i make sure its stone cold. start the engine for about 15 seconds. turn it off. pull the dipstick out, wipe and wait for about half a minute and take a reading.

On my dads bmw though if I took a reading when stone cold and it showed 3/4 full on the dipstick. Then started it for a few seconds, turned it off, took another reading and then it showed just below min on the dipstick. So what's the correct reading?