Well, I have only myself to blame for this b/c after the engine rebuild was completed, I personally put in the dipstick tube (original to the car). When I take a reading, instead of an OBVIOUS line of oil with a solid "glob" below it, there are now streaks of oil in places around the full line and other places, but down below is the solid line with the "glob" under it. One side might have a streak while just next to it is clear.This is a first time ever for my car, and have been dealing with it for 3 years now. I must have installed,pulled, and re-installed the dipstick tube 7 times originally to make sure it was seated all the way in. I do not want to overfill and was wondering if anyone else had ever encountered this before. Tube only can go in one way obviously, otherwise dip stick will not go in all the way or be bent like crazy. Somehow it seems the stick is rubbing against the side of the tube and touching oil...or who knows. Wouldn't be a hassle if overfilling wasn't an isssue.Comments anyone? NOT a serious issue, but one that simply irrates me, and just thought maybe someone knew of something to try.

 

I think every car I ever had did that.

- Eric

 

Hmmmm, guess I've been lucky for a lot of years...but I really dislike this problem. Used to be able to read the stick clear as a bell, now it's 3-4 tries and a semi guessing game.

 

It's not just the dipsticks - they seem to be printing everything smaller these days.
Newspapers, product labels, even shop manuals that LOOK like they were printed 40 years ago, when they USED to be easy to read.

Couldn't possibly be my eyes...

- Eric

 

I know what your saying. That is aggravating, especially for us OCD maniacs. You could always drop the pan and put a new aftermarket tube and dipstick in it. I am not sure how much you want to do but that would be the only fix.

Good luck

 

I guess what your trying to decipher is at what mark on the dipstick would represent the corect full oil level. If so what I've done in the past was to scribe my own mark right after an oil change (after preliminary run to ensure oil filter is full) to represent the level at that time. Then all I have to do is maintain that level.