HELP something went down my dipstick hole

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columnshift

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Oct 6, 2014
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Location
Minnesota
2003 Honda EX V6 with the 5speed.

Related to the other thread, except whole new possible emergency.

My funnel didnt fit so I had to use an extra length of hose on the end of it to go down the end of the dipstick to refill. (I couldnt conveniently get to the 24mm fill bolt so had to use the dipstick)

I pulled the funnel back up again and it's possible the length of hose literally went DOWN the dipstick. HELP what do I even do. >_< It was a little 3 inch length of hose - my other funnel got damaged so I temporarily rigged up this and it seemed firmly attached, then during the slow refilling I pulled the funnel up and the end is no longer attached out of the blue.

I'm looking to see if it fell off outside the hole but unless I see it i'm assuming it went down the dipstick fill hole.

No i'm not normally this incompetent, this is what happens when i'm trying to rush things on a warm day during the only time I had to work on the car.
 
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Is it possible to fish it out with pick set or section of wire?

That's a tough one with a Honda AT given I've never seen one with a removable pan.
 
at HF you can get one of those long grabbers. Like a spiral wound spring with a push button on the top end. When you push the button wire jaws extend to grab tiny things in tight places. If the ID of the hose is larger than the grabber shaft screw it into the hose a bit and extend the jaws inside to hold it then carefully try to extract it. Assuming the hose is still in the tube a piece of stainless safety wire with a tiny hook on the end fed thru the hos will grab the fare end and pull it out?
 
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Cars/trucks I've worked on had a dipstick housing bolted at the bottom leading into the engine block (crankcase or oil pan) and near the top via bracket to the engine block. Is yours bolted so you can remove the housing? My old truck was fitted via rubber parts and gaskets but bolted near the top via bracket.
 
Find a long piece of wire and bend the end of it slightly. Stick it down the hole and hopefully the end will catch onto the plastic tube in some way.
 
I already tried the last bit of advice and either couldn't catch something or just pushed it further down the hole, I dont know which right now. I can't see anything with my less than perfect flashlight but at best, it's down near the bottom of the dipstick hole. At worst it pushed right into the transmission. What i'm not sure about is whats under the dipstick hole - something that would hold up a 3 inch piece of hose to not go further? (ie gears and mechanical stuff, as long as the trans hasn't been moved) Or falls into a trans pan?

I need to remove the dipstick tube for 100% sure. Grabbing claws wont and didn't work and if by chance I didn't push it all the way into the trans already trying, I dont want to risk it again. I'm just hoping there's somehow machinery that would prevent the plastic PVC tube (which is almost as thick as the tube itself) from just going fully inside.

To be clear this is the 5 speed automatic. I haven't even PAID for this car yet and I already have something nonworking. Please keep off topic comments to yourself I practically want to break down crying. I can't go to school or work tomorrow or next week or anything now with no other working car and unless I can fix what I just did. I can't even fix my other 94 honda that needed a timing belt cuz it's 250 miles away.
 
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Originally Posted by columnshift
I haven't even PAID for this car yet and I already have something nonworking. Please keep off topic comments to yourself I practically want to break down crying.


You haven't broken anything that can't be fixed... no need for the tears, yet. Think about the parts and tools you need to get the tube off and decide on a course of action. Don't do anything rash... you'll fix it.

Making mistakes and then recovering from them is a big part of DIY mechanic work.

"Good judgment comes from experience... Experience comes from bad judgment."
"Experience is a hard teacher; it gives the test first and the lesson afterward."
 
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Well said Mr. Brages.

Hang in there bro; we have all been there.
You will laugh at this one day.


I'm still laughing at the title of the thread.
 
Originally Posted by dippschtick
Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Well said Mr. Brages.

Hang in there bro; we have all been there.
You will laugh at this one day.


I'm still laughing at the title of the thread.


Yea it was "sounding" like something else happened there.

This is totally fixable without any damage to car.

First off are you SURE it is in there.. as in it didnt fall into engine bay somewhere?
if you are sure. You are going to have to possibly unbolt the dipstick and drain the transmission.. and an inspection camera might help.
 
Originally Posted by brages
Originally Posted by columnshift
I haven't even PAID for this car yet and I already have something nonworking. Please keep off topic comments to yourself I practically want to break down crying.


You haven't broken anything that can't be fixed... no need for the tears, yet. Think about the parts and tools you need to get the tube off and decide on a course of action. Don't do anything rash... you'll fix it.

Making mistakes and then recovering from them is a big part of DIY mechanic work.



Thats just it I cant figure out how to fix this one.

It went in deep probably all the way down.

Just to test, I put the trans dipstick against another piece of the same hose to see if by chance it would fit down the middle or not - but it wont.

Because using the dipstick as a feeler there was nothing - it slid all the way into the hole, and no I didn't push anything, there was just zero resistance. I didn't push it onto the rubber grommets to seal it, but it's, what, whatever the length of the entire trans dipstick is.

There is not much of a separate dipstick tube here - it's way deep INSIDE the transmission.

Without disassembling the transmission I can't figure out what to do.

I dont have the time, the skills, the tools, the location (this is outside up on ramps right now) to go and fully disassemble a transmission. Pulling one off to put in a clutch is one thing, disassembling the trans itself - no.


Originally Posted by brages
It looks to me like the dipstick tube is just held in with one bolt:

https://www.hondaautomotiveparts.co...utomatic--at-oil-level-gauge-atf-pipe-v6


I'm trying to look at things and i'm not sure what to disassemble of the car to get to that. Looking at that yes maybe it's possible to pull off the dipstick tube and maybe I can see whats down in there. But the part that slid down is at least at the very bottom of the tube if not already inside the trans.

I'm wondering if anyone whose pulled one apart knows whats inside the trans just inside that tube. :-/


Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
Well said Mr. Brages.

Hang in there bro; we have all been there.
You will laugh at this one day.


Not if I lose my job and fail my semester because I have no transportation.
frown.gif
I'm outside of bus ranges and cant Uber it either.
 
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There has to be some kind of pickup screen I would think. As long as the fluid doesn't get hot enough to melt the tube, I'm not sure it'll hurt anything. I mean Ford uses those plastic stoppers in assembly, they just push them into the pan and leave them. I'm not sure why this would be any different?
 
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Originally Posted by columnshift


I'm wondering if anyone whose pulled one apart knows whats inside the trans just inside that tube. :-/



This is the 4 speed, but the 5 speed is similar. The dipstick goes in the center transmission case where all of the clutches and gears reside.

0125081309b.jpg
 
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
I'm sure I'm going to catch [censored] for this but...

I'd probably not worry about it.

^^ You beat me to it, but I'm thinking the same. As far as I can tell, we aren't even positive that it's in there anyways.
 
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