Automotive technology you miss.

[91stranger]

license to thrill???? Been watching too many Bond movies ahah! I think factories don't put drains on transmissions because of all the dum dums that would accidentally pull it instead of the engine drain plug. I seen a guy do that once on a Subaru. They were really close together and he drained it, didn't realize it wasn't oil coming or the fact it was RED, filled the oil, started it, checked the dipstick and goes "ugh.... what's wrong with this?" Luckily another guy figured it out right away. They got a lot of free work for an oil change that day. The person who did that was actually going to tech school in Lima, OH too! Back on track, I would say that they don't put a drain plug on for the same reason they don't on the rear axle...… because they don't have to because it would cost $0.00007 per unit which might equal a whole dollar by the end of a year..... Geez guys come on, think about the factories expenses please!!

 

[Bird76Mojo]

...and now these damn robots are stealing our jerbs!!

 

[91stranger]

This reminds me.... We got a BRAND NEW Leisure motorhome and I was checking it in. First thing I do is pop the hood and just check the fluids. Couldn't find the dipstick for the engine oil. Looked all over and saw nothing but this little black plug looking thing near the oil fill spout. Sure enough it if just a small 2" plug. We called the factory and they said those were optional..... SERIOUSLY??? They said to just go by the display on the dash which is great and all but you can't see the oil to see if it is low or bad or anything.... So for anyone who plans on buying a $150,000 Leisure motorhome they don't have dipsticks which is stupid AF. This is a Sprinter chassis too so it could be the same for anything with a Sprinter chassis like work trucks and such.

 

[Snoranger]

This reminds me.... We got a BRAND NEW Leisure motorhome and I was checking it in. First thing I do is pop the hood and just check the fluids. Couldn't find the dipstick for the engine oil. Looked all over and saw nothing but this little black plug looking thing near the oil fill spout. Sure enough it if just a small 2" plug. We called the factory and they said those were optional..... SERIOUSLY??? They said to just go by the display on the dash which is great and all but you can't see the oil to see if it is low or bad or anything.... So for anyone who plans on buying a $150,000 Leisure motorhome they don't have dipsticks which is stupid AF. This is a Sprinter chassis too so it could be the same for anything with a Sprinter chassis like work trucks and such.

A lot of the Allison transmissions can display the oil level on the keypad. We had an Allison engineer tell us to always go by that reading... not the dipstick. The range on the dipstick can vary too much depending on what chassis it's in, temperature, if the trans is level, etc.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

This reminds me.... We got a BRAND NEW Leisure motorhome and I was checking it in. First thing I do is pop the hood and just check the fluids. Couldn't find the dipstick for the engine oil. Looked all over and saw nothing but this little black plug looking thing near the oil fill spout. Sure enough it if just a small 2" plug. We called the factory and they said those were optional..... SERIOUSLY??? They said to just go by the display on the dash which is great and all but you can't see the oil to see if it is low or bad or anything.... So for anyone who plans on buying a $150,000 Leisure motorhome they don't have dipsticks which is stupid AF. This is a Sprinter chassis too so it could be the same for anything with a Sprinter chassis like work trucks and such.

Newer tractors have a sight glass on the side of the transmission... and multiple spin on filters.

 

[8thTon]

When you convince yourself it makes sense to replace a dipstick with data value communicated from a microcontroller .......... there's still a dipstick involved

 

[Dirtman]

But computers are our supreme overloads and must be obeyed at all times! If the computer says the oil is fine THEN ITS OBVIOUSLY EFFIN FINE!!!!!!

 

[Snoranger]

But the engineer said so...

 

[8thTon]

But the engineer said so...

Lol - I am an engineer! Sadly, too many think that more complexity is always good - and it's not just engineers who have that problem.

 

[Curious Hound]

But computers are our supreme overloads and must be obeyed at all times! If the computer says the oil is fine THEN ITS OBVIOUSLY EFFIN FINE!!!!!!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

But computers are our supreme overloads and must be obeyed at all times! If the computer says the oil is fine THEN ITS OBVIOUSLY EFFIN FINE!!!!!!

And if the computer says it isn’t fine it is probably just a bad sensor...

 

[Dirtman]

Not all sensors are bad! That's an offensive stereotype!

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Not all sensors are bad! That's an offensive stereotype!

There are two kinds of sensors. Those that are bad and those that are not bad yet.

 

[Snoranger]

And if the computer says it isn’t fine it is probably just a bad sensor...

It's usually a green wire* around here.


*these are plow/salt trucks. Any wire that the insulation gets damaged turns green within a few weeks.

*

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

It's usually a green wire* around here.


*these are plow/salt trucks. Any wire that the insulation gets damaged turns green within a few weeks.

*

Farm equipment is full of mice. Some bean counter had the genius idea of using soybean based insulation on wiring a couple years ago... that is a lot of fun.

I agree though, there are more wiring problems than sensor problems. Everybody wants the cheapish sensor they can change the self to be the problem though... so they start there.