I guess I dont know how high is too high. I am sure a little extra wont do much, but I have been told that being too high can actually cause damage.

 

Too much oil can blow out seals and such.

 

Here is my dipstick, after adding the 4.5 qts stated in the manual.

Let the pan and filter area drain/drip for 10 minutes before reinstalling and adding oil. Guess I'll go 4 qts next time.

 

Thats about what mine looks like. I let mine drain for 20 minutes or so when I did it.

 

Assuming the two dots are 1 qt, then its not too bad, dunno even that it's 1/2 quart too high.

BTW, it looked like this after the 5k dealer change too, so I assume they too put in 4.5 qts.

 

Just for ----- and giggles, I pulled the dipstick right after getting home from my 15 minute hwy ride, just to look for "foaming". First 3 pulls yielded a single bubble, like in this pic, then no more bubble.

 

if it is already overfilled when its cold then its really gonna be high when the engine heats up and the oil expands.

 

To be honest, mine does not look very diff hot vs cold. The pics are hot. Its obviously stupid they put 4.5 qts in the manual.

 

I'm not a proffesional mechanic, but do most of my own work and the way to do it for a DIY'er is;
Put oil in until it reaches the full mark, start and run the engine for about 30 seconds and stop.
Check the oil level after a couple of minutes and add till you get to the full mark. Done.

This process takes longer than a professional mechanic has to spend, but as your time is free, it's affordable.

Don't worry if it's a little high when hot as there is a thing called "Gulp" which is the amount of oil running around the engine that hasn't got back to the sump yet. That will lower the level a bit.