Its brand new oil. It's the shiny part if that helps. I

I'm going to blame it on lighting.

The best way I have found to read a dipstick is to lay it on a paper towel or piece of brown paper and look at where the paper absorbs it. Very definitive especially with new or clean oil.

Maybe if the picture was zoomed in to make the end of the stick full frame.

This was my thinking. Figured it was fresh oil and would be hard to see but looks damn near invisible.

Here is a really zoomed in pic. Don't know if it's visible or not....

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That picture is pretty fuzzy, but I have the impression that it is at least full. Beyond that, I can't judge. Did you try laying the stick on a piece of paper?

Huge pixilation on that picture but it looks like I can at least see the color variation on that one...I think. Looks full enough though I like making sure mine is at the max fill line just because the more oil you have (up to but not over max capacity) the more the oil has a chance to cool off in the sump before passing through the engine again.

OK....SO here is my questions and thing I find confusing......

I did the paper towel method where I wiped it off completely and the cord above the end of the dipstick as well. Well this dipstick setup seems kind of stupid to me because when you put it down in then pull it out that cord always seems rub the sides of the tube.

My question is...if the oil is only just to the full line and not overly full would the cord above the end of the dipstick have oil on it as well?

Most dipsticks are this way but usually you can tell what's the oil level and what's residue from the tube. Also, the residue on the tube should be minimal.

You're looking at that "anchor" at the lower part of the stick. It has "notches" on it and full is every notch having oil suspended in the notch. Residue won't be enough to fill the notch and have oil suspended within it.

What he said.
With the "paper towel method" you still interpret by volume, it is just easier to see (for me) than clear oil.

I don't know....It's wierd....I know it's at least full but according to the cord above it still gets oil on it...Very hard to tell....

My mechanic thought it was telling him that it was a quart and a half too full!!!

I doubt that's true since I was driving it and after I put the check valve back on there is no place for the oil to go accept through seals etc (which is hasn't done). I took it out and drove it really hard and still nothing so I don't know...

You could drain it, measure what you get out, and put it back in.

Yeah, I was thinking about doing this...really ads backwards though...

So anyway....

I decided that even if it isn't a problem right now I should still just go ahead and have the high pressure fuel pump changed. I got the new one from ZZP for only $200 and am having it done tomorrow with the new gasket. I told my mechanic to inspect the crap out of the old gasket to tell me if it looked like it had deteriorated etc....

I'm hoping this has been my problem all along, but the one thing I never noticed with is the ticking was always rythmic. Not like the video Ghost shows where it's all over the place. I always thought when even the gasket went the pump would always tick erratically. I'm hoping against hope this is the problem though...

Ok so I just had my mechanic replace the fuel pump in the car, and I also had them change the oil again but not put all 5 quarts in. I'm a littl under 5 quarts so I know they didn't over fill it.

So I have the old fuel pump and I'm wondering if there is a way to actually check and tell if the fuel pump was actually bad or not. I will say it always had the consistent tick and was never not consistent. The new one seems to tick more, but consistent so I guess it's fine as well.