I broke my plastic dipstick on my 1999 ( 2000) Mazda Protege 5 speed ZM engine while I was wrestling around changing the timing belt. I left it that way fora few months.
The other day, I tried to retreive the broken dipstick part by sliding a metal dipstick down the tube in an effort to snag it.
I ended up pushing it into the oil pan. I am assuming theres about a 19" to one foot long section of yellow plastic floating around in my pan.
Common sense tells me its nothing to worry about, after its plastic and its not going up the oil pump tube because theres a screen on it.
But 20 years ago, I left a small metal clamp in my valve cover and belive it or not it got lodged in a perfect position to score the camshaft and break it!
So I am thinking , with my luck it'll get sucked up into a connecting rod and jam a piston, though the plastic is not that strong.
The other day, I tried to retreive the broken dipstick part by sliding a metal dipstick down the tube in an effort to snag it.
I ended up pushing it into the oil pan. I am assuming theres about a 19" to one foot long section of yellow plastic floating around in my pan.
Common sense tells me its nothing to worry about, after its plastic and its not going up the oil pump tube because theres a screen on it.
But 20 years ago, I left a small metal clamp in my valve cover and belive it or not it got lodged in a perfect position to score the camshaft and break it!
So I am thinking , with my luck it'll get sucked up into a connecting rod and jam a piston, though the plastic is not that strong.
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