Am I really running 5 quarts high on oil?

Had the oil changed at 938 miles, I'm at 1,199 now and just ordered a drivers side oil separator to compliment the passenger side one I already have (JLT). Didn't notice much oil accumulation after initially installing the passenger side separator and running it for about 400-500 miles, but decided I'd check it again tonight and the oil while I'm at it. There wasn't a "ton" of oil in the separator, but way more than I've seen before (maybe 1-1.5 ounces). When I checked the oil however, I saw what I tried to capture in the pictures below. The car has sat for about 2 weeks now (traveling for work, no time to get out), so could it have just drained every ounce of oil known to man here or am I reading this dipstick right and I'm 4-5 quarts high? Never even thought to check it at the dealership, kicking myself now. Just rechecked the paperwork and confirmed it says 10 quarts and a filter.

The area between the dots on the hash mark actually isn't solid oil, it's like half covering that area, but for 4 inches or more above that top dot is solid oil. Please tell me I'm crazy here...

That's bad, maybe they filled it twice, would drain before you start it up

Not at all! That sucks.

If you had that much oil in that engine, it would not be running, or best case making a lot of strange noises as the crankshaft tried to spin in that high level of oil.
Go back and take another reading.

oil usually smears on one side, and is accurate on the other. In this case, it looks like the oil is at the proper level on the one side. You can try taking a few more readings just to be sure.

try reading it again and like mustang1 said, it should be on both sides. I have found that this stick is one of the most difficult ones to read out of all my performance cars I've had.... and it's the one that's most prone to burning oil and needs to be checked more than the others did.

Oil pressure hasn't read ridiculously high (I imagine it would if it was really that full) and it hasn't sounded or felt any different either. As discussed above, I put about 260 miles on it since the oil change, this was the first time I checked it. On the subject of smearing, I thought the same thing, but it looks like it shows full to the upper end of the hash marks, then smears to one side, then shows full again across the dip stick for 4"-5" above the top hole. As I said above too, the car has sat for about 2 weeks, hasn't even been started up. And I must have checked it 12 times tonight before I finally broke down and took pictures in hopes of having everyone here tell me I'm an idiot and I just can't read a dipstick. Still hoping...

Another check just now, different reading to my eye, but I think I may have convinced myself I can't read a dipstick. Let's see if everyone agrees. I just took these 2 pictures, it shows a much different amount of oil that high up on the dipstick, it's only solid all the way across at the very top portion. The picture zoomed in on the holes around the hashmarks shows me that the bottom hole has oil filling that hole, the top one has no oil in it, telling me the actual oil level is somewhere between those 2 holes.

I am perplexed as to why it's so difficult to determine exactly where in the hashmarks that level is, but it was mentioned by someone earlier that I may not be the only one struggling a bit to get a consistent reading here (I sure hope I'm not alone anyway...).

So what say you, do we concur that I may have had a false alarm and the actual oil level is in between the hashmarks on the dip stick?

How does the other side look? Like stated above, most of the time the readings will be vastly different from one side of the dipstick to the other. Like a front and back side of the dipstick. Not one side or the other side of the same side. You may be reading the wrong side depending on how you have the dipstick inserted. Mine will read between the holes on one side (front) and then way high on the other (back) but it's not a solid amount of oil on the other "high" side (back). It's along the edge and covers about 1/4 of the dipstick on the other (back) side.

Lilby said:

Another check just now, different reading to my eye, but I think I may have convinced myself I can't read a dipstick. Let's see if everyone agrees. I just took these 2 pictures, it shows a much different amount of oil that high up on the dipstick, it's only solid all the way across at the very top portion. The picture zoomed in on the holes around the hashmarks shows me that the bottom hole has oil filling that hole, the top one has no oil in it, telling me the actual oil level is somewhere between those 2 holes.

I am perplexed as to why it's so difficult to determine exactly where in the hashmarks that level is, but it was mentioned by someone earlier that I may not be the only one struggling a bit to get a consistent reading here (I sure hope I'm not alone anyway...).

So what say you, do we concur that I may have had a false alarm and the actual oil level is in between the hashmarks on the dip stick?

Click to expand...

Are you on completely level ground? Use your left hand and bend the stick as you push it in. Make sure the writing side is down. Only let it sit for a sencond in there. When you pull it out make sure you use your left hand to guide it straight out as your right hand pulls it out, so basically it will be bent in an L shape as it comes out, the left hand is used to keep it straight or from rubbing on the side wall of the tube.

It reads the same on both sides to me. I haven't tried bending the stick or ensuring the writing side is down, pretty sure I've been doing writing side up. It's "level" in the sense that it's in my garage that has some amount of slope from back to front for drainage, something on the order of 1/2" per 15'-20'. I'll try bending it when inserting it tomorrow and a bunch of different measurements. I can try it from my other garage also, just wanted to be sure I could start it up without causing a bunch of damage. Freaked me out a little earlier this evening.

If it's the same on both sides then I am stumped. I would have to believe if it was that high you would notice the engine not running as normal.

Sort of looks like too much oil, but I probably should not comment since I have base GT without the strut tower brace. Does the oil dipstick brush against that ? On my car, it will show too much oil on one side, and a relatively easy to identify line on the other. Usually in the cross hatch. My car uses a bit of oil so I can see the line gradually lower over time.

machsmith said:

Are you on completely level ground? Use your left hand and bend the stick as you push it in. Make sure the writing side is down. Only let it sit for a sencond in there. When you pull it out make sure you use your left hand to guide it straight out as your right hand pulls it out, so basically it will be bent in an L shape as it comes out, the left hand is used to keep it straight or from rubbing on the side wall of the tube.

Click to expand...

This right here...

FWIW OP, I almost never get an accurate reading unless I pull the stick out, wipe it completely clean, then re-insert just as machsmith states for about a second. Usually you can see that one side will have a true reading, provided you have good lighting and rotate the stick until you can see the oil clearly.

Driving 260 miles 5 quarts high tells me you woulda found out 259 miles ago.