Last time I had my oil changed, the guy broke the dipstick off as he was removing it. (Both he and the manager said that is common, although it’s the first time in 30 years it’s happened to me.) They couldn’t get the dipstick out, but I was assured that the broken dipstick wouldn’t cause a problem. Is it OK to leave the dipstick in? And is it really common for the dipstick to break when it is removed?
Buy a new dipstick from your dealer. The old one won’t hurt anything lying in the oil sump. It’s not common, but it happens.
It’s plastic loops molded to the steel dipstick that break off. Not that uncommon.
But what someone needs to do is remove the dipstick tube from the engine so broken dipstick can be removed, so a new dipstick can be inserted. You do want to be able to check the oil level?
Tester
You covered that answer well.
Why isn’t the shop replacing the dipstick?
The “boys” (tom and ray) just covered this last week on the radio show…sure you aren’t that same caller LOL.
Anyway, they said YOU HAVE to have it fixed…oil will continually spout out of the tube and you have no way of knowing how much, nor how to measure what you have left, besides having it splash on the manifold, burn and smell.
The shop should fix it free. The old stick isn’t lying at the bottom of the pan, it’s still in the tube. Tom and Ray said it is nearly impossible to get out, although Tommy seemed to think a magnet might do the trick. I was thinking one of those really long pairs of skinny tweezers…
Ray said the tube would have to be removed and it would be costly…At any rate, both of them said to fix ASAP
A 1/4" diameter round magnet welded to the end of a 1/4" or less (long) rod would pull that dipstick out.
When I worked at a heavy construction house one of the mechanics did that and in two minutes had the broken piece out.