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Dip stick broke off in engine... wtf do i do now???

unbolt the dipstick tube from the head. give it a little twist and carefully pull the whole tube out making sure that the dipstick comes with it. remove the dipstick from the tube. go to a junkyard and grab another dipstick to replace the broken one.
 
I'm with Striker on this one, but if you don't want to go that route...how bout one of those tools you use for picking up bolts and such when they fall into hard to reach places? The name escapes me right now though...parts gripper and picker maybe?
 
^^^ a small snake perhaps?

honestly unbolting it is gonna be the easiest thing to do. 1 10mm bolt and pull it out. its really simple
 
Pen_Two said:
I'm with Striker on this one, but if you don't want to go that route...how bout one of those tools you use for picking up bolts and such when they fall into hard to reach places? The name escapes me right now though...parts gripper and picker maybe?
Click to expand...

It's called the "pickle grabber", but my girlfriend is not to bring it in the bedroom. :laugh:
 
Maybe you could drill a small hole partway into the plastic and put a small screw in it to pull on carefully. Changing the whole thing out isn't a bad idea..
 
striker2 said:
unbolt the dipstick tube from the head. give it a little twist and carefully pull the whole tube out making sure that the dipstick comes with it. remove the dipstick from the tube. go to a junkyard and grab another dipstick to replace the broken one.
Click to expand...


I guess I have to do this for mine...the first quarter from the tip broke, just like cheese, so carbonized that I couldn't believe it..

Off to the junk yard for a decent dipstick...now I gotta take the cat off again ... sigh
 
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i have your solution i hope.

OK in this pic you can see a telescoping magnet. now next to it is a claw like grabber. you press the button on the top to open the claw then release to make the claw grab. its about a foot long, i would highly recommend you try and find a tool like this. the claw has a very strong grip and is flexible.


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Same thing happened to me. Easy solution. Get a screwdriver and hold a lighter to the tip till it gets hot. Push the hot tip into the plastic inside the tube so it melts, then let it sit and harden for a few minutes. Then pull it out. Melt the plastic again to release it.
 
I used a drywall screw: I threaded it in until it got tight and then pulled it out. You may want to have a friend hold a vacuum there to catch any thing from falling in while you do it.
 
The same exact thing happened to me when checking my oil right before a long trip! The same thing also happened to my friends parents on their Contour so I think that this is probably common especially since my local dealer had a new dipstick in stock!

The only easy solution I found was to use an O-Ring pick to remove some of the plastic inside the dipstick tube until I could see the actual metal dipstick. I then took an old pair of needle nose pliers and scuffed up the inside (gripping portion) of the needle nose using a hacksaw blade, so that the portion of the needle nose coming in contact with the actual dipstick would be very rough (course). I then used the needle nose pliers to pull out the dipstick, it took like 3 minutes to do this.

I then changed the oil to make sure that there was no plastic or debris in the oil before I started the car.
 
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