10K Service Interval: Do You Ever Check Your Oil Level?

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Car engines sometimes rapidly increase oil consumption. If a person is going 10k miles without checking because their car hasn't burned any oil to date, they may be in for a rude awakening when some little thing causes the engine to consume oil at a faster rate.

 

Just checking under the hood frequently is a good idea. Our Kia van developed a massive oil leak one of our day trips. I just happened to look under the hood half way trough our trip and there was oil all over the heads and even running into the alternator! Drove home immediately.

 

Yes, I had a Chevy Blazer SUV that developed a leaking head gasket. I was able to catch the milky white on the oil dipstick and was able to get it to a mechanic quickly.

They were able to clean everything up, replace the head gasket and have me drive on the new oil for about a week and then replace the oil again to make sure all of the water was removed. No damage was done to the engine due to the quick catch.

Do I think the Prius is going to blow a head gasket any time soon? No, but I do not want to take any risk of waiting every 10k miles to find out the hard way either.

 

On past cars, immediate oil checks before even leaving the shop provides not only a baseline fill level from which to judge future oil consumption, but has also discovered tools left behind by the mechanic, and an oil cap not put back in place.

In hindsight, I returned the tools much too quickly, before blacklisting that shop.

 

I agree cars as they age sometimes will just start to use oil and a leak can happen at any time .... It is important to check.

Same for the AF -- I'm on a schedule for them. I normally change them out a little early just because I do them in the warmer months vs waiting for the actual time/miles. Some cars just get dirty ... strange.

I get all the OE maintenance parts from an online dealer and have them on hand so I change them out.

 

Therefore that is the reason I never check oil level or tire pressure. Back in the day, when we drove junk we checked every gas station stop.

 

Never check tire pressure? I check monthly and find that I need to add fairly often most of the year. In the Spring such as now when we have a large rise in the temperature, I have to let some air out to maintain the desired pressure.