[QUOTE=jamesqf;174372]I think you all are still missing the point. Back in the olden days, we checked oil frequently because many (most?) cars leaked & burned a bunch of it. Nowdays, losing a quart of oil between the 10K mile oil changes is a sign of a major malfunction. So why spend the time to check something that 99.999% of the time is not going to need anything done about it? [quote]
Most cars that are over 10 years old begin to leak some oil due to aging of seals. One of my cars is 10 years old; two others are over 20 years old. Of course nowadays, no manufacturer wants anyone to keep a product anywhere near ten years, let alone 20.
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FTM, why not have a dipstick in your gas tank to check the fuel level? Gotta be better than one of them electronic sensors...
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For several reasons: a car burns fuel and it needs to be refilled quite often. A dipstick for gasoline would be messy and would not have an adequate seal to prevent evaporation. Most cars hold at least 10 gallons of gas but only about five quarts of oil. No damage will be done if you run out of gas, and the car will run until all fuel is depleted. If you run out of oil, it's goodbye engine.
Most importantly, oil is checked and added with the engine not running. It is easy to do with a dipstick because you are working under the hood where you can check and add the oil. If you needed to keep stopping and restarting the car and checking a gauge on the dashboard it would be a PITA.