The quarts are just a rough guideline, you have to judge by the dipstick reading (on level ground, preferably cold, but at least let it sit ~15 mins). Ideally you want the mid-point between the two dots/holes, but anywhere between them is acceptable.
The consequences:
... of being severely underfilled: no oil pickup, engine tears itself apart pretty quickly.
... of being slightly underfilled (e.g. just off the bottom of the dipstick): you'll get oil pickup parked, but you'll lose oil pickup when you apply G's (braking/cornering/accelerating), leading to temporary oiling problems and slower damage.
... of being even a little overfilled: your oil will foam from air and/or moving parts sloshing into it, and foamy oil doesn't lubricate well or move under pump force the same -> increased engine wear, possible immediate problems on a really hard drive at the track if you really cook something.
Check the dipstick!
(And learn to do your own oil changes. It's the easiest maintenance job and one of the most critical. Nobody cares about your engine more than you do! Ramps are cheap! Get the larger of the two sizes of Rhino Ramps that every local parts store carries, and get Home Depot to cut you two little 2ft sections of 2x4 to put in front of the ramps (to clear the front air spoilers on the way up))
Last edited by wstar; 08-20-2012 at 06:49 PM.
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