3.3TT Broken tip on oil dipstick

[ThunderBoy724]

I ordered one of those dipsticks last year and it arrived with the tip broken in the package. I reached out to Sal and he sent me a new one free of charge. I have not had an issue with the new one. I think the plastic used on the NGI one is more brittle than the stock one. I will be more careful when I check my oil from now on.

Personally I think the wire for an oil dipstick is a stupid idea and is just asking for trouble at some point. I'm sure it's because the engine bays on new cars are so crowded that the only way to get an oil dipstick in them anywhere is to make a curved tube. Or just lazy engineering. Or it saves two cents per car so some bean counter said "do it!"

 

[JSolo]

^^The dipstick on the honda accord was at least 3 ft long. It was an all metal rod except for the handle. Tube had several curves in it.

 

[ThunderBoy724]

So this happened today...

Pulled dipstick to check oil, all was good. Put back in and pulled out to check again and the tip was broken. (NGI dipstick)

Any good ideas on how to get the broken piece out? Can I drive the car with it still in there?

Thanks!!!

View attachment 67969

Any news on this situation? Did the piece drain out of the oil pan?

After reading this thread I have put my factory dipstick back in. I wonder if the red billet handle can be attached to the factory stick somehow? Has anyone tried to paint or coat the ugly yellow factory dipstick handle?

 

[peterpan223]

Same thing happened to me, but the difference is that mine is stock dip stick.
It broke off at the exact location as the OP.

Dealer ordered a replacement dip stick and said they will have to remove the oil pan to retrieve the broken piece. It will be a 2 day job since they will have to use silicon to seal the drain pan and have to let it dry. In the meantime, they said it will not cause any harm since oil tube pump has a filter to stop anything big getting sucked into.

Apparently, over at Genesis forum, this is not all that uncommon.

I'm kind of worried that they might not do a good job on putting the drain pan together.

 

[SKStinger]

Same thing happened to me, but the difference is that mine is stock dip stick.
It broke off at the exact location as the OP.

Dealer ordered a replacement dip stick and said they will have to remove the oil pan to retrieve the broken piece. It will be a 2 day job since they will have to use silicon to seal the drain pan and have to let it dry. In the meantime, they said it will not cause any harm since oil tube pump has a filter to stop anything big getting sucked into.

Apparently, over at Genesis forum, this is not all that uncommon.

I'm kind of worried that they might not do a good job on putting the drain pan together.

That's not good. How many KM's are on your car? Going to start looking for an all metal dipstick.

 

[peterpan223]

That's not good. How many KM's are on your car? Going to start looking for an all metal dipstick.

It's a 2019 model, bought it in Nov of 2019.
I drive a lot, so I have about 55,000 miles on it.

But I have never had anything like this happen. And my service advisor also have never seen it

 

[ThunderBoy724]

I would also be interested in an all metal one. Maybe the reason they use the cable is that it has to bend in the tube to get to the oil pan? There's lots of metal dip sticks for other cars and even generic ones. If you could get one close to the correct length and cut it and make marks to match the original it might work. Another consideration is the diameter of the tube at the top. with out a good seal with the o-ring at the top it might start leaking oil out the tube.

 

[rpoffen]

I would also be interested in an all metal one. Maybe the reason they use the cable is that it has to bend in the tube to get to the oil pan? There's lots of metal dip sticks for other cars and even generic ones. If you could get one close to the correct length and cut it and make marks to match the original it might work. Another consideration is the diameter of the tube at the top. with out a good seal with the o-ring at the top it might start leaking oil out the tube.

I guess it might depend on how much it needs to bend.
My 2015 GMC truck as a bit of a bend in the dipstick, but it has an all metal blade type dipstick.

 

[Stinger22]

Any news on this situation? Did the piece drain out of the oil pan?

After reading this thread I have put my factory dipstick back in. I wonder if the red billet handle can be attached to the factory stick somehow? Has anyone tried to paint or coat the ugly yellow factory dipstick handle?

I completed an oil change but did not locate the piece. After speaking to several people (including KIA) and doing research it appears it shouldn't be a problem if it doesn't come out. I've been driving ever since the oil change with no problems. We'll see if it comes out in future oil changes. I dont want to drop the oil pan if I don't have to.

 

[JSolo]

Maybe get one of those borescopes to poke around inside the pan after draining the oil?

Amazon.com : borescope

 

[Stinger22]

Maybe get one of those borescopes to poke around inside the pan after draining the oil?

Amazon.com : borescope

I actually have one and did that....didn't see it.

 

[ChaneRZ]

Dang. I just switched mine back to stock. The NGI one does feel like it is harder. The stock tip one is much softer/flexible.

 

[ThunderBoy724]

I attempted to remove the red handle from the NGI stick to see if it might be possible to attach it to the factory stick. The NGI stick has tiny set screws holding the handle on to the cable. But they used red Loc-Tite and one screw came out and one refuses to budge and I didn't want to destroy it just yet. I also considered a red Plasti-dip for the stock handle but it's $25 a can and I didn't feel like experimenting today. But I did take some measurements of the dipstick to see if it could be matched up with a rod style.

 

[RedCal]

I attempted to remove the red handle from the NGI stick to see if it might be possible to attach it to the factory stick. The NGI stick has tiny set screws holding the handle on to the cable. But they used red Loc-Tite and one screw came out and one refuses to budge and I didn't want to destroy it just yet. I also considered a red Plasti-dip for the stock handle but it's $25 a can and I didn't feel like experimenting today. But I did take some measurements of the dipstick to see if it could be matched up with a rod style.

Plasti-dip spray, or the liquid... I don't think the liquid will work out (having played with it)
Dupli-color metal cast is pretty good if you can get a good shiny silver base

 

[JSolo]

Help me understand, what's wrong with the stock dipstick?

 

[ThunderBoy724]

Help me understand, what's wrong with the stock dipstick?

One user in post #24 reported that his stock dipstick had broken. The original post reported that the NGI billet handle dipstick tip had broken. I saw another user on Reddit report the NGI dipstick had broken in their car.

 

[ChaneRZ]

What's wrong with stock dipstick? I think because it is yellow and some people dress up their engine bay.

 

[Stinger22]

Help me understand, what's wrong with the stock dipstick?

Nothing is "wrong" with it...I switched it out for the NGI red one to match other red engine dress up parts.

 

[Ohiocruiser]

Help me understand, what's wrong with the stock dipstick?

Fact- red dipsticks add POWA!!!!

 

[killinghall]

Thankfully yellow is my favourite colour