Dipstick problems D4D

[Adrian Tuddenham]

When I first got my Toyota Hiace with a D4D turbo diesel, I was amazed
to find that the oil dipstick didn't work. No matter how I tried to use
it, the 'business end' always came out smeared with oil and completely
unreadable.

Several online discussions mentioned this problem, with users strongly
divided into two camps: those who had nothing but trouble and those who
had none. There didn't seemto be any obviously-identifiable factor
causing the problem, but someone mentioned that he had found twisting
the bottom two inches of the dipstick strip slightly gave a partial
cure.

I tried this on my vehicle, the degree of twist being a compromise that
still allowed the strip to flex around the bends of the guide tube
without getting jammed edgewise-on. To my surprise, it worked and the
dipstick is now sufficiently smear-free to be readable.

The probable cause of the divide between working and non-working
dipsticks then dawned on me: The guide tube on a non-turbo D4D is
fairly straight; whereas, on the turbo engine fitted in the Hiace van,
it has an 'S' bend to negotiate around the turbo unit. In flexing
around the bends, the dipstick slides against the walls of the tube and
the oil mark is smeared.

It would be interesting to test this theory by asking members of this
group with D4D engines to say whether they have experienced dipstick
problems and whether these were with turbo or non-turbo versions fitted
to the Hiace van.

--
~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
(Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
www.poppyrecords.co.uk

[Shinnokxz]

sounds like a funny engineering problem

[Adrian Tuddenham]

> sounds like a funny engineering problem

It's the sort of niggling oversight that catches out even the best
engineers from time to time. I wonder if Toyota garages have noticed
the problem and dutifully reported it back, or whether they were afraid
of being laughed at - after all. "dipstick faulty" on a dealer feedback
form does sound as though it was intended to be a joke.