Oil dipstick rattling, hitting crank?

-
7

73SlantSwinger

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2013
Messages
264
Reaction score
88
Location
Macclenny, Florida
I was chasing a rattle a few weeks ago under the hood and finally found that grabbing the oil dipstick and pulling it out a little stopped it, it almost sounds like it could be hitting the crank, but doesn't seem to have any marks on it....any idea's? engine is a 225.
 
Could the dipstick be rattling inside of the tube? is the mounting tab for the dipstick loose?
 
73SlantSwinger said:
I was chasing a rattle a few weeks ago under the hood and finally found that grabbing the oil dipstick and pulling it out a little stopped it, it almost sounds like it could be hitting the crank, but doesn't seem to have any marks on it....any idea's? engine is a 225.
Click to expand...

Wrong dipstick or dipstick tube?
 
to me it seems loose when it is fully in the tube and you wiggle it, moves around, maybe the rubber on the dipstick where it goes into the tube on top???
 
This is a common problem and I have seen the crank brake the dip stick
tip off first hand... I would remove about a 1/4'' off of it before you end up with a piece of metal in your oil pan.
 
memike said:
This is a common problem and I have seen the crank brake the dip stick
tip off first hand... I would remove about a 1/4'' off of it before you end up with a piece of metal in your oil pan.
Click to expand...

Memike is right.
I had a /6 Dart several years ago that the dipstick end broke off a couple of times. I bent the new one away from the crank and fed it into the tube carefully every time i checked the oil so that the bend was away from the crank.
 
memike said:
I would remove about a 1/4'' off of it before you end up with a piece of metal in your oil pan.
Click to expand...

Even if it does it won't hurt anything, I have found bolts in the bottoms of pans on motors I've torn down. It amazes me to find this kinda crap in motors.
 
Older post but I have a similar problem.
1964 225.
The oil light came on last October while descending a long hill while putting miles on after the complete engine rebuild. I pulled over and there was no oil on the dipstick. The dipstick was actually out of the block a couple inches and oil had been escaping until it turned the oil light on. I figured the angle of the hill had been enough to cause the remaining oil to move away from the pickup and because I was less than a mile from home on level ground, decided to carefully drive home. No damage done.

The next time I had an incident was when I started hearing a steady ticking sound after getting on the throttle a bit. This time the dipstick was out of the block a couple inches and the crank was obviously hitting it. It had a slight banana curve but was not broken. I bent a piece of wire through the finger hole of the stick and hooked it to a hole in the motor mount. This effectively keeps it in place and have not had any further problems.

My question: Is there a positive way to retain the stick in the tube? Right now it just drops into place without any resistance. I checked the dipstick on a 340 I have here and it's the same way. I never remembet seeing any grommet or o-ring on any of my Mopars.

I should mention that I welded a couple small plates at the front and rear of the sump just because the pan was sitting on a welding table, I had the material and welder handy, and it seemed like a good idea at the time. What was i thinking? After driving it for 600 miles, its obvious this 64 Valiant is not a roadracer. In retrospect, maybe that's causing windage and pushing the dipstick out. The crankcase venting is 100% stock 1964 vintage.

Any ideas? I can remove the pan and cut out the baffles if needed.
 
There's no good reason to cut or otherwise brutalize the dipstick. There is no rubber seal between the dipstick and the tube. The crank-smacks-dipstick problem is easily solved by gently pushing (bending) the top of the dipstick tube slightly toward the block, thus moving the dipstick away from the crank.
 
And if it is just rattling in the tube, a slight bend in the middle of the dipstick may stop it. It's crazy what can make an audible engine noise!
 
KosmicKuda said:
The dipstick was actually out of the block a couple inches and oil had been escaping until it turned the oil light on (…) The crankcase venting is 100% stock 1964 vintage.
Click to expand...

If you're building up enough crankcase pressure to push oil out the dipstick tube, something's wrong…bigly. That would be severely excessive crankcase pressure, meaning you've got a ton of blowby and/or your crankcase ventilation system is not functioning correctly.

Is there a positive way to retain the stick in the tube? Right now it just drops into place without any resistance. I checked the dipstick on a 340 I have here and it's the same way. I never remembet seeing any grommet or o-ring on any of my Mopars.
Click to expand...

