# broken dip stick, pieces fell in tube!!



## ChaseSavesTheDay (Jul 30, 2006)

this morning while checking my oil i put the dipstick back in, and the brittle plastic around the top of the stick broke into many pieces and fell into the tube. obviously now i need to drain the oil, my question is. how do i make sure that i have gotten all of the pieces out of the tube/oil pan?!


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## 902dr.wolfsburg (Sep 28, 2005)

*Re: broken dip stick, pieces fell in tube!! (ChaseSavesTheDay)*

dont worry to much about it the majority of them will drain out usually the pieces are not very big and will not create a problem. ive replaced many of the plastic dip sticks and have never had a problem


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## stilbo (Jun 20, 2007)

*Re: broken dip stick, pieces fell in tube!! (ChaseSavesTheDay)*

Drop the pan and clean it and the oil pump intake tube screen out!
Not sure what engine you have but do a forum search on "oil sludge". The 1.8's are the worse ones but there are photos of one oil pump pick up tube screen that is at least 80% clogged with little orange pieces of plastic. Disintegrating dipstick plastic is fairly common on later VW's...
When you change oil in a 2.0 or 1.8 there is about a half quart of old oil left in the pan. Even with the car's front up on jackstands.
You can gamble by getting all of the plastic out by draining the oil and then dumping a couple quarts of flush or diesel fuel into the engine with the drain plug out then dumping in a couple qaurts of clean dino oil to get the flush out. But you have no way of knowing what is STILL lodged in the intake screen unless you remove the pan.
BUT: DO NOT assume that the plastic will come out during a normal oil change! Plastic has a tendancy to float, not crowd close to your drain plug, waiting to dain out. So.. the ONLY way to be sure is to drop the pan and inspect/clean the intake screen.
I also would not drive the car more than 5 miles or over 35 mph until the pan is flushed or again, better yet dropped.
rds...


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## M NINE (Apr 18, 2008)

*Re: broken dip stick, pieces fell in tube!! (ChaseSavesTheDay)*

I had the same problem recently, or at least I just noticed it and hope the pieces fell in recently. It's been a couple of months and haven't done anything yet, but this is good advice. I don't know what 'dropping' an oil pan means, but I assume it means to take it off. Is this a complicated procedure or can I do it in my driveway when I do an oil change?


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## 4ePikanini (Aug 29, 2007)

*FV-QR*

drain the oil
drop the pan
clean the pan and pickup
re-assemble
/thread


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## kungfoojesus (Jan 10, 2005)

If you want to be 100% sure the pick up tube doesn't clog or become restricted, drop the pan. Most likely this isn't a problem though!


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