We interrupt this week’s regularly-scheduled dose of ghost punching with a public service announcement about a van, a dipstick, and a guy who’s not so handy with an electric drill.
A couple months ago, after getting the oil changed on my 2006 Dodge Caravan, I was concerned to see the technician approach me with a ring of yellow plastic in his hand. It was, I realized, the handle of the dipstick, but without the dipstick attached.
“It broke off,” he said. “We can’t get it out or fix it here.”
I was afraid the van was going to be spurting oil like a Transformer with an amputated arm, but enough plastic handle remained inside the dipstick tube to keep a seal as I drove down the highway. So I went home and did some Internet research.
Turns out this sort of thing is surprisingly common. Something happens between the metal tube and the plastic handle, wedging the plastic bit so tightly that pulling the handle breaks it off. I bought a replacement dipstick and (after many weeks of putting it off) set about pulling the old dipstick out.
First, I took an electric drill and drilled the thinnest hole I could down into the broken handle piece. Not too deep – I was afraid of breaking off the plastic and dropping it into the dipstick tube.
Next, I used a screw that was long enough to reach the plastic inside the tube and screwed it into the drilled hole. Again, I went slowly, in fear of bursting the plastic and filling my oil with bits of filthy yellow residue.
Finally, once the screw was in securely, I grasped the top that was protruding from the dipstick tube and pulled. And pulled. And… PULLED. And… called in a neighbor who actually has a few points in mechanical repair skills. He figured out that while we couldn’t get enough leverage on the screw to pull the plug straight out, we could use the top of the tube itself as a fulcrum and slowly pry the thing up and out.
So what’s this have to do with writing, game design, or storyworld creation? Not a thing. But I’m sharing my story here in hopes that the next time someone’s dipstick gets stuck in the tube, they can discover this post and find it helpful.
