Dipstick dry no matter what

[swathdiver]

Wife and family smelled a weird burning smell in the cabin yesterday. Said it was very strong. I wasn’t home but a friend checked the oil and the dipstick was totally dry. They put in 5 qts of oil but the dipstick still reads dry. I got home this morning to take a look and make sure everything was fine and the dipstick is 100% dry. Literally not even a film on it after multiple checks. Any idea what could be going on? We have a small oil leak but nothing that would cause something like this to happen.

On the driver's side of the radiator, do you have two hoses going into the radiator tank? What is the condition of these hoses? If you have them, these are the engine oil cooler hoses and they require replacement every 7-8 years or so. They first begin to sweat, then weep and then leak oil until they finally burst.

Can you crawl underneath and put your hands on the oil filter? Is it loose? Is there a lot of oil around it? Is it even there?

 

[intheburbs]

Something weird is going on. Are you sure you're checking the engine oil dipstick, and not the transmission dipstick behind it?

There's no way the engine could have even been running five quarts low. Your family would have reported loud clattering, not just a burning smell, as the engine disintegrated due to lack of lubrication.

And I'm not sure I'd be confident to start any engine that just took 5 quarts. Something fundamental is being missed.

 

[rdezs]

If he was burning that much oil, is catalytic converters would be toasted and the check engine light would be lit up. The O2 sensors would be trashed. I would drain the oil and change the filter, put the correct mount in and verify on the dipstick. Have somebody start the engine and hold it at 2,000 RPM and look underneath for a possible high RPM oil leak. (Oil cooler lines could do that. As well as where they attach to the oil pan when under high pressure.)

If you put the correct amount in, and it's not showing on the dipstick... Somebody might have stuck the wrong dipstick in the engine, or the cross hatch end of it has broke off. They're cheap, get a new one.

 

[optimusprime]

Found it guys. Went under the truck and found that the dipstick was sticking down near the a-arm. Couldn’t see it until the truck was up on ramps. The dipstick tube is rusted through and broken in half. Now the question…how in the world do replace that thing?

 

[ReaperHWK]

Found it guys. Went under the truck and found that the dipstick was sticking down near the a-arm. Couldn’t see it until the truck was up on ramps. The dipstick tube is rusted through and broken in half. Now the question…how in the world do replace that thing?

You better drain out the extra 5qts your neighbor put in asap than….

 

[j91z28d1]

Found it guys. Went under the truck and found that the dipstick was sticking down near the a-arm. Couldn’t see it until the truck was up on ramps. The dipstick tube is rusted through and broken in half. Now the question…how in the world do replace that thing?

there's a bolt on the top part to the head. take that off and the top part should come out. the part in the block you'll have to pull out with some pliers.

just watch out, take the battery terminal off, it's closer to the starter and you might touch it and spark.

getting the new one in might be best with 2 people. someone under to guide it in.

 

[rdezs]

After you get it replaced and the oil drained out, you'll probably find it idles better..... Now that the PCV system can maintain a vacuum in the crankcase.

 

[Charlie207]

Found it guys. Went under the truck and found that the dipstick was sticking down near the a-arm. Couldn’t see it until the truck was up on ramps. The dipstick tube is rusted through and broken in half. Now the question…how in the world do replace that thing?

I knew it.

So, It can be a bit of a pain to get the old one out, as the steel tube is thin. I would try gently pulling it out with some needle-nose pliers first.

I just put a new one in the engine that was on a stand, and it was still a pain in the butt to get the old broken tube out. Hope you don't have too much road salt in your area.

 

[Doubeleive]

not hard to do, I replaced mine it took a few minutes, if it is broken off where it enters you can try a and grab it with some needle nose pliers and just twist it back and forth easy and work it out, otherwise you'll have to use something to grip it from inside edge and pull it out.
probably easiest to take off the passenger wheel, pull some clips out of the splash guard and lift it up to see better down in there.
maybe disconnect the battery first as the starter cables are right there and you don't want to weld anything in the process

 

[optimusprime]

Got it replaced…thanks everyone.

Now for the original issue. The smell. There was smoke coming from inside the engine compartment and I could smell something burning. I traced it back to the top of the block. Smoke is coming out of what seems to be a crack. Am I correct in thinking this is in the exhaust manifold?