So, I have oil leaking from the bottom of my dipstick tube.

My mechanic says it's a crush seal - the tube is just jammed in there damn tight and that's supposed to keep it from leaking.

I think something may have hit it near the bottom and bent or dented it enough to cause this leaking - I can't see anything obviously wrong with it, but when moving the dipstick in or out of the tube it now gets jammed on something much of the time, rather than sliding smoothly like it used to.

I have a spare dipstick tube on a parts engine. The mechanic said I should swap it in and that might help my leak. The procedure apparently is simple:

1. Remove lower oil pan.

2. Hammer dipstick tube out from the bottom.

3. Hammer new dipstick tube in from the top (I think I'll use a rubber mallet for this).

4. Replace oil pan.


Sounds easy, but before I do it I thought I'd ask if anyone else had tried this, and if there were any tricks to doing it right.

I tried searching and this doesn't appear to be something anyone else has mentioned before. I can take some pictures and make a DIY post about it if anyone wants (assuming I'm successful ).

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'81 300TD Wagon 355k (Miss Diesel)
'83 300SD 180k
'84 500SEL 190k (Parting it out)