Son has 94 accord four cylinder VTEC. Was visiting for the holidays.
As he was warming up the car to start back I asked if he had checked
oil. He said, no good idea so we turned off the engine waited about
two minutes and then checked. Showed more than a quart low. He was
alarmed but had just driven over a thousand miles on a high mileage
engine and assumed he had burned some. Put a quart in and checked it
again and it showed within the two dipstick holes about three quarters
of a way to the top hole.

He called me on the road when he had stopped for lunch and said the
dipstick then showed about a quarter inch over the full hole
indicating probably a half quart or so too much. The engine on this
check had been off for about thirty minutes. We assumed full drain
back from the head and any other crevices in the engine.

question:

How long should you wait to get a reasonably accurate reading on a
fully warm engine after turning it off?

Is a half quart too much a problem. Should he drain it back to
protect the seals?

thanks

Frank