This reads like more AI slop. I miss when Jalopnik had real articles.
this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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My wife has a 2016 Honda Odyssey, and having grown up working on cars because my dad was a mechanic, I was shocked to learn that there is no transmission fluid dip stick. It's considered a closed system and never needs to have the fluid changed, allegedly.
It's a lifetime fluid! For the life of ur transmission! If it'll make it to 100k miles they could care less what happens after that. When your 16 odyssey needs a transmission at 130 are u gonna put 6k into it or go buy a other car?
No, see, they just relocated the dipstick. You can locate it just behind the steering wheel, right above the driver's seat.
PEBKAC.
PEBCAC (car and chair lol)
reinventing the wheel in the DUMBEST way possible at best.
planned obsolescence when the sensors or the head gasket inevitably fail at worst.
I've had a car with where the oil pressure sensor failed; combine that with an oil leak, and you quickly have a major problem. So, what happens when the sensor telling you the oil level fails? A dipstick is extremely unlikely to ever fail to work correctly, so...?
You would think an engineer would understand this.... I assume this is a decision from management.
Engineers are people like everyone else and some people have no qualms fucking over other people for money.
The Engineer was also told they would get a bonus if they could make maintenance more common and more expensive under the guise of improved technology.
"Grok told me this was the right thing. Nom nom, this superglue bathsalt pizza is delicious"
This reminds me of funny American commercial from when I was a kid
Oil is essential. However, those manufacturers that claim you have to change synthetic oil three times a year are full of shit.
That chronological duration is more of an estimate based on how much the "average" car may be driven and is just to give someone an idea of the frequency.
The standard for cars built for synthetic ("conventional" cars may have a bit more susceptibility to contamination, so they normally have shorter durations) usually usually go for 10-15k miles (~16-24k km). So going 30-45k miles in a year isn't really unheard of. (Some cars are much less, while others like company cars/taxis can be more than double)
I know it can last longer than that, but I think there is a benefit to doing so even if it doesn't need changed that often. It's the same reason I have my mechanic do my oil changes instead of doing them myself. It's so that they can look at the rest of the car and let me know about problems before they become a much more expensive fix. Kinda like going to a doctor for a yearly checkup and blood work.
I can fix almost anything on a car if I know what the issue is and have the shop manual, but I don't work on cars enough to know all warning signs or quickly diagnose things.
However, I do realize how difficult it can be to find a mechanic that is trustworthy, competent, and reasonably priced. I'm generally not a fan of dealership mechanics or the places that are dedicated to cheap oil changes. Not saying none of them have good mechanics, but it can be hit or miss.
Depends on how much you drive, and what the recommended interval is. If the interval is 7k miles, and you drive 18k in a year, yeah, you need to change the oil 3x/year.
It seems to me that counting the number of cycles each makes, and basing your intervals off that would make more sense than mileage. If I'm constantly running at high RPM, that should require more frequent oil changes in terms of mileage.
Just forcing more people towards mechanics. Can’t see levels or if there might be an issue with a lubricant, so if you burn up a transmission, guess you gotta buy a new one.
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