I live in greensboro NC and have a 98 12valve and my dipstick handle is gone so I cant check my oil. I drained the oil and changed the filter and used 11 quarts of rotella oil. Is that the right amout of oil? Is there any one that lives close by that will let me use there dipstick to check my oil. Thanks

 

11 qts is right! You broke the handle off, but the dip stick is still in the tube, right?
Have seen this a few times... not too hard to repair it.

Big Blue even 'super glued' his back on .... it actually held for 6 months.

RJ

 

I would glue the handle back on with some 2 part epoxy but its lost. I ordered a new dipstick from dodge but it just hurts my head not being able to check my oil.

 

I had a similar thing happen to me. Be aware that a new dipstick must come with a new tube. The old tube has a jig in it and so the old dipsticks had an extra twist in them. The new ones don't have this (Lord only knows why) so you will have to replace the tube also...it is easy.

If you unbolt the dipstick bracket from the top of the air tube and pull it up it will pop put of the block. You can then push the dipstick out from the bottom.

I had a friend knock the little pins out of the plastic part where the handle is and just replace the whole handle...it was a lot of work though.

Good luck with it...it is an easy fix...it's just hard to see down to where the tube enters the block. An extra set of hands with a light will make it a 5 min job.

-Geoff

 

I broke the plastic handle off my dip stick and didn't want to pay the price of a new one. So I brazed one of those "hair pin" style safety pins (like on your trailer hitch pin) to the dip stick. Used a piece of soft rubber tube over the end of the dip tube to seal around the pin. Never could get the length exactly right so I changed the oil with a 11 Quart fill and marked the stick with a file.