Removal of Broken Dip Stick '96 Concorde?

The dip stick handle broke off about 3/8" below the top of the dip stick
tube. Any ideas on how to pull the stick out?

 

You may be able to pull out the dipstick tube and get it. I'm not sure
exactly on your model, but usually they (dipstick tube) are either pressed
in the block, or have a bracket that is bolted to the engine. May be easier
than dropping the oil pan. I doubt you will find any pliers slim enough to
retrieve it through the tube.

Good luck.

 

You could try putting a magnet on the end of a string and lowering it into
the tube and trying to pull it up, not sure if the stick is magnetic though,
and itd have to be a small magnet.

 

a magnet might help. or tweezer.
you can even consider take the dip stick hose/pipe out.

 

There are some very long, thin needle-nose pliers. Radio Shack may or
may not have the type. They would definitely work if you can find them
- grip much better than tweezers. A smaller normal pair of needle-nose
may work if the jaws are long and thin enough.

Heck - buy a cheap pair of smallish ones at Radio Shack and grind the
sides thin. Spray the metal filings off with brake parts cleaner before
sticking them into the dipstick tube.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

It happened to me with my Intrepid. I drilled using a very small diameter
drill and pulled it out with the drill bit I used. It was not a big deal.
at last resort, drop the oil pan.

 

Arnie,

You are real close here. Get a very small drill bit, 1/8" or so and work at
the plastic around the metal core of the dipstick. You will not be able to
push the dipstick down much if any farther than it is. It will not go all
the way down into the pan. After you get some of the plastic drilled out,
blow it out with a little compressed air. There should be a flat metal tang
that you can get a pair of hemostats on. This has worked a bunch of times
for me.

Denny

 

Okay, tried that but as I pushed the drill onto the plastic, the
dipstick started going down another 1/4". I didn't know how far it would
go so I stopped.

Next I tried 5 minute epoxy on a wood screw with a philips head. Put a
drop of the epoxy on the head of the screw and lowered down on top of
the dipstick. Braced the wood screw in the center of the tube with some
putty while it was drying.

15 minutes later out it came. So sucess!!

Many thanks to all who offered suggestions.

 

Why don't you take the screw and using a propane torch, heat it up as
much as you can, then jam it down into the plastic. Let it cool, and enough
of the plastic should have formed around it to allow you to pull it out.

Ted

 

What you really need is a hemostat (used by surgeons to clamp blood
vessels). I think you can also get those at radio shack (people use them to
clamp parts together for gluing/soldering). It looks like a long thin pair
of pliers that can lock in place using little serrations in the handle.
They're only a few bucks. If you absolutely can't fish the stick out, you
can probably safely pull the tube out of the block, remove the stick and
then replace the tube. It's either lightly pressed in place or held in
place by an easily replacable O-ring.

cheers,

C

 

Thanks everyone for the ideas. The
problem is that handle broke roughly

Don't do that. You're bound just to get a bunch of filings in the
crankcase. It probably won't work anyway. It'll just push the stick
further into the tube.

Nah, just give it a firm yank. Then when you're done, gently tap it back in
with a blunt chisel/centerpunch and a small mallet.

That's a really bad idea. See above.

Bill Putney's idea with a hot wire/paperclip might just work too.

Cheers,

C

 

I tried that by experimenting first on the handle that had broken off. I
used a paper clip and a blow torch but the plastic was so tough and
apparently designed to resist heat (which should be expected) that I
could not make much more then a very small indentation in the plastic.

Fortunately, the use of epoxy to grab it and pull it out worked fine.

 

i carefully screw into the remining plactic a self tapping screw and gently pull
it out

 

Hey - good thinking - glad you got it out. Since the heat didn't melt
it, it must be made of what's called a thermoset type plastic - meaning
the molecules lock together, and it will carbonize before it melts
(turns gooey).

Glad you had success with the epoxy!

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

That's exactly what happened. It did carbonize so it must be thermoset.

The first time I tried the epoxy, it didn't work because the O ring was
still in dip stick tube and it made it tough to pull out and the epoxy
didn't hold. I was able to remove the O ring with some tweezers and then
the epoxy held.

FWIW, the actual break of the handle came at the point where the O ring
sits. In the handle's shaft, there is a slight indentation used to hold
the O ring and that is the thinnest (and weakest) part of the plastic shaft.

 

How about taking an 1/8" extend drill bit and drilling a hole in the plastic
then tape a 3" long Sheetrock screw on the end of a screwdriver
Screw it into the hole and pull out the broken stick.