Hi everyone... I live in Buenos Aires, Argentina and this is my first post here...

One month ago I've bought a Marea HLX 20v '98 secondhand which, after a few initial problems, I'm starting to love more and more...

The problem I'm having now is that I'm not sure if the dipstick fited in my car is the correct one. It's always dry, even after a complete oil and filter change when I've put 4,5 ltrs. of fresh oil according to what's written in my manual...

Can anyone indicate my how long should the correct dipstick be? Or I am simply not putting enough oil in there?

I went to various Fiat Authorized Services in my area, and no one was able to confirm if I have the correct dipstick, the only solution they offer me is to order a new one from Fiat, but I have to pay first, so by the time the new dipstick arrives if they discover that I have the correct one already fited, and that the problem with the oil is another, I would have paid for a dipstick that I will never use.

So any information you can give me, will be very useful...

Thanks in advance!, and I'll be coming back later with many, many more questions...

Sebastián

Hi sebastian and welcome to our forum :0

I measured my dipstick this morning, it's 60.5 cm from the bottom of the stick to the flat face that rests on the top of the pipe. That is the total length of everything inside the pipe except the loop that you hold to remove it.

Hope that helps.

If it's any use, I've seen 5 litres written down as the capacity..

polecat said:

Hi sebastian and welcome to our forum :0

I measured my dipstick this morning, it's 60.5 cm from the bottom of the stick to the flat face that rests on the top of the pipe. That is the total length of everything inside the pipe except the loop that you hold to remove it.

Hope that helps.

Click to expand...

Many, many thanks Polecat for your welcome and the information you gave me. I've measured my dipstick and it's the same size as yours so that is one less thing to care about.
Then I've put 1/2 ltr. more of Selenia and the dipstick still comes out dry... I'll try to buy some more oil tomorrow and continue filling until I see the damn thing showing at least one drop of oil!!!! If that doesn't work I'll start thinking seriously that the oil is going somewhere else, but not the sump... Of course I don't see any oil dripping from the bottom of the car... so I don't know where it can be going... :chin:

I have some more questions about the car but will write them later on another thread so we keep this one clean.

Take Care!

Sebastián.

fixitagaintomorrow said:

If it's any use, I've seen 5 litres written down as the capacity..

Click to expand...

Thanks... I've remember reading 4,5 as the oil capacity.... but I may be wrong... Anyway I willl double check that, and start pouring oil in there as hell until the damn dipstick comes out of this unhealthy attitude!!!!

Ok... just to put an end to this story, I've put some more oil in the engine, and now the dipstick is wet up to the MAX marking only on one side, on the other it still comes out completely dry, but I can live with that.

Just for your information, the total amount of oil I've finally put in there was about 6 lts. and that doesn't seem normal, so I will keep and eye on it.

Just for the record, I've taken some pictures of my disptick, and I'm posting them here for future reference.

Many thanks for the help, and I will start a new thread with some new questions.

Sebastián.

Pictures of my '98 Marea HLX 2.0 20v: (Sorry about the horrible quality, but I did them in less than 10 seconds... )

Complete view with size:


Detail of the bottom end:


Detail of the top end:

Sebastian,
Yeah, that's the one. Same as mine.
It can take time for the oil to get through the system into the sump.
If you measure it again on level ground after running the engine it should be ok with 6l of oil. The factory fill is 5.5l and a normal fill after an oil change is 5l. If the oil is over the max when you check then you should drain some out as too much oil can damage the engine.
Good luck