reading the dipstick

Ok so i was checking my oil and it looks like this(sorry crude image rofl):

the black being the oil... I don't know why there isnt and oil in the middle after about halfway up. What's that mean

 

I would think you are about half a qt low...you need to look at both side of the dip stick

 

seems like your low add .5 to 1 qt

 

What they said.

 

The oil on the side would be from the sides of the dipstick tube, right? I wipe off the dipstick so that I'll get a clean line to read, but even so sometimes some oil gets up the side.

That's the long answer, what the other guys said is the short and much more useful answer!

 

Well also thats when you were running the car hot wasn't it?

 

nah i checked it in the garage a while ago