Well I went to change the oil in my 6500mi P300 for the first time and as I went for my initial check of oil I was met with a unwelcome surprise. Initially I thought it was some new fangled oil dip stick but it appears what’s actually happened is the dip stick has been twisted maybe 8 complete rotation inside the engine. There is some small material wear at the bottom of the measure which has me concerned, though it’s likely been like this for some time and has not exploded.

As I can’t get the dipstick back in I am thinking I’ll have to cut it off at the cap so I can put that back on and see service when they open next. Any other suggestions are welcome, never quite seen something like this myself.

 

Normal, mine is the same on my '23 P300 D90S.

 

How do you get it to go back in? I have tried finagle it back in and it seems to get stuck at a point requiring what I feel is an uncomfortable amount of pressure.

 

Just rotate the top of the dipstick like you a screwing it in to get past that point. Also be sure to line up the notch at the top of the dipstick tube with the notch on the yellow plastic piece of the dipstick.

 

Thanks I’ll give it another shot.

 

I won't say it is normal, it is weird. But, mine is exactly like that, down to the worn section at the tip, which I polished with some emery until it was smooth.
will check back in a bit to see if it is grinded again.

 

Mechanic here. Twisted dipsticks have been a thing forever. The wear on the end could be from sliding it in and out of the tube, or just a rough cut from manufacturing. Nothing wrong here.

 

I find I must install the dipstick with two hands, keeping one hand on the top and one at the bottom, to keep it from flopping around as it is being pushed down the tube.

Enjoy !

 

I used to have a twisted dip stick living next door when I was in college.

 

Thanks everyone for the help, certainly spent the rest of the weekend ruminating on how twisted my own dip stick was not to realize this was the case.