Scratching my head over oil level in my VR6

[mookie 0]

I apologise in advance if this seems a bit of a noobish thread... but I'm a bit bemused by the oil level of my VR6.

 

Last week I noticed the oil level was only about 1/2 way up the dipstick min/max band. Not a biggie, but as the car was serviced at a VW dealer in January and it had done eff all miles since, it seemed a tad curious it wasn't fuller. Anyway, I put in about 3/4 a litre more oil and off I went happy in the knowledge it was topped up.

 

Today I went to check the oil after doing about 150miles since the top up earlier this week. And the oil level was off the bottom of the crosshatched area on the dipstick... weird. The car was stone cold at this point and hadn't even been started so it presumably was accurate, I thought. Concerned by this, I tipped in another litre of oil and rechecked... oil level now nice and high in the cross hatched area of the stick.

 

BUT.

 

What I then noticed was depending which way round the dipstick was in the tube, the level was different! :scratch: If I remember right, with the crosshatched area facing the engine it reads much higher than if the crosshatched area is facing the slam panel. WTF? So if I read the oil one way, it's fine and normal... the other way it's way over the max limit!!!!! I appreciate it doesn't have a straight dipstick tube, but...?

 

Am I being a total spaz or what? I'd consider myself very competent mechanically but this makes me feel like a right novice... I should have stuck to Mk2 Golfs! :bonk: So is my car overfilled with oil or correct? I'm assuming I've misread the oil level as low in the first place when it was probably higher... but I want to be sure first.

[dubweiser 0]

Thats crazy lol.Surely whatever way round the dipstick is?,the oil in the sump stays the same level so will give the same reading???

[mookie 0]

Only thing I can think of, is oil dribbling down the dipstick tube after the dipstick has been pulled out?

[lewvw 10]

The dipstick marker is supposed to face the engine so if it reads fine that way, then you have no problem. As the tube is curved it may be altering the oil on the stick if you pull it up the wrong way. Maybe. :)

[fla 9]

Do you have a mocal oil cooler in it? If so, when teh engine warms up, the oil goes into the cooler and the level drops. The thermostat closes afterwards so this amount of oil usually remains in the cooler so you need about half a litre extra.

[mookie 0]

No oil cooler... I'd been out in the car an hour or so ago, checked the oil when I got home. Dead on the max mark regardless of which way round I put the stick in, but I did notice a long smear of oil down the back of the stick when using it facing the engine so wondering if that might explain my mis-reading when cold and the oil is thicker.

 

Anyone know the difference in litres, between the min and max on a VR6 dipstick? I'm guessing about a litre or so? I've miscalculated how much extra oil has gone in the engine since I bought the oil last week - I've actually only used just over a litre in total, and I'm pretty sure I'd used half that earlier in the week to top it up to 3/4 from just below 1/2 on the min/max. So another 1/2 litre took it from 3/4 to where it is now at a hair over max. I'm going to recheck it in the morning and see how it reads stone cold, but my feeling is that I've misread the dipstick and the oil level is probably at max not significantly over.

[VW_OwneR_85 1]

im 80% sure the differance between min/max is 1 litre,