ease your dipstick

[notaGolfR]

I busted a dipstick clip on my 6-week-old Golf R while struggling to pull out the dipstick. Not known for ham-fistedness, I went to the service department & asked them to show me how to remove the stick. Even with only one clip remaining he struggled. I asked for a new stick but was refused "you broke it". I pointed out the stupid design whereby the clips go under a lip on top of the tube and while there's a ramp on the clip to ease pushing down, there's none the other way to ease pulling up. googling reveals a lucrative marked in replacement tubes and sticks.

Today I made two cutouts on the tube lip, opposite each other and about 30 degrees anti-clockwise when you twist the stick from where the clips lock under the lip. Beforehand I moistened a tissue with oil and put it in the dipstick hole to catch filings. I also packed rag below the work-site to catch anything I dropped.


The clips still caught a little so I filed downwards on the cutout to make it flush with the tube outer surface and the clips no longer catch there. They will not break now.


Surprisingly, twisting the stick so the clips going up via the cutouts the dipstick was still very hard to pull out .. it came out all of a sudden and required quite a pull. If you had your head over the stick handle you would smack yourself in the face. Then I tried engine oil on the o-ring and that made very little difference. I even smeared oil down the hole and no difference. I had to conclude that the o-ring is a VERY tight fit in the tube and was removing the oil as it slipped up the tube. Next I tried rubbing graphite on the ring and inside the tube and BINGO, HOORAY and YOU LITTLE BEAUT .. it pulls out smoothly and I had fun wanking it in and out several times. As the graphite is now integrated into the rubber of the o-ring and the plastic of the tube I expect it to be a permanent fix.

[Guest001]

Hopefully the filings didnt go down into your sump or next post may be about more serious problems

[notaGolfR]

Hopefully the filings didnt go down into your sump or next post may be about more serious problems

Thanks. Actually I should have included that I moistened a tissue with oil and put it in the dipstick hole to catch filings. I also packed rag below the worksite to catch anything I dropped. For completeness I will edit my "tutorial" if I can.

[ABCD]

I had the actual shaft of the dipstick break on an absolute POS BMW E46 M3 I had the misfortune of owning a few years back. Had always been a struggle to remove it, and one day it came out really easily as it had broken about half way down leaving the plastic bobble and about 15cm of the metal shaft of the dipstick knocking around in the sump. So sump off, a set of new single use bolts to refit it and of course a new dipstick costing some ridiculous amount. It was to be the final straw in what was my first and last BMW.

[The_Hawk]

Sounds like in interesting fix. I do wonder how much graphite alone would improve the situation vs the cuts outs. That said, a very practicle solution to your problem. I'd love to see some pics if you have any?

[notaGolfR]

I wonder too whether just the graphite would have been enough but it is too late to know now and I'm not going to risk busting off the remaining clip by pulling it up over the lip without twisting to the cutout. I tried for pics but my ancient Nokia phone camera is not capable of showing the detail required, but I think you "get the picture" from my description..

[GolfRWag]

Ha yeah, second day of ownership I thought I'd better look at the oil.
Well FM, the stick is hard to pull out! Gave it a wiggle and it eventually came out.
Closer inspection reveals a pair of flat sections on the lip of the dipstick tube where the clips on the dipstick can more easily ride up when you pull it.
A few strokes of a flat file on the flat sections of the dipstick tube and that makes it far easier to pull up with just moderate force.