# Checking oil question



## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

Pull it out. Wipe it. Stick it back in. Pull it back out and read.

Or pull it out before start up after it sat for a few hours.

Running the engine splashes the oil. Stick will read higher. It's a natural order.


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## Ma v e n (Oct 8, 2018)

Engine off for at least 5 minutes, pull out stick, wipe off, reinsert, pull out. Read oil level as lowest wet mark on stick, regardless of which side it's on. If it reads 3 lines on side A and 2 lines on side B, consider it to be 2 lines.


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## Thebigzeus (Dec 2, 2018)

The car honestly has one of the worse dipstick designs I’ve ever seen.


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## Diamond193 (Jul 28, 2019)

Thebigzeus said:


> The car honestly has one of the worse dipstick designs I’ve ever seen.


Was thinking the same thing to


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## pandrad61 (Jul 8, 2015)

Got lucky the diesel has a euro style dipstick. It’s literally a metal handle rubber coated and a long cable with a end that is metal and marked. Ours is way easy to read and won’t break. On my old VW Passat turbo they where know to break and bunch of plastic dipstick would fall into the oil pan.


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## Shawn855 (May 25, 2016)

lol well i know to check it with the car off, and sitting for a few hours, and to wipe it and reinsert it. I was just pointing out the fact that if you check the dipstick, depending on the direction you put it in and out, it will show a different reading. Another user pointed it out in this forum as well and sure enough if you put the dipstick in, facing you, it will show a reading with less oil on the dipstick compared to if you insert the dipstick facing the engine. Too much time on my hands, boys.


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## snowwy66 (Nov 5, 2017)

That's pretty common with any motors. No way to avoid the splash.


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## plano-doug (Jul 1, 2015)

pandrad61 said:


> On my old VW Passat turbo they where known to break and a bunch of plastic dipstick would fall into the oil pan.


Now that's the V-dub I remember !

Doug

.


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## BDCCruze (Jul 12, 2017)

It can vary a lot on the car. I used to service a Malibu that had the 2.4 in it and if you had to let it sit for about 30 minutes after running to get an accurate reading.

Most cars leave it off after 5-10 minutes should be accurate enough, or better yet check before starting.

But also keep in mind some one-off cars have weird oil checking instructions like start the car, let it warm up, then shut off and immediately check before cooling ... things like that.


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## winks79 (Dec 20, 2013)

Insert it with the reading bars facing the front of the car. This will give you the accurate reading. No, you are not over thinking it. I figured this out when I did the first oil change on my daughters 2013.


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