Strange Oil Reading on 2013 Viper

99VPRGTS

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Okay, I've owned several Vipers (Gen's 2, 3, and 4...modded and stock) Vette's, and LS F-bodies. I have never seen anything like this before.

I swapped the oil cooler lines on my Gen V Viper. No issues and pretty easy/straight forward. While I was there, I changed the oil. This is my first oil change in a Gen V. Here is my issue...

When I put the dipstick back in with the "safe" range facing me, it reads almost an 1/8 of an inch higher than the max safe range. HOWEVER, on the other side of the dipstick, it reads within the safe range (close to the top of it). Soooo...I turn the dipstick around and measure it again. The readings are consistent.

The bottom line here is, there are two different readings depending on which side of the dipstick you are looking at.

My question is, which side is the legit reading? If I go with one side, the amount of oil in the car is perfect...right where it should be. If I look at the other side, then it's almost an 1/8th of an inch too much oil.

Looking for facts and not opinions (not trying to be a **** just want real world exp or expert analysis). Thanks.
 

MoparMap

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Have you driven the car any and checked after a day by any chance? Wasn't sure if you checked it right after you filled it and maybe it was something weird like the oil still running down from the heads and settling and after running or sitting for a while it might even out. Strange it would be that far off though if the dipstick is anything like a gen 3/4. They go into the pan at a fairly minor angle, so wouldn't expect them to read all that differently on one side or the other. Will the dipstick even go in if you were to clock it 90 degrees from wherever it is now? It it was something where the flat side was facing up and down I could possibly see it reading differently on each side because of the angle it enters the pan at. Clocking it 90 should prevent that, but might not want to install that way very well just because of how it has to bend around corners.
 

moparmike

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That’s normal for a lot of cars. Always go with the lower reading, that will be the correct reading. Some cars the oil drain back into the pan hits the dipstick and skews the reading and others the dipstick doesn’t enter the pan straight down so that also throws the reading off. Moral of the story is always go by the lower reading.
 

VENOM-TA

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The dipstick should be inserted with the ENGINE OIL facing forward to the nose of the car, as in if you were standing in front of it you could read it. And always assume the lower reading..
 

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