Originally Posted by phunk

Looks like everything is fine to me.

Difference from bottom line to top line on the dipstick for most cars is about 1 quart.

You get different readings when you check your oil because it takes a long time for the oil to settle. You could get a slightly lower reading if you are waiting for the oil to come back down from the cylinder heads. You could get a slightly higher reading if you were just driving hard and oil level was splashing around your dipstick.

Overall, this is not at all a super sensitive issue. So long as your oil pump pickup in the bottom of the pan stays submerged, it hardly makes a difference as to PRECISELY how much oil is in the engine. Obviously more oil stabilizes temps and increases oil longevity, but +/- 1/8" on the dipstick is never going to make a difference in anything.

My oil cooler has the fittings facing up as well, I prefer this for proper dipstick readings. Facing down means your dipstick is going to average higher readings when the car has been sitting. Facing up is more accurate, but obviously you arent changing the oil thats in the cooler since it cannot escape with engine off. Whatever.

6 quarts during an oil change would overfill my car personally. Maybe your oil cooler and lines hold more oil. But for me, 5.5 quarts gets me right to the top line. Use however much it takes.