Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to post how my buddy and I were able to replace my oil dipstick tube without pulling the manifold or cutting the tube somehow in hopes it saves someone else some money.

When this first happened I figured I was the only person in the world with bad enough luck for something like that to happen to. I checked the forums on here and came to the conclusion that it may just be something I want to pay ford like $100 to fix. WRONG. They tried quoting me $1000 (yes, 4 zeros) to fix this dinky little tube. They said they would have to pull the manifold, and almost guaranteed a stud would break in the process, so I would be left paying for that as well.

I'm in college, not to mention I would refuse to pay $1000 or more for something short of an engine or transmission overhaul on a 10 year old truck (no matter how much money I do or don't have.)

So....

I ordered the part from Ford. They charged about $25. I didn't check around at the auto-parts stores (NAPA, etc.) I figured it may be hard to find and something not entirely OEM would be made of even worse material that breaks more easily.

The process of fixing it:

1. Removed Wheel & Tire
2. Removed plastic fender well
It's 4 Hex head screws and a ton of those plastic pop screws. If it doesn't want to pull out cleanly, you've missed one, don't just yank on it.
3. Unscrewed the bolt holding the tube in and set that aside.
(Mine was broken nearly clean with where the small bracket with the hole extends to mount the thing.)
4. Took the loose piece and set it aside.
5. Used good old PB Blaster all around where the tube sets into the side of the motor.
(Wigged it around as much as possible to get that O-Ring good and soaked.)
6. There is something on the frame rail that it hit when we tried to pull the piece out. It has several lines running in and out, and I know its brake-related, (I have no clue what the name of it is.) We loosened the 4 bolts holding that in and moved it to the left just enough that we were able to get the old one out and the new one in (gently tapped with the pry bar and hammer.)

The job literally took a half hour. I laughed for another half hour about how much sleep I had lost dreading how much this would cost....

Hope this helps someone!

 

The ones I've done were allot more stubborn. I'm not sure how you got behind the manifold, so It's no help to me. To fix it correctly anyway. I've done 2 98's a 99 and an 01. 3 where 5.4L's, the other a 4.2L (98).

The fastest was the 4.2L. Went smooth, maybe 45 minutes.

The 01 was roughly 2 hours. The 98 and 99 , 1/2 a day easy, each. They were all done correctly. I'm not sure how you cheated. Need more details perhaps.

 

I definitely didn't take any shortcuts with fixing it. There isn't anything dripping out the side of the motor, so I know the job got done.

As for removing the old tube, it may depend on where it was broken as to the ease of removing it? If it was broken any higher up I think it would have been a harder removal.

When installing the newer one, the brake component that I was able to move gave just enough room to feed the new tube straight through the opening in the exhaust manifold and then turn the top upward.

 

So you didn’t have to take the manifold off? The only thing broke on my oil dipstick is the bracket that bolts onto what looks like the side of the engine at the manifold area. I was told the same thing as you about it costing 500 plus dollars at the Ford place.

 

dip stick tube