Broken dipstick tube, immediate help required.

I think this is ok but I want some confirmation since I'll be driving in frigid conditions at 2 am with it.

The dipstick tube on my 97 k1500 5.0 snapped off at the block, not sure why but there it is. I think it has a flared out ring to prevent it from being pushed in too far and it snapped above that. Oil isn't shooting out and I'm mostly worried about the remnants falling into the oil pan and causing problems.

Is this ok to drive? Am I being stupid and freaking out? Why does this always happen in the dark the night before I need to use it?

Correction....it broke off after the flared out tube

Do you have a propane torch and a magnet? Heat up the hole that has the piece in it and get the remnant out.

I wouldn't drive it, but I'm fairly low risk. Not going to hurt the motor per say, but it will sling oil everyberkingwhere.

On second thought, berkeley everyone I'll just fix it before I drive it and swap in a backup vehicle.

Thank you Javelin for responding so quickly

If there's no flare keeping it the last bit of tube from falling in, if it actually falls into the oil pan I wouldn't worry about it - it's just going to roll around the bottom and not get sucked up by the pump or anything since it's too large and won't seal against anything. If it could get somewhere else, such as onto a windage tray where it could be struck by the spinning crank, that could be a problem.

I'd be more worried about the new hole in your block, this can create a vacuum leak or even a place for oil to squirt out if the crankcase pressure turns positive.

Best of luck getting that chunk of tube out.  They can get really stuck in there.

Can you tap the inside of the tube? To thread in a puller?

If the hole in the block doesn't have a step in it to limit the insertion of the tube, then something like this may be helpful to get the remaining piece out if you have room:

No Time said:

If the hole in the block doesn't have a step in it to limit the insertion of the tube, then something like this may be helpful to get the remaining piece out if you have room:

 

That is​​​ creepy....I was looking around for one of those seconds ago

GameboyRMH said:

If there's no flare keeping it the last bit of tube from falling in, if it actually falls into the oil pan I wouldn't worry about it - it's just going to roll around the bottom and not get sucked up by the pump or anything since it's too large and won't seal against anything. If it could get somewhere else, such as onto a windage tray where it could be struck by the spinning crank, that could be a problem.

I'd be more worried about the new hole in your block, this can create a vacuum leak or even a place for oil to squirt out if the crankcase pressure turns positive.

You are right, oil will go everywhere and driving it is stupid.

It's been a bad day, I should have just said berkeley it and not even thought of driving it, so that's what I'm gonna do now

bentwrench said:

Can you tap the inside of the tube? To thread in a puller?

I can just barely reach so im hoping the answer is yes.

Literally in all the years I've worked on cars I've never had anything like this happen.,yaaayyy

If simple methods don't work then you could try clean up the ID, push in a foam plug, and JB weld/epoxy a bolt in to the tube to attach a puller. 

Decades ago I had a SBC that had the tube break like that. I kept driving it for a while, probably months.

I don't remember it spraying oil anywhere. Oil consumption didn't change.
 

 I wasn't able to get it out myself, and I even made a hooked tool from a hardened flat blade screwdriver. Heat might have made a difference. I paid a shop to get it replaced. I don't know what it took to get it out. 
 

Had that happen on my Bugeye, it was plastic, but the answer for it was push it in and drop the pan. You probably have a pan that humps over a cross member though, right?

GMT400 isn't too big of a deal.

Remove the one bolt per side on the engine mounts. Remove upper half of fan shroud. Put jack and block of wood under harmonic balancer and jack engine up until distributor is nearly touching firewall. Unbolt pan and drop it down enough so that you can twist it out of the way and allow you to whack the dipstick tube remanent upwards and out.

Use a new GM dipstick and tube. Grab an oil filter and five quarts of oil. One of those good Felpro gaskets with the snapups. 

It's one of those jobs that's quicker to just say this sucks and do it right rather than monkeying around with kludges. And bolt the new tube to the passenger side cylinder head like it's supposed to be and you won't break it again down the road. 

How much is hanging out of the block. The couple times its happened on similar cars Ive just been able to grab them with some pliers and wrestle it out. The one time it was almost flush, I hit the little bit that was hanging out with an air hammer to dent it in a little then stuck some needle nose pliers down the dipstick tube and block hole and wrestled it out.

Oh things happen.  Once on a SBF I was pulling a distributor to rotate it one tooth on the drive gear to get a better range of timing adjustment.....  as I was lifting it I heard the oil pump drive shaft lift up and fall down into the oil pan.  15 minute job turned into big job.  
 

You could drive this but it will make a mess.  What this job really needs is a micro sized 3 jaw slide hammer.....  not sure that even exists.  I'd try grinding down two of the paint can openers to fit back to back to make a tiny two jaw hand puller.....  

How is clearance to drop the pan if you need to knock it out from the other side?  

Would a valve seal puller pliers be of any use to pull the stub off the old tube out?  They're round, long-nosed, and pretty grippy...

Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) said:

Decades ago I had a SBC that had the tube break like that. I kept driving it for a while, probably months.

I don't remember it spraying oil anywhere. Oil consumption didn't change.
 

 I wasn't able to get it out myself, and I even made a hooked tool from a hardened flat blade screwdriver. Heat might have made a difference. I paid a shop to get it replaced. I don't know what it took to get it out. 
 

I was going to say that it'll probably run at least another 50k regardless of whether there's a chunk of steel bouncing around in the crankcase.

Apparently the mount broke as well, I don't know how that happened but it did. I am driving thru some heavy snow but nowhere near that dangerous. It's been cold as hell so maybe the sheet metal just got brittle? The whole thing is weird.

I have to get another car up and going before I get yo this but the good news is I think the stub in the block is turning, so hopefully I can get it out thru the top

I have never removed a press in dipstick that wasn't a complete pain.  If you can get the oil pan off, driving it one way or the other might work, or it might booger up the end so it can't go through.

I have had moderate success with vise grips on the bit that was left, heating the block, and hammering the vise grips.  Moderate meaning it still sucked.

No Time said:

If the hole in the block doesn't have a step in it to limit the insertion of the tube, then something like this may be helpful to get the remaining piece out if you have room:

 

Weird, I just used one of these to change the door handle trim on my 99 M3. 

Hope you get it back up and running soon dude. I've had this happen to me before when I was tech at Honda. Some dude in an Audi A4 came in super late, right before closing for an oil change because our sister Audi store across the street closed an hour earlier. Drained, threw a new filter on, went to add oil and check the dipstick to make sure it was good to go and the plastic tube crumbled into the engine bay and block. Only time something like that has every happened to me. 

Apparently no one carries it except a dealer, whom is closed.

Last time it happened to me I used this to get it out pretty easily.

https://www.harborfreight.com/5-piece-pipe-nipple-extractor-set-93822.html

Ez-out.

Summit, Jegs, Rock Auto, and nearly every Pep Boys, Auto Zone, and O'reilly has replacement universal dipsticks.

I got a Lokar SBC dipstick from Summit for something like $29 and it had a braided stainless tube, stainless mount strap, and a billet dipstick handle.