Oil level - possible dumb question

[Jim Haseltine]

My car has been nose-high on stands for a bit over a month. Dropped it back onto its wheels yesterday and thought it'd be a good idea to check few things before attempting to start it. although the oil level was fine before starting the work, there was no oil registering on the dipstick. OK, it leaks a bit from the usual place, but I can't believe that it's dropped that much in so short a time, especially as there wasn't a huge patch under the car.
So, can the reservoir drain down to the pump if the engine isn't run for a while or does the dipstick just drop into a small section of the reservoir which could have drained in that time?
Don't want to start the engine in case the level is far too low but on the other hand I don't want to top up the level only for it to be way overfilled once the stuff starts pumping around.

[ATinOf]

http://www.ianhenshall.com/C6_RS6_Study_Guide.pdf

courtesy of another post on here

Description on page 12 onwards, would suggest that for oil to drain out of the tank it would need to pass back through the pump pressure gears, which in theory is possible therer is no one way valving in circuit but wouldn't occur easily if at all to any great degree I wouldnt have thought

[ATinOf]

I'd turn it over for 10 seconds and stop and check it again, maybe 5 seconds....

[Jim Haseltine]

I spent some time looking through the guide and suspect that the angle the car has been sitting at has let the oil drain a bit. While I was working under the car I found that 2 of the 3 bushes that mount the oil cooler had split so I had the cooler dropped down for a couple of days - I suspect that if the cooler wasn't brim full at the time some of the oil might have ended up in there.
I'm going to add enough oil to get the level part way up the dipstick, turn the engine over and then top it up if needed.

[c3nturi0n]

that's a wise move... if it does indeed cause trouble in the future i would suggest replacing at the next service interval.

ps. assume you are aware that RS's consume engine oil as part of their regular running (i beleive ~0.5L per 1000km).

[Jim Haseltine]

After running the engine for a couple of minutes the oil level rose considerably, it's now pretty close to the 'fill' level on the dip stick. I'll run it again tomorrow evening, top it up if need be and then see about changing the oil next week as I'd planned - I need the car facing the other way in the drive to be able to do that. Either that or I'll get down to my mate's auto centre and get it on one of his lifts one night.