I went to check my oil this morning, pulled out my very pretty Lokar dip stick and the measuring part on the end of the cable had fallen off inside the pan. Tried to locate it with a magnet, no luck. I think it is non magnetic. Time for a cool down period.

 

How much of the end of the dipstick disappeared?

 

Sorry about that it sucks for sure. I once dropped a 10mm head bolt down inside the timing chain area of a 5.4 Ford engine. I bumped engine over real easy, ready to stop if I heard a clink. No clunks. Ended up putting back together and no troubles. I figured that unless truck ever went upside down, bolt would stay on bottom...

 

The end of the dip stick is about 3/16 in diameter and about two inches long. It appears to be crimped on a cable which is attached to an aluminum handle. The handle end is held in place with a set screw.

 

If... it fell into the pan, I would not worry about it.

 

You can see where the end fell off. Just wanted to give a heads up on this part. I should have checked for it possibly being loose.

 

Yes, the part that sell off is Aluminum so a magnet will be no help. I belive they are cast around the cable when manufactured. It may have been adjusted too long because I don't think the entire piece should extend out the edge of the tube in the pan and that is likely how it fell off. If it was completely out of the tube, it likely got caught on the edge when you were pulling it out. You can either forget about it and leave it in the pan, or pull the pan to get it, not many other options. Not sure what I would do, probably leave it and get another tube. I have a similar set up in my vista (engine and trans), not Lokar, maybe try another brand and just replace the stick part.

 

I never had any trouble pulling it out to check the oil. I will probably leave it in there for now. Thanks to all for responding as usual, great group of people here.

 

I’m not at all impressed with Lokar. I do a bunch of transmission work, it’s well known the accuracy of the 400 dipsticks leaves much to be desired. It’s a pain in the *** to add fluid with the flexible dipstick tubes, you have to have a tiny funnel to fit.

I have the Lokar throttle brackets to fit the Holley Sniper on my car, there was a ton of slop, the tiny setscrew didn’t do much to stop the flex. And if you’re going to insist on using Allen head screws everywhere, at least use some good quality screws that don’t strip after a couple uses!!

im done now.