How to get a broken oil dipstick out of the tube
When an oil dipstick handle snaps off and leaves the remaining portion stuck inside the guide tube, you do not necessarily need to drop the oil pan. Depending on how the tube is secured, you can often unbolt the tube itself to pull it down and extract the broken piece.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using a heated paperclip to melt into the remaining piece
- 2Using needle-nose pliers
- 3Drilling a small pilot hole and screwing in a drywall or wood screw to pull it out
- 4Using a dental pick set to hook and pull it out
- 5Loosening the oil pan to see if the dipstick can be pulled out without fully removing the pan
- 6Taking the oil pan apart entirely if RTV sealant was used
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“The person I bought it from told me the oil dipstick broke off recently and they were going to super glue it back one but had not had the chance yet.”source ↗
“What the hell do I do now lol it’s not pinched down in the pan is it?”source ↗
“So do I have to drop the whole pan again or can I just unbolt it pull it down and try and pull the dipstick out?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 9How to remove a snapped bolt in a tight space?
- 2How to get a blown spark plug out of engine threads
- 6Allen key stuck in swing arm axle
- 6How to get melted plastic off a car exhaust pipe
- 3How to get broken ignition coil pieces out of the spark plug tube
- 2How to pull wires through a long conduit with multiple bends