Dip Stick

Can anybody think of a good reason my dip stick stops about 2 1/2 inches from seating in a 304. It's hitting something tin. Fits in another 304 in the garage and shows the correct oil level in that one. Really looking for another alternative to pulling the pan to see what's going on.

 

Oh woops, I thought this was a thread about me.


Some of these guys might have a better idea, but I would probably pull the pan to see what the problem is.

 

nothing tin down there other than the oil pan
dipstick tube too short ?
broken by someone else and reinstalled ?

 

The 304 oilpan in my 76 has a sump. At the top of the sump which is about the mid point of the whole pan, there is a metal plate that covers the sump. It may be a baffle or for structural integrity, not sure, but anyway it has holes in it and there is one anout 2" big that the dipstick has to go through. If the dipstick tube is spun the wrong way, the curvature and angle of the tube will cause the dipstick to miss the hole into the sump and hit this metal plate. I know this as I recently had to replace the tube and had the same problem. Once I took the pan off again, I could see the problem. My lesson learned was to install the tube with the dipstick in it, so you know it is ligned up with the hole into the sump.