The tip of the oil dip stick broke off. What to do?

50

Asked by jhmtoyota Jun 16, 2017 at 08:18 PM about the 2004 Toyota Camry LE FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

When checking the oil, 2004 Camry LE  with 304,000 miles, I noticed the tip of
the dip stick was missing?  Can I still drive the car?  What to do?

9 Answers

I would change the oil and hope the broken bit comes out with the used oil. I would also install a magnetic drain plug if you don't have one already but the oil pickup screen should prevent any metal bits from going where they should not be so no worries. Any idea why the tip broke off?

15 people found this helpful.
50

I have no idea. In my research, someone suggested that it was close to the manifold - weakening the plastic tip

1 people found this helpful.
70,085

TOP OR BOTTOM? HOW MUCH? IS IT STUCK IN THE TUBE?? OR AS F O R SAID IS IT IN THE OIL PAN

5 people found this helpful.
50

I have no idea... when I was checking the oil, I simply noticed that the end of the stick was gone. Have to assume it's in the tube or in the pan. Have no way of knowing.

4 people found this helpful.
215

I just had this exact same thing happen in my 04 camry with 230K. How did you remove it?

18 people found this helpful.
70

Toyota has a plastic stem at the bottom of the oil dip stick where you read the oil level. It's about 1 1/2" of plastic. The replacement from Toyota is all metal and about $15. Mine broke off while wiping the oil off in order to check the level, luckily. Poor design.

7 people found this helpful.
120

OMG, 2004 Toyota Camry, 265000 miles, the tip just broke off, I WAS SOOOO PISSED, I just changed the oil, with fully synthetic, 50.00, not bad, but not good, will it mess up the engine? hope the oil filter caught it, UUGHHHH

9 people found this helpful.
120

it was about 1/2 inch that broke off, yes, it was plastic, and yes I have magnetics in the pan, 2 of them, it doesnt work on plastic, lol

3 people found this helpful.
215

Same thing happened to my 04 Camry about two years ago. Only, I guess it was about 1-inch of plastic. I thought about dropping the pan to retrieve it, and someday I will, but so far it hasn't seemed to affect anything.

3 people found this helpful.

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