.

Our cars don't have a dipstick, so all I could do was swing by the dealer while heading back from a meeting this afternoon and they took a look. The car was indeed low, and they topped it up for free for me.

The service manager told me he'd had a few cases where the car was throwing up the engine oil unavailable message when it should otherwise give you the current level, so I do wonder if my car might have an issue they will need to investigate at some point.

Keep in mind that the car at no point gave me any warnings about the oil needing a top up, so just wanted to remind members to take a look from time to time.

 

No dipstick? Really?

Call me old fashioned but I still like to have boring old analog measurement devices for those most critical items.

 

old fashioned +1 lol

 

it's getting so that a prospective purchaser has to research undesirable features like no oil dipstick, no transmission dipstick, and "sealed for life" before purchase. oh, and having to pull the engine to change the alternator(audi?)

the only possible reason for deleting oil dipsticks is the dipstick behind the wheel not bothering with it.

 

First they took away the oil pressure gauges. Then they took away the coolant temp gauges. Now they take away the dipsticks...

 

I went through the same thing with my XKR as it wouldn't read unless the engine had been warmed up, or driven, and then left to sit for about 10 minutes, which is not too convenient.
Your car is a new F type?.. so I would wonder why the oil was down, unless it was just a bit relative to break in. I had a car a few years ago that had a leaky oil filter, only under pressure, so it took awhile to figure out why the oil kept going down.
Lawrence

 

F-type is the same way - wants to be warmed up, then sit for 10 minutes. As you say, inconvenient; I keep forgetting to check it.

 

I took my other brand car to a quickie oil change place and they refused to change the oil simply because it had no dipstick. The same place agreed to change the oil in my F-type IF I brought the exact amount of oil for the change.

 

doesn't seem to have a leak, I park at my same spot in my office car park and also at home and there's no obvious sign of any leakage. It's probably just break in, but the dealer did say that they were surprised that the car needed oil and it shouldn't have needed a quart or more (as it did) at this point. Certainly something to keep an eye on....

 

Agree, my limited experience with these engines is that they use very little oil during break-in.. I suppose its possible that your engine might be burning some due to some defect.. ring or valve guide.. or, it could very well be that the original fill was off a bit.. anyway its all warranty and now that you know you can just keep checking it.
I used to build up engines for drag racing and the fix isn't all that difficult.
Lawrence