Henry,

I don't know why the end of the dipstick is twisted, but if all you did is take out that little 1/4 twist at the end I think you'll be fine. As long as you didn't mess with any of the bends above where you read the level it should still reach to the same depth and give an accurate reading (or at least as accurate as you can ever get with that thing).

BTW, that font you're using is kinda hard to read, especially with all the extra spacing.

 

 

You are correct. Getting a valid reading on the dipstick is a PITA!!!
However, if you park on a level surface, wait 10+ minutes, pull the dipstick, wipe it, put it back in and pull it again. You can get a good reading. You have to ignore the oil that gets deposited on the side of the stick. Just look at the bottom where the levels are indicated. It works.

 

By untwisting the dipstick, you may have elongated the stick thereby creating an innacurate reading. I am sure it shouldn't make that much of a difference, but I would feel safer with a new one. At the very least, measure yours against another stock one to see if there is in fact any difference. Your dipstick being longer (No way to get around that sounding funny), may cause you to read lower than actual oil levels.

 

This was my first reaction as well, but it's not actually true. Since the dipstick is reaching down into the oil from a fixed point above it, as long as the dipstick isn't altered above where you read the level, it will read the same. Think about it another way: if you were to cut off the tip of your dipstick the reading would still be the same (as long as you cut it off below where you read the level).

 

^ +1
since the part that is elongated does not have any measurements on it - unless that is you run it real low on oil.

 

Dooooooooooooooe! My bad... I stand corrected! I posted that before the coffee kicked in!