Friggin POS LOKAR Mo-fo!!

[Y-TRY]

I have to vent, and share a warning with you guys-

Piece of crap mother****ing Lokar piece of **** oil dipstick!

For $35 you, too, can own one... but don't!



It's happened twice now:

My Lokar dipstick has always been hard to get into the pan. It can't hardly make it through the base, much less into the oil. After messing with the it for a while I finally got it in. The first time I go to check the oil I realize that the entire 3-4" flat end is GONE. Not GONE but IN THE ENGINE.

Probing through the drain plug hole is fruitless so I have to pull the pan, which requires lifting the engine several inches, which requires dropping the trans and everything. Hours of work. I make sure that there is no obstruction caused by the scraper and windage tray, etc. All is fine. Musta been a fluke. I fished out the piece, lying in the sump near the pick-up.

I trimmed off the rest of the tube and use the shortened piece as a plug but cannot check my oil.

Yesterday I decide to try again and use an extra I happened to have sitting around. This time I put a twist in it like a stock stick, to help guide it through. It worked fine and was easy to get in. Until I started the engine. The crank apparently grabbed the dipstick at the bottom and ripped it into the crankcase, shooting the billet handle across the garage.

So now I have 14" or so of dipstick sitting in my crankcase. I imagine it's wrapped around my throws like a shoestring on a bike pedal, but it doesn't sound like it. I have no way of checking the oil for fragments, so who knows. Looks like I have to drop the pan again. This time I'll spend $4 on the Mr. Gasket chrome one and call it a day. After I call Lokar and chew them a new hole for them to put their bull**** dipstick in.

[Twin_Turbo]

Sorry to hear that man, I bought a lokar throttle cable..didn't fit worth a damn, I converted it into a hood latch cable..last time I bought that kind of stuff, would probably have been better off w/ a cheap knockoff from ebay.

[CAMAROBOY69]

Thank you for the warning. I would not be happy at all and I think you deserve the vent. Your voice is heard and we do listen. Simple replies like this effect many members decision before buying a product. Thanks again.

[Y-TRY]

Thanks to the mods for editing my post. I was/am pretty angry. The car is in a storage unit with no light, so I didn't mess with it much lastnight.

I'll go over in the day and with the engine cool and check it. It's likely that the stick is pulled in, but not all the way. I'm going to remove the base first and see if I can pull it out, if any is still up in it.

My hypothesis is that, for some reason, the Lokar design puts the stick in at such a tragectory that it comes in contact with the crank and/or misses the slots in the pan and screen. With the pan-off I couldn't really pinpoint the issue.

It's not just me, however. I was standing at the counter at a local speed shop when a guy came in waving his abbreviated Lokar dipstick around. He was wondering where the rest of his was, too. I told him where I found mine the first time. As any of us would- he went white.

[Rick Dorion]

I have one on the shelf. Have you contacted Lokar?

[6'9"Witha69]

This is not the first time I have heard this. That is wht the $4 Mr.Gasket has been in my camaro for 8 years and 3 or 4 engines!

[Y-TRY]

I pulled the tube out and found that the whole stick is down in there. I won't bother contacting Lokar, because I think it's pretty-much buyer-beware and I'm sure they'll point to the aftermarket block, crank, pan, etc. as being the issue.

I'm kinda glad it hasn't happened to just me, so I know I'm not the idiot. Looks like I'll be dropping the pan again and hopefully I'll find the dipstick in one piece, pushed outta the way.

[TonyL]

-it wasnt us that edited your post. The forum has filters that do it automaticly if the "wrong" words are input.

[Rick Dorion]

Calling them passes on information. I understand your feelings, though.

[CAMAROBOY69]

Calling them passes on information. I understand your feelings, though.

Thats a great point too. If you call them hopefully the customer service person you speak to will take a note to inform the designers, engineers that there is a potential problem.

[HILROD]

I have had trouble with lokar dipsticks also. To get them to work I turned the end down a bit and put a thinner o-ring on it. Also make sure the lower dipstick tube is in the block. I've seen strokers that neede the lower tube bent away from the crank for clearance. FRANK

[Rick Dorion]

I have had trouble with lokar dipsticks also. To get them to work I turned the end down a bit and put a thinner o-ring on it. Also make sure the lower dipstick tube is in the block. I've seen strokers that neede the lower tube bent away from the crank for clearance. FRANK

Good input. I'm in the middle of a 410 build and will mock up the tube with the pan off. There's enough excitement as it is

[Y-TRY]

Okay, so I finally got the car up and dropped the pan. I'm going to have to lift the engine again.

There was a decent amount of metal shavings on the drain plug magnet. From what I could see into the engine, there seems to be no damage to the cylinder walls, cam lobes, etc. The entire dipstick appears to be down on the backside of the pump. I can see the end of it through the drain hole but not from the top.

I'm still hoping to find the whole stick in one bent up piece and be able to account for any shavings. Then get it back together and changing the oil every time I drive it for a while. It doesn't appear that the stick is wedged in a bearing or anything, so my only concern should be how much shavings are up in the oil passages. I'll let you guys know what I come up with.

[Y-TRY]

Although I haven't gotten the engine out to see the extent of the damage, if any, I have been able to look at the situation and have come to a hypothesis. I think I can share this info with you guys, to teach you the lesson I've learned the hard way:


From lying under the car, scratching my head, and looking at the location of the dipstick and crank, etc.-

The dipstick provision in the block aligns the stick with one of the main caps. This way there should be no moving parts near the stick as it passes into the pan. It's protected by the 3"-4" 'channel' afforded by the cap. Even if the stick were to bend up or down, completely up around the cap, or down across the top of the windage screen, it would be in line with the cap and always clear of the rotating assembly.

The only way the dipstick could possibly come in contact with the crank would be if it were to be bent to either the left or right (ahead of, or behind, the cap) and thus right in the path of the counterweights. There is very little clearance in this area, as you know.

Stock dipsticks, and even the $4 Mr. Gasket chrome ones, are flat the entire length of the stick. There is only one way to insert them. These sticks are only flexible on the flat face. This would only permit the stick to bend up or down and would keep it safe from any contact. These sticks are not flexible on the edge. (Think of a 2x4 bowing when laid flat, but not flexing at all on it's edge)

So therein lies the issue with the Lokar stick: The Lokar dipstick is round the entire length until the last 3" or so, like a coat hanger. It can kink or bend in ANY direction along it's length, INCLUDING fore or aft of the cap "channel". The actual shape of the stick is its flaw. The round stick allows for it to be bent and diverted left or right, up/down, or even twisted once in.

As difficult as it is to get the stick through the exterior tube, it is very plausable that my dipstick became kinked, bent or bowed. All it needed was to be twisted in a way that put its trajectory to left left or right- a scenario completely eliminated by using a flat dipstick.

So consider this when deciding on oil dipsticks. Avoid round, coat-hanger-type sticks. Lokar or not. Stay with the flat ones and avoid having your crank grab it and yank it into the oil pan. Mine appears to be pushed down behind the pump, with one end right at the drain plug.

[Y-TRY]

Here's what I discovered in my oil pan...

The dipstick broke in two and the handle popped of. (All but the handle were down in the sump)

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