Broke last inch of TransDapt dip stick off in new crate engine...

To make a long story short, the cheap TransDapt chrome dip stick (I know...don't start in on the chrome) kept curling up every time I pulled it out of the tube.
It's a p***enger side dipstick, and I figured it was straightening as I slid it into the tube, and there was enough tube that down inside the engine it was straight.
When we fired up the engine to break it in, there was a ticking sound...kind of like a lifter, but not. And it was much lower in the block. We were re-using the exhaust donuts on the Rams horn center dump manifolds, and since that's the region the noise was coming from, and it sounded a lot like an exhuast leak, we figured that's what it was. Not a concern, since the plan is to swap manifolds in the coming weeks.
Well, yesterday the "exhaust leak" "fixed" itself, because the noise went away. Today I went to check the oil, and couldn't pull the dipstick out.
So, what I'm guessing happened is the dip stick curled up and got too close to the crank, which hammered it against the side of the block or the end of the dipstick tube, and self-clearanced it. We finally muscled the dipstick out, and the last of the stick is missing...the whole part with "FULL and ADD ONE QUART" is MIA. I can't be sure until I compare it to another stick I have, but it's probably an inch or an inch and a half. This ISN'T spring steel. I broke the handle off to stick back in the tube by just bending it once with my pliers. Cheapest metal I've ever seen.

this ****s. It's a brand new crate 250hp crate engine, and I really wanted to spend the weekend trouble shooting other things on the truck, not pulling the oil pan fishing for a piece of cheap Taiwan tin.

-Brad

 

live and learn, could be worse

 

Drain the oil and flush the motor as well as you can. Go to the hardware store and get yourself a big magnet to stick on the bottom of the oil pan and drag that stub to the drain hole. Yank it out with an alligator clip, or leave it stuck to the magnet on the oil pan till you get a chance to get at it. Good Luck.

 

After you drain it you might fish it out with one of those mag on an antenna type things.

 

Leave it alone, get a new dipstick,that broken off piece isnt going to hurt anything

 

Did something like that , i dropped a bolt into a 6.2 diesel. The vacuum pump was out, the bolt went to the down to the bottom.

I fished around with everything, i got the bolt to the oil drain hole.

Dropped fish line down the hole and tied the other end to a bracket, i tied fish line to the bolt's thread like a l***o snugged it up, pulled it up by the other end, got it out then it fell off but not back in the hole. It took 3 hours and words. The reason i did it , the 6.2 was a 50,000 motor from the junkyard. I never ran it so if i pulled it a part, i might get the shaft if it wouldn't run. You think you might get some help from the dealer with a faulty dip stick?

GM is giving 2 guys no help here with Big Block crate motors, with there problems as of yet. You have to wonder where is the customer service on these crate motors?

 

wont hurt a thing....have a beer and move on.....

 

If I know Brad, I think I have a greater chance to win the lottery than I will see the day he will leave that little piece of dipstick down there.

If you do decide you have to get it out - it would be a good time to put a real cam in it.

 

That thought has crossed my mind more than once already...You see, if I can't fish it out the drain hole, then off comes the oil pan. If I can't clear the cross member with the pan (it's a '62 Chevy truck...so it could go either way), then the engine has to come out.
If the engine comes out and the oil pan comes off, that's damn near a rebuild right there, right?
New cam...1.6 rockers...and the sad, downward trend of every project car I've ever had begins....

I got home tonight and matched it to the other dipstick I have (interesting fact: TransDapt sources their Chevy small block dipsticks from China AND Taiwan) and there's 4.5-inches of busted dipstick somewhere in my oil pan.

AAAARGH!

-Brad

 

Remove the drain plug, stand the truck on end and shake.

 

Leave the drain plug out and let it set overnight. If it hasn't found it's way out by morning put the plug back in and fill it with oil. If I were a betting man I'd venture that when you do take the engine out and take it apart (hopefully thousands of miles down the road) you'll find it laying in the bottom of the pan not bothering anyone or anything.
OR, fret and worry over it, take the engine out, dis***emble it, take out the piece, re***emble the engine, put it back in. It's only time and money, your choice.

Frank

 

So, you have to ask yourself, why doesn't this project want to be finished? There is an underlying reason or possibly Karma related incident that is getting in your way. What is the bigest shortcut you have taken?
Is there a reason you shouldn't be driving it the way it is? (Dipstick aside).

 

That's way, way too deep. Especially for this truck.

-Brad

 

Leave it. Gravity and the oil pump screen are your friends here.

 

Yep. Ed Cole and Zora put that little screen in front of the pump for dummies like you. Leave it dude. If it hasn't already hurt anything, it won't.

