Removing a Broken Dipstick

My neighbor's dipstick broke off again in her 2002 Nissan Sentra. The first time it happened, I wrapped a rag around a blow gun and used compressed air in the oil filler hole and blew out the dipstick. The pressure in the crankcase was enough to lift the dipstick out of the tube. It was easy. So when she told me it happened again, I figured it would be another easy fix.

Plan A: Use compressed air like before. This didn't work. But I did see that the valve cover gasket was leaking. There are some risks to this. If too much pressure builds up in the crankcase, it can blow out a main seal. That would be a fun repair.

Plan B: Try a vacuum pump on the dipstick. Again, it didn't work. I looked into the tube and saw the o-ring was sitting on top, so it would't seal to allow a vacuum to form above it.

Plan C: Try drilling a hole into the plastic and put a screw in the dipstick. The dipstick was able to move down the tube, so I couldn't put pressure on it to drill a hole. Besides, who wants plastic flakes caught in the oil filter?

Plan D: Heat a screw with a blow-torch. Yes! This method uses fire, so it has to work. I heated a 4" long screw with a plumbing torch so it would melt into the plastic on the top of the dipstick. After waiting for it to cool, I was able to pull the rest of the dipstick out.

Plan E: Luckily I didn't have to resort to this, but it would have been to remove the dipstick tube or oil pan - whichever would have been easier.