Dipsticks falling apart

[woofy]

Hi all, My parents bought our 2008 RS pre FL petrol Octavia back in May and drove it back up to Bundy. Just before they picked it up I checked the oil and topped up and noticed the rubber ring had slipped down onto the braided wire part. So I assumed it was getting a bit stretched and pushed it back onto the groove, but it slipped down each time you pulled it out. Noted and told my Dad to get a new o ring when he got a chance. They went to the service guys there who told them these things fall apart all the time and there is a actually a bit that has broken off below the oring which is why its slipping.

NIce to see my dealer down here who had recently done a service and replaced belts etc hadn't bothered to tell me that the dipstick was breaking. They had the car multiple times fixing fans and the cooling system so somewhere in there it clearly broke as it wasn't long after I noticed this. I had never seen this issue or had seen any sign of trouble with it. A friend who has one the same age told me his fell apart years ago so was keeping and eye on mine, but guess that break was just under the oring and crumbled recently. Looking around places it seems this happens all the time and usually just falls out in an oil change (I'm guessing this happened after my last service, but who knows). The only person who saw an issue had these bits stuck against the oil tubes screen and had a turbo starved of oil. But they also seemed to have sludge problems, most see the bits come out in the next oil change or drop the oil pan off and clean it out.

More than a bit annoyed these don't get checked as part of the service and replaced when they start falling apart, and from checking back iwth my friend, he doesn't even have the o ring anymore, half the plastic part there has long since been gone since almost new.

My parents just bought another, but not a good feeling knowing there is that crap sitting down in the oil, there seems to be a Billet aluminium dipstick which the US made to deal with this problem in the golfs, not sure if its the same part, but the dealer also told my Dad they revised these to fix it. I will check out my Mk3s dipstick on the weekend, guessing its still the same type.

[Lucas_R]

Typical scenario with plastic parts in engine bays on modern cars - the plastic becomes brittle over time due to heat cycles and age and then they break. I have already had to replace the dipstick on my 2010 GTI Golf as the original dipstick was starting to fall apart. My friend used to have a 2008 GTI Golf and he also had to replace the dipstick in his car due to it falling to bits.

ECS Tuning and Gruvenparts make a new dipstick with an aluminium top which should in theory last forever.

[woofy]

Yeah it was the ECS one I spied, not sure if it's exactly the same as the GTi one. Logic says they both had the TFSI 2L so it should be. Bit scared that the new engines have plastic sumps Last thing you want to crack really.

[spud75]

had a plastic dipstick on 2001 A4 1.8T. They were known for breaking off and falling into the sump too. I was lucky to catch mine when it broke off as it broke in half in my hand whilst not in situ. was about $25 for a new one. Should have looked at an alternative at the time, but was selling the car, so the new owner go a new OEM one.