Okay so my outback has got a leaky oil gasket which I have known about for the last oh...6 weeks or so. I've been checking my oil regularly...went on one long road trip two weeks ago (1500 miles) and a shorter one yesterday (~450 miles).

I have found on more than one occasion that when I check the oil when the car is COLD. Like sitting in 30 degrees for several hours cold...no oil reads on the dipstick at all. I let it warm up for a minute or two and it reads full. I can let it warm up for a minute or two, kill the engine, let it sit for a few minutes, and it still reads full.

Yesterday before driving 200 miles home I checked the oil. Sure enough, not a drop on the dipstick. Car started up and it read full. Drove to buy a quart of oil and even after the car sat for 15 minutes in the parking lot (turned off), it still read full. I checked it a few times on the drive home and every time it read full. The car drove the 200 miles perfectly. Not even a tiny tick in the engine.

Now this is not the first time it has done this. It got an oil change a week ago after the 1500 mile trip (I only added half a quart after I got home- the leak really does not seem to be that major. Getting it fixed asap of course) and there was most definitely plenty of oil in it despite having some of these no-oil-when-totally-cold readings. I'm running a synthetic 5-30 if that makes any difference in what's going on.

Some of my car friends insist that the only way to check the oil is while the car is totally cold, and that my car is either a freak of nature or completely out of oil.

Still others insist that the only way to properly check the oil is to let it warm up for 2 or 3 minutes, shut it off and let it sit for 2 or 3 minutes, then check it.

Now I am NOT a car person, but it seems to me that when I'm checking it totally cold I'm getting a very inaccurate reading. Could this be right? Am I totally missing something here?

Thanks