broken dip stick

[94silvermark]

During my valve cover job i neglected to remove the dip stick and the handle broke off, it's now stuck in the tube. I tried gluing a screw to it but the glue didn't hold. My question is can i use a dip stick from a 2nd gen? I recall seeing a few being parted out around here but no 1st gens. Maybe the sohc 4.6 dip stick will work?

 

[Lownslowlsc]

How far down the tube is the rest of it?

 

[94silvermark]

About 5/8" it's just the handle that broke off the part that it hooks to which is thicker is still there. I figure it would be easier to get a new dip stick and tube, than try and fix this one then go to get a new dip stick.

 

[Sapperfire]

Same dip stick for both Gens

 

[chargerxr]

I would try a good pair of hemostats to remove it. If you have to change the whole dipstick tube it will be a pain in the ass.

 

[94silvermark]

Is the tube hard to remove? I was looking through the manual which shows the dip stick tube just slipping out after unbolting from the valve cover. However it also says the motor mount on that side must be removed. If this is the case i will really try to get it out but it doesn't look good. The mount is still unbolted from the valve cover job so i can lift the engine if needed. What remains of the dip stick is plugging the tube and broken off flat so i cant grab it with anything, hemostats or otherwise. I tried drilling into the plastic bit to use a wood screw and pull it out. That didn't work i don't know what else to try but replacing the whole thing.

 

[chargerxr]

Not sure what to tell you to use to remove it, but I would certainly try hard to get it out. The only 2 dipstick tubes I've ever removed, on a Mark VIII engine, were a major pain. I had to remove the oil pan and beat them up out of there.

 

[94silvermark]

Yeah that would be bad, i'm starting to hate this car.

 

[Markviiiedrea]

Yeah that would be bad, I'm starting to hate this car.

It's certainly a love hate relationship with a Mark VIII, I personally would change the motor before I'd try and change a dipstick tube.

So try to get it out, I have an extra dipstick if you need one. Can you get a picture up of what it looks like, maybe we can take a look and give you some idea's.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

Yeah that would be bad, i'm starting to hate this car.

Can't blame the car for you forgetting to remove the dipstick. Get creative and remove whats left of the old one without damaging the tube and replace it. Easy peasy.

 

[94silvermark]

Can't blame the car for you forgetting to remove the dipstick. Get creative and remove whats left of the old one without damaging the tube and replace it. Easy peasy.

I just feel it was unnecessarily hard to do the valve cover job. I'll report back later today with my progress or lack thereof.

 

[BenLSC]

The valve cover on the driver's side is a PITA I did it last weekend. You definitely needed to take the wiper cowl off, as well as 20 other things, and to top it off I forgot to put new bolt seals in LOL.

Have you tried a magnet to get the dipstick out??

 

[Alexander B. Sonin]

Check the number of your the dip stick, different number
of varying lengths.
Alexander

 

[UltimateSVT]

I'd try to get the dip stick out. If you absolutely have to swap dipstick tubes, make sure you install that puppy right. Otherwise expect oil leaks.

 

[97 Octane]

To get the dipstick out without doing any damage to the tube, you can use one of these in a small VIIIth" diameter.



Its called a PET expanding wire mesh loom, braided wire loom or sometimes refered to as Techflex.

Just shove the expanded end down the tube as far down as it can go around the dipstick, then pull up with a slight tug.

-Ren

 

[98lincmk7lsc]

To get the dipstick out without doing any damage to the tube, you can use one of these in a small VIIIth" diameter.

View attachment 828465678

Its called a PET expanding wire mesh loom, braided wire loom or sometimes refered to as Techflex.

Just shove the expanded end down the tube as far down as it can go around the dipstick, then pull up with a slight tug.

-Ren

Also known as "Chinese finger trap"

 

[Sapperfire]

Edit: stupid phones

 

[Sapperfire]

Theres a seal on the handle for the dip stick. Anytime I've seen the handle break off, the piece with the seal is still inside the tube. If that's the case, he won't be able to feed that beyond it. What I've done before is find a tiny drill bit, drill the bit down into the plastic, and release the bit from the drill, then pull on the drill bit to extract the dip stick

 

[94silvermark]

Thanks for all the advice guys there are some really good ideas in this thread. Alas my engine is blown and not the good kind so the dip stick is the least of my worries. Nonetheless i appreciate that there are so many nice guys trying to help me when my car refuses to.