Broken distick housing

Hi Folks,

I have a 98 VW Jetta GLS. I changed the oil this morning, and when I went to check the level, the dipstick didn’t come out of the housing; the housing broke away from the tube.



Unfortunately, changing the oil is about the limit of my knowledge of cars. Is this a dangerous situation? Can I drive the car with a broken dipstick tube? Is this something I can fix myself with basic tools? Thanks for your advice.

So you yanked on the dipstick, and the whole tube came out with it? Does the tube appear to be broken at all?

On many cars, the dispstick just goes into a little rubber seal. Perhaps this seal is worn out, but you may have just pulled on it too hard. Is the dipstick stuck to the tube?

Anyways, you could try just sticking it back in. If it goes back in and appears to be in there firmly, go ahead and start your motor, but make sure you have somewhere that you can see where the tube goes in, so you can make sure it isn’t leaking while running.

This is common on VW engines and is an easy fix . The plastic tube is less than ten bucks and can be replaced in five minutes . Big thing is to get the right part . Take a look at clubb5.com and do a search for dipstick funnel . There are some pictures posted of the part .

Heres a pic of one type of funnel
/home.earthlink.net/~bmats/data/A111130633JLB.jpg

The other type is longer and has a larger diameter top .