Right, because there has never been a need for positive dipstick retention. The drop-into-place dipstick remains in place just fine…unless there's much too much crankcase pressure. Clamping the dipstick in place in a situation like yours would be like stuffing a cork in the tailpipe to "cure" exhaust smoke.

I welded a couple small plates at the front and rear of the sump (…) maybe that's causing windage. I can remove the pan and cut out the baffles if needed.
Click to expand...

I don't think your baffles are making any such a problem.
 
Thanks Dan. I'll tweak the tube a bit.

There should not be any blowby as the engine was 100% rebuilt 600 miles ago. The machining was done by a great old guy who's been machining engines since 1962. It really runs well and nothing was left untouched. What the Valiant wants, the Valiant gets.

The crankcase venting is stock 1964 with the push-in breather/filler in the front and the stock can with the mesh material inside at the rear.

I can't take a chance as I'm driving this car to Carlisle in a few weeks, about 5 hrs each way so I pulled the pan yesterday and cut a little material from the baffles leaving about a 1-1/2" lip front and rear.
 
KosmicKuda said:
There should not be any blowby as the engine was 100% rebuilt 600 miles ago
Click to expand...

I agree there shouldn't be blowby. Check and find out if there is, though.

The crankcase venting is stock 1964 with the push-in breather/filler in the front and the stock can with the mesh material inside at the rear.
Click to expand...

Errrr...no. In '64 you have two chimneys on the valve cover. The front chimney gets a combination oil cap/breather. It contains mesh and has a ring of holes on its underside. Air comes in those holes, through the mesh and into the crankcase (on California models starting in '64, the holes were replaced by a hose nipple connected to a similar nipple on the air cleaner body). The rear chimney gets a smaller stamped steel cup with a PCV valve in it, connected to the carburetor base by a hose. There is not supposed to be a "can with mesh" on the rear chimney. If your PCV valve and hose are missing or incorrectly put together, that's probably where all this is coming from.

I can't take a chance as I'm driving this car to Carlisle in a few weeks, about 5 hrs each way so I pulled the pan yesterday and cut a little material from the baffles leaving about a 1-1/2" lip front and rear.
Click to expand...

What a pain. Still don't think that's causing your problem.
 
slantsixdan said:
The rear chimney gets a smaller stamped steel cup with a PCV valve in it, connected to the carburetor base by a hose. There is not supposed to be a "can with mesh" on the rear chimney. If your PCV valve and hose are missing or incorrectly put together, that's probably where all this is coming from.
Click to expand...
Yes. It is either going to get the PCV or the old road draft tube for older years. I can't recall if '62 or '63 was the last year for the tube.
 
'61: PCV mandated in California, optional everywhere else.
'62: PCV mandated in NY, optional everywhere else (except CA)
'63: PCV standard equipment in all 50 states and Canada.
 
slantsixdan said:
I agree there shouldn't be blowby. Check and find out if there is, though.



Errrr...no. In '64 you have two chimneys on the valve cover. The front chimney gets a combination oil cap/breather. It contains mesh and has a ring of holes on its underside. Air comes in those holes, through the mesh and into the crankcase (on California models starting in '64, the holes were replaced by a hose nipple connected to a similar nipple on the air cleaner body). The rear chimney gets a smaller stamped steel cup with a PCV valve in it, connected to the carburetor base by a hose. There is not supposed to be a "can with mesh" on the rear chimney. If your PCV valve and hose are missing or incorrectly put together, that's probably where all this is comin from
Click to expand...
20160925_143653.jpg

Correct. My mistake. Everything is clean and functional. I think the stick was too far inward and the crank kicked it up under certain conditions. I feel better checking it though. Ignore the glass filter, just ysed that for awhile to monitor gas flow. Replaced with stock style metal canister.
 
Had same problem with 72duster dipstk had a bow in it i think from the way i was pulling out. i straightened it and no more rattle.dont know what it was hitn. 225ci.:usflag::wtf:
 
I had a ticking sound coming from my 340 once and tracked it down to the dipstick.
I pulled it out and rotated it 180*
Problem solved.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top