Oil dipstick reading?

I personally use the flipped over side as my full reading better to be a tad low than overfilled

 

If you check the oil first thing in the morning, it will show much more than normal because the oil has had all night to settle.

The best way to check oil is to run the vehicle for a while than turn it off and wait about a minute or two. (5 minutes with diesels and those with turbos.)

I've never seen one side different than the other...how is this possible?

 

Both the NZ and ZZ do this . I'm not sure why. But the best reference you can get is to fill the oil on the oil change with the proper amount you're supposed to put in the car with the new filter which is what 4.7 q or some nonsense then start the car fill the filter light goes out all this good stuff your car is probably still warm from where you warmed it to change the oil then turn the car off let it sit 5 minutes just to be doing so then check the oil then look at both sides of the stick and see what you're seeing and reference that as being full and then use that parameter from then on You can have pretty much no leaks the car was just filled with the exact amount of oil required by the manufacturer with a new filter you've run the car filled the filter so on and so forth and so now you should be sitting at your reference full anytime you check your oil you're looking for this level whatever side of the stick you're looking at and try to stick to that.

 

If you're showing full on the one side don't cap it off or don't top it off It's completely unnecessary You are well within the operating range of the engine oil requirements so you should be good to go.

 

I see the identical thing on all my Gen 2s that you're seeing on yours. I always use the lower reading. I fully believe the higher reading is just oil that is wiping off the dipstick tube (or other surface), onto the dipstick. The lower one matches well with how much oil is added during an oil and filter change.

If you clean it and re-dip several times, you'll see that the lower is more consistent.

 

This picture may explain how you can get different apparent oil levels on different sides of the dipstick, when the dipstick is in the oil at an angle. Yours must be at a very shallow angle to read that differently on either side.

Take the lower reading of the two sides as the true oil level.



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Looking at those readings, I'd call it good....better to have just a tad too low than to over-fill....imho. There's about a half-a-quart of wiggle-room that doesn't hurt anything...thus the reason for the 2 dots. I'll only add more oil if both were down near the bottom.

And kudos on that clean-looking oil!