Changed oil but dipstick indicates not entirely full

[Chilly807]

between the two lines is where it's supposed to be ...overfilling can be as bad as underfilling. A trick to read the dipstick is to lay it on a clean sheet of paper and you'll see the oil on the paper. Personally, I like the dipsticks with a hole at the add and at the full lines.

We've given shiny smooth dipsticks a shot with a sand blaster, even clean oil shows up well on the matte surface the sand leaves.

Sean

 

[JoeL4330]

Good point about roughing the finish...some dipsticks are machined criss-cross for the same reason...Ford Superduty 6.0 drivers often use a black magic marker, which helps on the original dipsticks.

Incidentally the lower of the two lines is the "add oil" line and, between the two lines is the don't bother to add oil area, IMHO. [actually, the lower line is designed to tell you that you can safely add a "unit"--say, a quart--without risk of overfilling]

There are a number of variables like the time it takes the oil to completely drain down to the sump from the top end, which depends on the viscosity (and the cleanliness of the oil which, in turn, affects the viscosity ..as does the temperature ...and the actual volume changes with temp, too) ... It takes a lot of time and patience to be compulsive and get it right to the "don't-add-any-more" line with risk of overfilling (causing frothing and loss of the very lubrication you seek) ...so, unless you are losing/consuming oil at a substantial rate, why bother?

 

[Usta]

It got me wondering on my first oil change. The manual for the BX 2660 says 3.7 quarts for the crankcase oil with filter when it actually takes 4.25 quarts to fill it.
Had to go buy another quart because I only had 4 quarts and was not sure how much more it needed to reach the dipstick full mark.

 

[brucewj]

It got me wondering on my first oil change. The manual for the BX 2660 says 3.7 quarts for the crankcase oil with filter when it actually takes 4.25 quarts to fill it.
Had to go buy another quart because I only had 4 quarts and was not sure how much more it needed to reach the dipstick full mark.

Very same thing happened to me. It is a 30 minute drive to town. I wish I would have known this before.