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I use no oil in between 500 mile oil changes but my engine is fairly fresh at around 6000 miles.

So to me that is not a good comparison to your engine that has 45,000 miles on it.

Only WHN has indicated how many miles on his engine.

Need to compare apples to apples on this one.

Try filling it to halfway between L and F to see if that makes any difference. No harm will come from keeping it at that level.