Help – F800 dip stick broken off – pieces in the crankcase

[Russell Taylor]

#2444

If there was a way to curl up and die without disadvantaging my p[partner, I'd do it.A friend and I are due to head away tomorrow morning for our inaugural South Island short tour. Wanaka and back in 2 days, via the West Coast.As part of pre trip checks, I was checking my oil about 30 minutes ago. I screwed the dip stick out, cleaned it off then screwed it back in, and on doing so I heard a small click. Suspicious, I screwed it out again, and found that the bottom 20 mm or so had broken off inside the crank case.Right, end of trip we have been planning for quite a while.If any of you have ideas, please let me have them. I have very little mechanical know how, but I'd really like to sort this. I have already drained the oil, but the piece of plastic isn't in it. It can only be up in the crank case.Help !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dave Ross]

#9397

Hmmm, that is annoying. Are you sure it's only 20mm that's missing? My gut feeling says, don't worry about it. It is too big too get sucked into small passages and too soft to obstruct anything. Too be sure, give the boys at Experience BMW a ring.I hope you'll be able to sort it in  time.

[Robin]

#9398

First: IS THE BIKE UNDER WARRANTY?? Don't touch it!Don't know the F800 engine at all, but in generic terms, can you get the right sort of wire up through the drain hole and hook the offending piece over to it? Or is it in line with the dipstick opening? Perhaps a pice of gum on the end may stick to it. Don't let the gum drop off, but.

[Russell Taylor]

#9399

I have lived by the saying “if you lose, don't lose the lesson”.I got onto Kiwibiker a few minutes after I posted the problem on this site. With a few minutes I had a few people online helping me to remove the clutch cover, including removing the clutch linkages, and the gear selector. I got the little piece of plastic out, and reassembled the whole shebang. A test drive later, and I was back on the road.The next day we did the Chch, West Coast, Haast, Wanaka loop. Besutiful scenery, and the clutch case didn't leak at all. I was so pleased, as you can imagine.The next day was a Corwn Range, Queenstown, Cromwell, Twizel Tekapo trip home. Tekapo meant a trip to Mt John Observatory, the view was stunning.Anyway, in the photo you can see over the hill toward Geraldine, and it looked dark and wet. We left Tekapo with our winter woolies on, and all the way back to Chch we were glad of it. No rain, but it was cold and grey.So, 1250 km after my oil stick crisis, it seems I got lucky. Thanks for your notes.Ka Kite

[Dave Ross]

#9400

I am glad you got it all sorted and posted the fix as well. Do you know what caused the dipstick to break or detach? Thanks for the photos and the report. Even though I've done a similar trip this summer, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

[Russell Taylor]

#9401

I have a feeling I put the dipstick in at an incorrect angle, and it caught on something on the way in. I am sure I wasn't ham fisted, but the end broke off, so frankly it must have been my fault.It has made me wonder, if this is a poor design (fragile dipstick) would BMW ever admit that? And if they say it's not the design, it's purely my fault, how would I ever find out how may other people have had this problem?Anyways, I'm over it. I need to buy a new dipstick, but that's a small price to pay for the lesson I learned.Regards

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