Dipsticks Why!!

[aeg]

So having taxed the car to use as the daily driver I thought let’s just give her a quick check over , pull the dipstick out and oh! no oil as the end with the marking on has snapped off 😡 Why oh why ? Heard this happen to a few people over the last few months , so it’s not the daily driver for a few days as it’s sump off and fish it out time. So much for my bit of playing in the car.

[SootySport]

Oops, it’ll just lay in the sump, won’t get sucked up by the oil pump as it should have an oil strainer. I dropped a 6mm nut in my engine and it went down to the sump, stayed there for almost a year and I did a few trackdays.  Next oil change I removed the sump and there it was, happily having a bath.

 I’m not saying keep on driving as normal, you should of course remove the tip.

[AndrewBClarke]

Mine did that last November. 100mm broke of the end. Would have been good to be as relaxed as @SootySport but I wasn’t. Sump off and fished it out. With an old engine like mine getting a new dipstick took longer than fishing out the bit !

Presume the ploughed driveway is better now. 

[Paul T]

That's weird Andy, looks like it's been bent and damaged at the top?

 

Guess this might have happened after it broke off (i.e somehow hit the crank before it settled somewhere) Might be worth checking with the new part in that it isn't near the crank for some reason?

[aeg]

Paul I had to drill a bigger hole in the baffle plate of my shallow sump to get it to go in square and give me an accurate reading so whether it’s caught on that and bent I don’t know? But it’s out now and I can carry on putting it back together tonight. I’m with you mr Clarke , it had to come out to give me piece of mind, the way my luck runs it would have destroyed the engine. Just got to get a new one now, anyone got a spare? 

[pistonbroke]

I'm pretty sure that with the Dunnel sump fitted on my Zetec there was a diagram showing the correct length for the dipstick and fill mark 

[shrops-paul]

Should there be a magnet in the sump too to catch stuff like this?

[aeg]

It’s an ERA alloy sump and  there was no need to shorten the dipstick, and it’s got a magnetic sump plug , but hey ho these things are sent to try us😳 it keeps me out of the house and out of the way!!

[Paul T]

I think I have one somewhere, will have a look tonight mate 

[TAFKARM]

How long is it. I’ve definitely got a Duratec one you can. Have for post if it’s the same 

[aeg]

Cheers guys, will have a measure when I get in tonight and start rebuilding 😉

[aeg]

The length is 495mm from the bottom of the stop/handle cheers Andy

[TAFKARM]

8 minutes ago, aeg said:

The length is 495mm from the bottom of the stop/handle cheers Andy

Mines 490mm

[Simon Waterfall Syman84]

12 hours ago, RussH said:

Mines 490mm

But what about the dip stick 😉

[jeff oakley]

Sometimes the dipsticks break as the tube is damaged or has been moved slightly. What then happens every time you insert or remove the mark line which is thinner, is ever so slightly bent backwards and forwards and eventually breaks.

 

As others have said on some modified sumps if the hole in the baffle plate is off hitting it with the stick has the same effect