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- Check the oil when the engine is warm. Oil expands when it’s hot and contracts when it’s cold. Different temperatures will give you different readings.
- Park the car on a level surface.
- Open the hood.
- Find the dipstick, a long piece of metal sticking out of the engine with a loop at one end. Usually located near the spark plugs.
- Wipe the oil off the dipstick with a paper towel or shop rag.
- Replace the clean dipstick, making sure to push it all the way in. Then pull it back out and hold it horizontally in front of you.
- Look at the pointy end of the dipstick. If the oil on the dipstick is below the line marked “full”. Add a small amount of oil (less than a quarter of a quart) with a funnel. Many dipsticks simply have 2 lines with a cross hatch design in between. The oil level should be halfway between these 2 lines.
- Check the oil level with the dipstick after adding oil. Add more if necessary. It’s easier to add more oil, but fairly difficult to remove oil if you add too much.
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