Found problem on dipstick

My WAG is that the dipstick "found" the wrong path into the crank case and wound up pressed against a sharp edge. Engine vibration resulted in the wear mark.

If anything inside the engine was loose enough to shift around and rub the dipstick, I would expect that to make noise.

The wear mark is across the dipstick, perpendicular to everything internal that's rotating.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Lordy mercy. Interestin fo sho.

 

My WAG is that the mark is where the "ribbon" that makes up the stick was welded together......and then ground off.

 

When I removed my intake manifold to clean it, I moved the oil dipstick tube slightly after removing the bolt holding it's bracket to the engine block.

I remember the dipstick moving around like it inserts into the block somehow. From the position of the scoring, it appears that perhaps the dipstick tube isn't seated firmly in the block opening and vibration may be causing the opening at the end of the dipstick tube or the engine block to rub the dipstick at the right angle you see.

I would guess that if you remove the dipstick tube from the block, then insert the dipstick into the tube, you will see if the scoring is where the dipstick emerges from the end of the dipstick tube.

That's my WAG.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I suspect at some point someone got distracted while checking the oil and something went wrong when the dipstick was only half way inserted. Perhaps the hood slammed shut on it somehow, or they forgot to put it all the way back in and closed the hood on it.

As in that mark is identical to the top edge of the dip stick tube and they probably bent it back straight afterwards... This isn't an engine problem... The damage would only be at the tip of the dipstick if it was.

 

Maybe it has been that way since new ????

 

Not sure, but I think you're forced to buy the guide tube as well*, but here's a link, and if you click on nearby dealership links, you'll likely see it lower than MSRP. For me a nearby (just over the border) dealership wanted $15 USD.


2006 Toyota Prius Hatchback Engine Oil Dipstick - 1530121020 - Genuine Toyota Part


* Why the heck you can't just buy the dipstick is beyond me: it's much more likely to go missing; compared to the bolted-down guide tube...

 

I never got around to posting the dipstick pictures, but here they are. (Don't you love the mottled clapboard? Courtesy of our gardeners, who blow dirt up on the side of the house, where it stays until I can't stand it anymore and brush it all off.) Yes, there is oil in the car, the dipstick was wiped clean before the picture was taken. Hard to see the nick in the low magnification image, but it is at about 6.75" from the tip. Note, the dipstick on the other side at the nick location is completely smooth and unremarkable.

 

looks a lot like op's, factory defect?

 

It does look very similar. A few comments.

1. The angle of the mark is not perpendicular to the stick, it is only close to that. It is around 78 degrees.

2. Are the marks in the same place? That is a little hard to determine because these were "close" images and that distorts scale a little when measuring on the screen. There is no reference ruler in the OPs picture, but I measure 1.7 cm between the dots and 5.8 cm from the most distal dot to the mark, for a ratio of 3.412. I know the cell phone used was only about a foot away for my picture, and on the screen that gives 3.4 cm, 9.6cm, and 2.824. However, there is a ruler in there too, and using those markings should eliminate the geometric distortion. Reading the ruler in inches it is 1 11/16 and 5 15/16, which is a ratio of 3.52, which is much closer to the OP's ratio. So it is plausible that the nicks are in the same place. On mine the nick is just under 6 3/4" from the tip. If the OP still has that dipstick, perhaps we can get that measurement.

3. Sam Spade 2 thinks it might be where the material is welded together. I believe that is the most likely explanation, but it is only welded and ground on the other (smooth) side (not photographed as it was entirely unremarkable). That leaves a nick on this side. No reason that junction should fall in the same place on every dipstick where it is seen. It could just be pure coincidence, or it could be that the spools are an even multiple of the the dipstick length.

I really should pick up another dipstick at the junkyard. Whatever caused this, that nick must be a weak spot, and it would suck if the distal part of the dipstick ever broke off.

 

At the LKQ Pick Your Part today I looked at the dipsticks in 4 2nd Gen Prius, all of which had had frontal collisions of varying severity. 3 of them were nicked like in the pictures above, in approximately the same place. (I didn't bring a ruler.) One had no nicks but still had the marks which look like ground down welds. There were some other cars of this type but the dipsticks were gone. Since it looks like nicked dipsticks are very common, I didn't take the one nick free dipstick.

I was mostly there to try to find a driver's side front fender liner and a front air dam. The liners were either missing entirely or were badly torn up. There were no air dams at all. So overall it was an unsuccessful mission.

 

I found one with a partial nick, just the end points of that line are present, and shallower than on any other example. The central part is smooth and unremarkable. I bought it (for $9, which I thought was pretty outrageous for an old dipstick) and took it home. The line is in exactly the same place as on my dipstick. At some point maybe I will post a picture, but the description pretty much says it all.