Time for a real noob question sorry, but I've never had a bike with an oil reservoir in the frame before.

I have hell checking the oil on my 2002 XT600E (4PT model) every time.

I took it for a good 20 minute ride, removed the plastic cover, started the engine again for 10 seconds, let the bike stand for 2 minutes, removed and wiped the dipstick, bike upright on a level surface with no weight on it, and checked the level without screwing in the dipstick. It was on the round part of the dipstick about 20-25mm above the max mark. Bugger, not having checked it for a while I was expecting to find it too low!

Syringe and rubber tube, remove 100ml of oil, refit dipstick, start engine for 10 seconds, stand for two minutes, check level. The level on the dipstick hasn't moved.

Repeat the process several times until I've removed 400ml of oil and still showing exactly the same place on the dipstick after 2 minutes, so I stop believing it and let it stand for a bit longer with the dipstick removed. After 3 minutes it's gone down by another 5mm, after 5 minutes another 10mm, after 10 minutes it's where it should be on the full mark.

I have no idea if I have the right amount of oil in my bike or not. I've taken out 400ml of oil, but checking by the instructions in the owners manual, 10 seconds running engine, two minutes standing before removing the dipstick, the level on the dipstick is still 20-25mm too high, and hasn't gone down at all.

If I were to unscrew the dipstick with the engine running, it would squirt out oil, don't know if this is normal to have pressure here or not.

Can anyone help?

Thanks