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1999 legacy outback 2.5

She leaks oil so I checked it and added a half quart and drove away. A few days later (this morning) i check the oil again and it's two inches up the dip stick! I looked at the quart and might have gotten 2/3 of the quart in the engine. Is this a big deal? I plan on draining it a bit today, might do a whole oil change, but am unsure on turning on the car again to warm up the oil

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Subaru dipsticks are flakey.

 

- Check the oil when the engine has sat for a long while , and is COLD (mornings work well for me.

- Take the dipstick out and clean it (don't look at the oil level, it means little).

- Insert the dipstick all the way, and withdraw. Check oil level on front-side and on back side.

- If you can't get a clear reading, clean and repeat.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Yeah, the dipsticks are flaky. I've seen it not show anything before (resulting in a mechanic doing a courtesy inspection once yelling at me "the engine has no oil in it" when it actually was full and read correctly at home), to showing random heights, to the oddly placed hole on the outer edge of the stick end that constantly snags paper towels and even rags and could be introduced into the engine if not careful. Even more annoying is FRESH oil as it's virtually impossible to see the exact line for some reason.

 

Best luck I've had is either after it's been sitting overnight or about 5-10 minutes after shutting it off and oil has about 100 miles on it (synthetic). I've gotten in the habit of checking frequently at the gas station if it's giving a stubborn reading. And yes, all readings had the car level.

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Yeah, the dipsticks are flaky. I've seen it not show anything before (resulting in a mechanic doing a courtesy inspection once yelling at me "the engine has no oil in it" when it actually was full and read correctly at home), to showing random heights, to the oddly placed hole on the outer edge of the stick end that constantly snags paper towels and even rags and could be introduced into the engine if not careful. Even more annoying is FRESH oil as it's virtually impossible to see the exact line for some reason ...

 

Somehow, that is the Exact description of the Thin Dipstick on my Wife's Car,

 

But both my '85 Subaru and my '69 Mercury had wide Dipsticks,

 

And never had such problem with them...

 

Kind Regards.

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  • 1 month later...

we are talking about the dipstick on the car right not the dipstick checking the oil? i once drained 4 quarts to much oil out of a ladies car because her husband/boyfriend didn't know how to check the oil and killed a lot of mosquitoes and then refused to pay me because he was embarassed in front of his woman.

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