Hi all, I'm hoping I can get some suggestions. I was getting close to finishing up the assembly of the new motor. I was installing the plug wire looms on the valve covers. The oil dipstick tube was a bit in the way and before I even thought about it I had snapped it off at the block while trying to give it a little bend. Pure stupidity!! Anyway, I now have a piece of the dipstick tube inside the hole in the block. There isn't enough of it to get a hold of with needle nose pliers or anything. How the heck do I get it out? Do I have to drop the pan and tap it out? Do you think I'd be able to find a smaller diameter tube and just insert that into the broken end of the old tube? Please help!!!

Could you thread a bolt down into it, and pull it out? Gotta be careful you aren't cutting threads too deep, or you'll end up with a bunch of metal shavings down in the oil pan.

Oh, now that sucks. You may be able to use a coat hanger. Put a hook in it and make it small enough to go through the tube to see if you can hook the end and pull it out. I have my doubts that you can do it but it might be worth a try. You are probably going to have to drop the oil pan and tap it out. Good Luck

do not use a drill or any cutting instrament. Get a hooked type instrament and use some WD40 to coax it out. A coathanger may work if the dipstick is loose, but you may have to go to a craft store and look for a crocheting hook, or something to that effect.

Go to the paint store and buy 2 (two) metal paint can openers. The kind that have a loop to open bottles on one end and have a small hook on the other. Grind the hook ends down a little on the sides so they fit flush in the curve when inserted into the hole. Then insert them both down the hole with the hooks out. The insert a wood dowel (or something else) to tightly wedge the openers in the hole. You have to keep the openers tight in the hole so the hooks don't slip. Then grab them with both hands and pull smile.gif

Luck, Kevin

The problem is the bottom of the upper tube may be resting against the top of the lower tube that gets pushed into the same hole in the block.

I use to spend a lot of time drilling holes in concrete (floors, walls and ceilings) and anchoring heavy equipment and grounding buss' with what we called "red heads" They were expanding fasteners and as you tightened them down they grabbed the walls of the holes secured themselves in place. Find one that is small enough to fit inside the dipstick tube (don't get the ones that have loose parts as they could end up in the pan) and tighten it up some. Now try to wiggle it and extract it and the tube together. There is a fine line between over tightening it to the point that it expands the tube in the block and makes it impossible to pull out and getting it tight enough to stay in the tube so you can pull both out of the block...

Good luck!! Post back your results!!

I have used a large sheet metal screw that fits into the oil tube snuggly. You can then clamp a vice grip on the screw and tap it out,or pry it out.

A tapered EZ-Out also works.

If you can get it to dig in to the tube just enough, you can spin it loose, and then pull it out.

hey DjD, what do you do for a living? :cool:

take a punch or something and bend one side of the tube inwards. that should loosen it up and allow you to get a needle nose vise grip on it and pull it right out.

thanks for the replies. I'm going to give it a shot tonight and let you guys know how it goes.

Originally posted by ztoy:
hey DjD, what do you do for a living? :cool: I write scripts for McGuiver!! LOL j/k!! ;)

At the time I drilled holes in concrete I was in telco switchroom construction. We would walk into an empty airconditioned room and when we walked out it was full. We did everything from the ironwork superstructure (5-lb channel bolted to special anchors in the ceiling) and cable rack to mounting equipment frames. Then we built power rooms to provide -48v to the switches and then did all the tech work turning up the switches power zones and processers and trouble shoot them until they ran properly and then trunked them to other offices and cross connected them to the customer to finish the job off!!

I was on a crew of about 12 and it would take 6 months to a year depending on the size of the switch. I did this for about 10 years

Now I take care of the computer hardware in 8 engineering offices in Northern CA. Not as fun as building switches but the hrs are usually better and my office chair has more padding than my tool box when I want to sit down!!

Greg I'm looking forward to hearing how the extraction goes!!

Second vote for Easy Out. They work pretty good. A sheetmetal screw might do the trick in a pinch, but not as good as an easy out.

Mondello sells a slide hammer that connects to a sheet metal screw properly sized, that screws into the dipstick remains.

I have a "favorite tool" that is a large Vise Grip pliers with a long bolt substituted for the adjuster screw. The long bolt has a weight to make it a vise grip slide hammer. I can pull anything I can clamp it onto.
David

Sorry guys, I know you are waiting for results but I wasn't able to get to it last night. I have another question though regarding the EZ out that was mentioned. From what I understand, the EZ out is a drill bit that will just chew the remains of the tube up and out of the hole. Would you recommend dropping the pan in order to catch any shavings from this process or do you think everything will get pulled up and out of the hole. Thanks again!

Greg;

I've used the both the screw and the 'EZ-out' method to back these tubes out of engines. They both work and neither will generate enought chips in the pan to really worry about. The idea is just to grip the remaining tube piece enough to get it turning a little and pull it out. Once you get it out a little you can also grab it with needle nose vise grips and pull it the rest of the way. I also spray a little penetrating oil around and in the tube to help it turn in the bore if necessary and this would help hold any little chips in the tube.

Hope this helps;

Well, the EZ-out definitely worked. I couldn't get it to bite into the remaining piece of the tube in order to pull it out so I used the ezout to grind up the remnants of the tube. I dropped the oil pan so I could clean out the dust. It worked out well. Thanks for everyone's help on this. I do have a question regarding the reinstall of the oil pan. Should I just reinstall using the same gasket and seals and Just use some fresh permatex or should I play it safe and start over with new gasked and seals? This is a fresh build that has never been run. This is my first time doing this so I'm learning as i go!!

I think the money for a fresh pan gasket set would be well spent.
The gasket can get split around the bolt holes and the seals deformed in the corners were they are 'pinched' during install.

Greg, use the Fel-Pro 1 piece pan gasket, it's much easier to work with than the 4 piece, especially in the car.