Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting any one else lost the handle on the oil dip stick?

So, sometime in the last 4 days, since I last checked my oil, the yellow t-handle on my oil dipstick somehow popped off...and when I went to get my oil changed today, they had to pull the remaining dip stick out of the tube. Has this happened to anyone before? I find it just SO bizzarre. If so, were you able to get a replacement from a dealer easily? My concern is that without the stick in there, even for me to drive to the nearest dealer, i'm going to be spewing oil all over the inside of my hood.

Thoughts, suggestions? Thanks.

Also, not of great need, but evenutally, i think i'm going to need to replace my headlights, as they have been basically sandblasted, and are now so scratched that the light is dimmed and defracted. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should go about replacing them?

Thanks a million again.

Mine broke not too long ago, leaving the dipstick inside the tube, and I drove it for a couple days without a mess from oil spilling out. I got a new one from the dealer for IIRC, about $25.

I think an auto parts store is able to sell something that will replace the Engine Oil Dipstick, such as Autozone, I could be wrong

This happened to us a while back, but don't worry, no oil will come out of there. It's not a big deal. IF you can get your dipstick out, go get a new one from the dealer, or if you are crazy like my husband, he & his friend got out the dremmel tool and shop vac. Our friend held the hose of the shop vac up to the tube while my hub cut the tube the dipstick is in with his dremmel. If you get the metal shavings in the tube, it's bad. Anyway, it cut the tube off just enough to be able to pull the rest of the dipstick out with pliers, then they took the drill......or something, made a hole in the top of what's left of the dipstick, and then put a small chain on it, so we can pull the dipstick out. Yes, my hub likes to do things the hard way, but it works. We went to Auto Zone and bought one of the universal dipsticks, but it was too big.

I had to replace mine because the handle broke off leaving the stick part inside the tube.

I removed the bolt holding the tube and pulled the entire tube off the block. I then pushed the stick up through the top of the tube, and then put the tube back on the block. It was a little tricky realigning the tube and I needed a 2nd pair of hads to hold it while I re-installed it. You can buy a replacement stick of about $20.00. The entire process took less the 1/2 hour.

If part of the plastic handle is still connected to the dipstick, like mine was, just screw a small drywall screw into the plastic and pull it out with some pliers.

As usual this forum is the greatest, and I did this search and found out just what to do. But I will add some more to it. The new part cost $17 with local sales tax. I couldn't get the tube out of the block and that was a good thing. I saw the sheetrock screw suggestion and that worked great, but the broken part wouldn't pull out! So I told my son to start the engine and idle it. It must be the increased pressure in the crankcase made pulling out the piece a breeze. There is an o-ring on the plastic part which make a good tight seal, too tight sometimes.