 

The whole stick portion of Dad's Lokar dipstick came off the handle and slid into the pan while on Power Tour in 2000. Sold the car years later with no issues or harm done.......and the stick portion still laying on the bottom of the pan.

 

Thanks for the rays of sunshine everyone! I hate **** like this.

I pulled the pan plug, didn't see any bright shiney flecks coming out with the oil, and then fished around with a magnet on the bottom of the pan for ten minutes, and didn't get a thing. It's in there somewhere, but doesn't seem to want to come out right now, so I guess it's part of the engine.

I was thinking about it Steve, and the biggest shortcut I've taken with this truck was buying the crate engine! Everything else I've pretty much done the hard way. And I'd like to think I'm on the good side of Karma...

-Brad

 

I would get a flash light and look down the dip stick hole to see if you can see it!!

 

All I'm saying is...maybe the shifter had a long talk with the dipstick.
The brakes are 100% right?
Heck, you've fixed just about everything but the body/paint and upholstery.
That's it....It wants shiney paint.
Either that or, you just have really ****ty luck with engines.
Grin and bear it man.
Heck, I drove around with the pick-up tube/screen in the sump for a week until I had time to pull it and tack it to the pump.

 

I thought **** like that only happened to me. Hey, not seeing any metal flecks in the oil is a good thing. Another good thing is those crate motors come with a warranty. Don't worry about the broken dipstick piece until the after the warranty expires, then pull the oil pan for piece of mind. If it does break while under warranty, take it back to GM and blame it on the "hecko Mexico" ***embly plant employees.

The magnet idea probably didn't work because the material used in those taiwanese parts probably doesn't contain any steel molecules.

 

Just run Pennzoil...there'll be 1/2" of gooey, sticky gunk at the bottom of the pan, and the piece will stick to it, causing "no worries, mate!".

R

 

Brad there a lot of truth in what everybody is saying, but i'm not happy till i find things like that then i know, it's the Murphy thing. No one would have the problem ever, just me. You pulling the pan even makes it a bigger mystery, it a thing that just bugs you & me at least

 

Brad,
the piece that broke off is prolly' laying on the shelf type baffle thingy that is over the oil pump pickup area,(sump),thats why you had no luck dragging it around with the magnet.

Its probably laying over in the corner somewhere,after the crankshaft slapped the **** out of it numerous times.


Let it lay.

Don't sweat the petty things,pet the sweaty thing.

 

What's the difference?

 

What valve covers are you running?

 

Quote:
(interesting fact: TransDapt sources their Chevy small block dipsticks from China AND Taiwan)

"What's the difference?"


China is that big communist country whose government hates our way of life, sells us a huge percentage of our consumer goods and the occasional HazMat-contaminated children's toy, personal hygene toiletry or pet food, and has been known to run over their citizens with tanks when they protest for more freedom.
Taiwan is the small island country that broke away from China in the '40s that has a democratically elected government and a robust economy and sells us the consumer goods China hasn't cornered the market on yet. This is the country China also occasionally floats their navy past and "test fires" ballistic missles towards every now and then just to show they can crush them. China considers Taiwan a rogue Chinese state, and they have the officially stated goal of "taking them back."


"What valve covers are you running?"

Chrome 327 valve covers, no breathers, closed PCV system with an oil fill tube-mounted PCV valve and a breather port welded into the Edelbrock C3B intake (runs to another port I put in the air cleaner base).

-Brad

 

Partially from you, partially from Boy Wonder (my son), partially from necessity, and partially from a reply to a post here. Andrew wanted lots of chrome (because he's 12), but since you were doing the 327 covers, I backed off and was going to run the stamped steel script ones painted orange. Then when I got the engine, I went through the whole "should I paint it orange or leave it black" debate, finally deciding to leave it black. Then someone's reply to a post here said he had a friend who used to paint his engines black "because it really made the chrome pop." That sentence, more than anything, pushed it over. Chrome valve covers, a black oil fill tube with chrome cap and a chrome water pump pulley really do pop on the black engine. The bare aluminum C3B intake, water filler neck, fuel pump and spun aluminum air cleaner (with decal) finishes it off nicely. The retro-correct gl*** bowl fuel filter hanging on a hard line, above the chrome valve cover and ahead of the Edelbrock carb, really ties it all together. Once the new "engine bay black" inner fenders are installed, and especially once the truck is painted Blitz Black, it'll look killer. Much better than orange with script valve covers.

-Brad

 

I was just bustin' your balls dude.
Sounds like you've put alot of thought into it, you're right about the black making the chrome pop. It should look great, I can't wait to see it.
At least there won't be two 62-3 Chevys running around Atl with twin motors(I went with orange) .

 

Personally, I'd pull the oil pan, but that's just because I worry about these things way too much.