I have been dutifully checking my oil level at every fill up since I got my MY02 a few months ago. As I started to go more and more into higher revs I was pleased to find out that the car was not in fact eating any oil. As I read the forums more and more I caught wind that both sides of the dipstick need to be checked: when I did that I found out I was half a quart below the low mark! Some time to get more comfortable with the revs, shesh. Never saw the oil light and I'm hoping that's not low enough to cause severe damage.

I did some more searching and found that the difference between the sides should be no more than 1/2 X on the dipstick? My dipstick reads the difference between completely full on one side and 1/2 quart below the minimum line on the other. In hindsight the side that reads in error is smudgy. How can this big of a difference be there? Is there perhaps crap in the pan making contact with the dipstick and transferring some oil?

Scary!

PS: I never thought I'd need a procedure to read my oil level; is there also an s2ki approved procedure on how to fart? :-)

 

only 1/2 quart low will not hurt the engine. Dont let it get below the low mark on the dipstick.

One question are you removing the stick cleaning it then putting it back in and looking at it then?

Ohh... here is the procedure.

http://forums.s2kca.com/showthread.php?t=12141

Kevin

 

Woooooops I was ambigious there: it was 1/2 quart below the lowest mark on the dipstick; ie the really bad place. I went back and edited the post for future clarification.

And yes, I was removing and cleaning it, every time. The procedure you linked says it's likely the tube is transferring oil to the dipstick due to not waiting long enough after initially removing the dipstick. Wow what a finicky car but I'm glad I know now! Thanks for the link to the full procedure, that's great.

 

Imagine my disappointment, when I clicked on that link and it had nothing to do with farting.