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Dear trk8,
Good p.m. and may this find you well. Here's how to improve readability. If the engine was run with dirty oil, the dipstick tip may be black, almost as if it were painted.
That black (carbon) coating can be removed. If you have a bench grinder with a wire brush (or a hand held drill, into the chuck of which a wire brush on an arbor [shaft] can be put), you can gently wire brush the dipstick tip, to remove the carbon. Do not use the abrasive (blue or green grit) wheel to polish the dipstick end, only the wire brush.
Once you have gotten down to bare metal (it will be silvery), you should find that you can read the oil level easily.
At the risk of trespassing on your goodness, might I point out that even with a dirty dipstick tip, you should be able to see the oil level. Are you 100% sure that there is enough oil in the oil pan, to register on the dipstick??
If the dipstick tip is not wet with oil - and you can know this by applying a paper towel to it - add oil at once! If the oil level does not reach the bottom of the dipstick, you are at least two quarts low, in a system that holds 4 1/1 quarts. This shortage must be seen to at ONCE!!!
Hope this helps.
Yours faithfully,
spook
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