dip stick leak repair gone bad

[richard1999]

i was changing the o ring on my 7.3 where the dipstick enters the oil pan when my vice grips slipped off the plug and she dropped down into the pan!!! so dumb ive fixed it once before and it was super easy. I just held it with mini vise grips in the tube hole and had no problems. Anyways now im up the creek and looking for ideas on getting the plug back up without pulling my engine. Anyone have this before??!!! HELP!

[NoRalPh]

OH! That Sucks...

Have you read these threads?

FML - seriously
I Think I Just ****** Myself... HELP

[atvrider93]

how about a magnet?

[NoRalPh]

That'd be Great if it were steel

Your best hope might be the borescope and flexible "grabber" thingy....

[Demo250]

Magnet wont work.....

x2 on the borescope idea from the other thread.

Good luck!

[dlnw98]

It can be done.

Drain the oil out of the engine. Keep the drain plug out. Shine a flashlight or some other small light through the side of the pan, where the flange used to be. While looking up, sideways through the drain plug hole, start working in there with the "grabber thingy". The light through the flange hole should help you find it, move it, and somehow get a hold of it with something.

It's a PIA, but an hours worth of fooling around trying to grab it is much easier than pulling the motor.

Good luck

[richard1999]

thx all! any links to where i could find the grabber thingy or what it looks like?

[Demo250]

Originally Posted by richard1999

thx all! any links to where i could find the grabber thingy or what it looks like?

Here it is zip tied to a borescope. It's like those pickle / olive grabbers.... but much longer.... and flexible. Don't ask me where to buy them... maybe a general automotive supply / repair store such as Napa or Lordco or something.




Edit: Here is another redneck repair idea... Drain the oil. Use a shop vac with a small tube sealed onto the main vacuum hose. Stick tube in there and vacuum around in there and hope it will grab the plug and hold with enough suction to pull it out. I'm assuming you would need a vacuum that REALLY knows how to suck (lol) but you never know...
Edit 2: Depending on how big the opening to the pan is, maybe you could get a big enough hose in there that it could just vacuum the whole piece up without having to worry about suction to hold it.

[richard1999]

ive never seen one of those... do you know where i could find one?

[dhanna6powerstroke]

I'm sure you could find them locally but not sure where. Napa might sell something like it.
K-D Tools 2391 Flexible Retrieving Tool 23" long | TESSCO