I installed one of the oil dipsticks found in the parts catalogues. It is attached to the lower hole on the oil pan and attached to the firewall. When checking the oil using the dipstick, the entire unit was pulled thus the fitting worked its way out of the oil plan and I had one quart of oil on the floor. Any advice on anchoring the unit more tightly so that just the checking stick is moved not the entire unit?
The ones I've installed had an "anchor" piece that you bolt/screw to the firewall.
Dangerous If it pulls out while driving, you will lose all your oil and ruin the engine!
Norm
mark - i think i had this same problem, it was detaching from the tube and the fitting connection. i thought it was a pretty poor quality unit. i ended up sightly flaring the ends of the tube and seating it in place with plenty of epoxy, then coating it on the outside too. i might just take the whole thing off....
Why not modify the system such that the dipstick outer tube mounts only to the engine. That way everything would move at the same time?
I put one on a car several years ago, and I think it anchored to the engine. The body and engine move independently and the tube could be pulled if attached to the firewall. I also seem to remember that the end connecting to the pan used a compression fitting which should not pull out if properly tightened.
Realistically a flare fitting would be a much better choice than a compression fitting when it comes to fatigue resistance. Also steel tubing is much more fatigue resistant than copper tubing.