• 5 ways to remove a broken dipstick in your Nissan Sentra (or any car)...

    FYI: To leave a comment, just create an account and the comment field will show up. I would love to hear if these ideas worked for you.

    I should preface this article by saying, first of all, that it has nothing to do with home networks besides the Rockford Fosgate OmniFi we have in the car. Next I should mention that whomever at Nissan decided that putting a plastic topped dipstick between the runners of an exhaust manifold of the Sentra should have their ass kicked.

    Anyway, need to check the oil on Miss HomeNetworkEnabled's car sometime so that dipstick had to come out. A quick check of the internet revelaled several options, all but one of which I tried.


    1) The super glue on a chopstick/pencil trick
    2) Vacuum and ziploc bag
    3) Compressed air in the crankcase breather
    4) Pulling the pressed-in dipstick tube and tapping it back in with a hammer (gently)
    5) Pulling the oil pan


    So here it should be, but it isn't.. the dipstick is deep in the tube...





    Time for the chopstick/pencil and super glue trick. Dab some super glue on the end of the chopstick and run it down the middle of the dipstick tube until it rests on the plastic dipstick pieces that remain. Wait until it dries and then pull it out...


    This would have worked great, except someone before me had tried cranking on the dipstick tube and crushed it one spot... so I got it within a half inch of coming out, but the tube narrowed too much there... time for plan B...

    So I put a rubber band around the dipstick tube and then one around the carwash vacuum with a ziploc bag connecting them... it had great suction, but then the vacuum sucked the ziploc up the tube... so then I crushed the vacuum around the dipstick tube... No dice, again the tube being slightly crushed prevented it from coming out.. time for plan C....




    Here I am corrupting America's youth...


    I thought this one might be fun... put compressed air in the crankcase breather and the o-ring seal of the dipstick launches the dipstick 50 feet in the air, according to reports of others... At this point some explosions and destruction were much needed to keep my sense of humor... Unfortunately, because of the kink in the tube again all it did was make oil come out of the leak in the valve cover gasket.

    So the final plan was to pull the pressed-in dipstick tube and get the dipstick out that way... Beware, find a screwdriver that fits the dipstick tube exactly or you will crush the tube. Put the screwdriver in the tube and then wiggle and pull with a visegrip until it unseats from the block. The tube extends a good two inches in to the block. The dipstick won't come out the bottom because of the taper so now you will have to fix any kinks or narrowing in the tube. When done, gently tap it back in with a hammer, liberal amounts of oil is a good idea.

    Once out, I decided I would make a dipstick insulator to try and prevent this in the future. I might also "kink" the dipstick tube just below the dipstick so if/when it does break again it won't drop far. Below is a DSM spark plug boot... Twist, pull, cut, etc until you get the wire and lead out, then hacksaw a perfect dipstick heat boot...


    Who knows if it will work, but I like the theory....





    Special thanks to this site for the ideas and inspiration.
    Comments 62 Comments
    1. Nic27's Avatar
      Nic27 -
      Quote Originally Posted by Scott DeLeeuw View Post
      Mel said...I'm trying to pull my dipstick tube out and either I'm a weakling or I'm doing something wrong. I've got a screwdriver and the vice grips, was the engine hot when you did this, would that help. Crushing the tube doesn't matter I just bought another one to replace it.
      May 12, 2009 3:46 PM
      I know it's a longshot, since it's been a long time since this post and replies, but I'll try anyway...When I did a search for "dipstick tube for 2001 nissan sentra" after the same problem the other posters have had, this forum came up in the "hits." My boyfriend removed the tube (after taking off the alternator to get room to work). However, the dipstick is still stuck in there, and maybe it's gotten warped, so we figure just buy a new one, rather than try to hammer in the one that came out of it. But where do we find a replacement TUBE? Most search answers are showing dipsticks for sale--we already bought one of those from a local auto part store (yes, for more than we should've paid--didn't know it would take so long to figure out removal.) So, again, where did you buy the replacement tube? Online or locally, what's the name (&location) of the place? Thanks.
    1. Scott DeLeeuw's Avatar
      Scott DeLeeuw -
      Quote Originally Posted by Nic27 View Post
      I know it's a longshot, since it's been a long time since this post and replies, but I'll try anyway...When I did a search for "dipstick tube for 2001 nissan sentra" after the same problem the other posters have had, this forum came up in the "hits." My boyfriend removed the tube (after taking off the alternator to get room to work). However, the dipstick is still stuck in there, and maybe it's gotten warped, so we figure just buy a new one, rather than try to hammer in the one that came out of it. But where do we find a replacement TUBE? Most search answers are showing dipsticks for sale--we already bought one of those from a local auto part store (yes, for more than we should've paid--didn't know it would take so long to figure out removal.) So, again, where did you buy the replacement tube? Online or locally, what's the name (&location) of the place? Thanks.
      Hey, the best place is probably one of those U-Pull-And-Pay junkyards. Or a Nissan dealer. As long as you didn't mess up the old one too bad, just use that one. It's not really a precision part.
    + Post Comment