I need an Electric Dipstick, can anyone help?
 

It seems they don't stock these things here in SoCal. NAPA and Pep Boys gave me a blank look. I used to own one 25 years ago, but can't find it. I need it for the Aston Martin rebuild (tight bearing clearances). Can one of you cold weather guys help a brother out? I can paypal or send cash for the dipstick and shipping. I need one with an insertion lenght of 21", or so, and no more than 1/4" diameter. Thanks for any help.

Never found it that hard to pull mine out manually! ;) Btw...Happy Birthday!

for heating up the oil?

I suppose I could modify an electric antenna to do the trick :p

Nostril:

Yeah, exactly to heat the oil and to expand the clearances on the main bearings so it will spin easier and not give my starter motor a heart attack. I figure half a dozen heat cycles and it'll loosen up the main bearings. I set them really close, where they're supposed to be at 0.00125" to 0.00150" btw, a piece of computer paper is about 0.004" thick.

Anybody? I Googled them and found a sold one on ebay, but no other luck.

JC Whitney has something.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Browse/tf-Browse/s-10101/in_dim_search-1/N-111+10201+600001648/c-10101/TID-8043876

This looks cool.

http://www.maesco.com/products/kim/kimlube/kimlube.html

Here's a 21 on ebay htat ends in an hour

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/New-Universal-Dipstick-Engine-Block-Oil-Heater-HotStart_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33613QQihZ016Q QitemZ260078992606QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

sorry, ends in a day. my bad

Maybe I'm over complicating things...wouldn't it be better to rig a way to heat both the block AND the oil, begin the expansion process beyond merely warm oil? The problem with JC whitney? SHIPPING...they really ding you on shipping. Perhaps one of our brothers here living in the great frozen North could buy a heated dipstick in a local parts store & mail it to you?

My father used to use the coolant hose variety for that purpose and also you get heat faster.

But really you want to warm the oil and motor if possible. Warm oil travelling thru a cold block will get cold real fast.

The coolant hose heaters circulate thru the system so the block and everything in it stays warm.

What about something like this?

http://www.dieselproducts.com/proheat/proheat.html

Go with local knowledge...:D

I'm in SoCal, this is a one time thing. I don't need a block heater, I just need an electric dip stick.

Drain the oil and bring it in the house, heat on the stove/oven?
I would maybe do this when wife was gone.
I can't quote years or models but the early Honda multi cylinder racing bikes required heating three different weights of oil to get the thing running.
Jim

This is what we do for airplanes. As well if its really cold we use a oil tank heater.

Hugh, drain the oil and warm it on the stove then pour it in the engine when you intend to start it.

Pre-lube the engine by turning it over with the warm oil inside then put the coil wire in and fire the puppy up!

I've got one I dont use very much. Its 23" long. Send me your address and I'll get it out to you tomorrow. I just found it in my cold-cold-cold garage. Its only 17 today. When you're done with it, send it back. On second thought, keep it. I dont think I'll ever need it again.

Way too coooool! PM sent.