Why can't I read the dip stick?!

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SecondMonkey

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Recently bought a 1979 Chevy truck with the 350 engine. When I pull the dip stick, hot or cold, sitting for minutes or days, I can't read anything. The entire stick is covered with oil with no defineable line.

The only time I can read it is if it's been sitting overnight and I pull the stick without wiping it. If I wipe it back off and dunk it again, it comes back out with oil all over it again.

[censored]?! Why is this stick so hard to read? It's as if I'm pulling it out while the engine is running....

Edit: Wow, the sensoring on this forum has really gone overboard.
smirk2.gif
 
The tube might be bent. When you pull it out the first time its wiping the oil off and then redepositing it on the stick when you put it back in.

Yes, they censor everything here. Do not want the children to see anything that might hurt their eyes.
 
Originally Posted By: RTBandit
1. Maybe the crankcase is over filled. 2. Maybe its not the correct dip stick.

I just changed the oil and added less than 5 quarts, so I hope it's not overfilled! It does show what seems like a correct reading on that one chance I get to see it, about 1/2 quart low currently.

Originally Posted By: Onmo'Eegusee
The tube might be bent. When you pull it out the first time its wiping the oil off and then redepositing it on the stick when you put it back in.

I'll have to take a closer look at the tube...
 
It should be right at 5 quarts if it has a PH5 size filter. It might even be sludge or something in the tube. Might pull the tube and take a look down it. Shouldn't be too hard on a '79.
 
GM has put the wrong dip stick in engines so many times it is almost a normal situation. My wifes Buick has the wrong dip stick and tube. It is off by a large margin. Instead of buying the correct one though I simply drained the oil refilled with book capacity and re marked the dipstick with a file. Not hard to mark it at the right hights and 1 quart low!

GM also could not stamp the oil pan properly it is as wrinkled as a cheap suite. They also could not bore and hone the accumlator piston bore for the tcc in the transmission round or to the proper size. I could go on and on with all the basic things GM has failed to do over the years. I am going to guess that your vechile might not have the right pan or dip stick! It is especialy a problem on the old SB because they made trillions of them used them in almost everything and had tons of variations on pans and dip stick, accesory brackets etc......You almost never see a small block chevy that is not a mix and match mess of parts unless it is a hot rod that was restored or it has been in a barn for 20 years after the origanal owner parked it. When things would break often people used what they had on hand or the mechanic did so this means all kinds of parts from all kinds of years makes and models with in GM. I would remark the dip stick and call it a day. Just make sure you clean it well after you use a punch and file on it!
 
I had a 93' S10 with the same issue. It would only read accurately after sitting overnight. Never figured it out, just checked the oil in the morning :).
 
Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning
I would remark the dip stick and call it a day. Just make sure you clean it well after you use a punch and file on it!

Well, that's kind of the problem. There's just no defineable spot where the oil stops. It's like if you pull it out of a running engine and oil is flung all over it. This truck only has 49,000 original miles on it, so most of the engine is stock, but who knows if the dip stick is. I want to put a 6 quart oil pan on it anyway so I might just change the tube/stick at the same time.
 
I've owned a lot of cars where it was darn near impossible to get a proper reading on the dipstick. I now no longer even bother checking my oil level. What I do is measure how much oil comes out whenever I change it, and determine how much oil the engine consumes. So then on future intervals I simply add the appropriate amount of oil at the appropriate mileage intervals.
 
Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning
GM has put the wrong dip stick in engines so many times it is almost a normal situation. My wifes Buick has the wrong dip stick and tube. It is off by a large margin. Instead of buying the correct one though I simply drained the oil refilled with book capacity and re marked the dipstick with a file. Not hard to mark it at the right hights and 1 quart low!

GM also could not stamp the oil pan properly it is as wrinkled as a cheap suite. They also could not bore and hone the accumlator piston bore for the tcc in the transmission round or to the proper size. I could go on and on with all the basic things GM has failed to do over the years. I am going to guess that your vechile might not have the right pan or dip stick! It is especialy a problem on the old SB because they made trillions of them used them in almost everything and had tons of variations on pans and dip stick, accesory brackets etc......You almost never see a small block chevy that is not a mix and match mess of parts unless it is a hot rod that was restored or it has been in a barn for 20 years after the origanal owner parked it. When things would break often people used what they had on hand or the mechanic did so this means all kinds of parts from all kinds of years makes and models with in GM. I would remark the dip stick and call it a day. Just make sure you clean it well after you use a punch and file on it!


GM built some real garbage and the public let them know.
 
Originally Posted By: mechtech2
There is nothing you can do about this.

Why is that? Do all 350 Chevy's come with an impossible to read dipstick?

I don't know what's wrong, but I would think at the very worst I could replace the pan with a deeper one (want to do that anyway) and probably a fancy chrome dipstick/tube to go with it. Why wouldn't that work?
 
It probably will fix your issue.


Have you tried reading both sides? Quite a few of my engines over the years have read differently on one side ..as though one side wipes the tube surface and the other does not. You can tell when the tube is bent in such a manner that the dipstick will only go in smoothly (a variable term) in two positions that are 180 out of each other. That is.. the stick doesn't want to bend laterally. You can have it twist, but it can't easily bend "sideways".
 
Having owned several of those trucks, I'd say that the poor reading is normal. That is, you might find a thin coating of oil all along the dipstick, but a VERY close look at it will show a spot where the oil is much thicker on the dipstick... that's where your level is.

It's "normal". ;-)
 
Not likely to be fixed. How many people ever look at their oil and would complain? I wonder if the automotive writers ever look at it? Remember, we are a bunch of wierdos here. I am careful about who I let know I am active here.
 
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I've taken to drilling small holes in the dipstick to get a good reading. Generally, the oil will fill the hole if over the hole, not fill the hole if lower. I drilled holes at full, middle and low on my car dipstick. I add a 1/2 quart when it clears the middle hole.

The typical dipstick appears to be tempered steel. I had to use a solid carbide drill bit made for hard materials (it has straight flutes for some reason). 1/6" diameter, got it through McMaster-Carr.
 
I have this problem with my S-10 transmission dipstick, you should try and get a reading on **that** with warm ATF and the engine running!!!

the best trick I have is to use a clean paper towel, and touch it to the EDGE of the dipstick, then compare the length of the stain to the marks on the dipstick....
 
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