I'm an idiot - dropped oil bottle foil seal into dipstick tube

[brentseay]

Hey everyone. This will be my first post. It's pretty sad.

I bought a new Husqvarna YTH24V48 with the 24hp Briggs and Stratton Intek 440000 model engine. I ran it to 6.0 hours and decided to change the oil as I'm told this is important in the first 5-8 hours. I changed the oil and filter with no real problems. I used one 48oz Briggs oil bottle.

I ran the engine a bit and checked the dipstick. I noticed the oil had dropped below full so I decided to open another bottle of 48oz Briggs oil and punctured the metal/plastic seal. When I went to pour the oil in, a piece of the seal poured right into the dipstick tube. I shined my flashlight inside the tube and it was shiny and vacant of any seal.

Yup, I'm dumb and should have fully removed the seal before pouring the oil in. Now, what are my options?


Thanks,
Brent

 

[7394]

Take mower back & claim you dont like it.

(Seriously tho)- BEFORE starting it, you could remove the complete drain plug & hope it exits.

Or run it & hope for best..

How big a piece was it ? the whole silver seal ? I would be draining it for that.

 

[reynoldston]

It can do nothing but cause problems. Take engine apart and remove it if it comes to that. I know its something you don't want to hear but its a lot cheaper then a new engine.

 

[brentseay]

Thanks for the replies. I called Husqvarna and they gave me the nearest authorized service shop. It was about 1/3 of the foil seal that went into the dipstick tube.

They're going to drain the oil, obviously. So, I might as well try that myself. Does the full drain plug unscrew normally? It's one of those push/pull plastic deals. I REALLY wish cars had this push/pull deal.

 

[reynoldston]

Thanks for the replies. I called Husqvarna and they gave me the nearest authorized service shop. It was about 1/3 of the foil seal that went into the dipstick tube.

They're going to drain the oil, obviously. So, I might as well try that myself. Does the full drain plug unscrew normally? It's one of those push/pull plastic deals. I REALLY wish cars had this push/pull deal.

If you can maybe remove the complete oil drain plug and if the foil doesn't come out then dig with a wire and see if you can hook it. Hope you good luck on this, but just don't leave it in there. I have found through the many years of repairs that something left in the crankcase will always end up in the wrong place and make for big damage.

 

[motoman]

IMO you are (unfortunately) right to be concerned. If the flap floats around and covers an oil feed or pickup hole I think you know what could happen. It makes me think of some way to see if oil pressure is affected which makes me think of an oil pressure gauge. These are sometimes temporarily installed for one-shot checkup. But since the piece can move around I would trade off a tear down cost against permanent oil pressure gauge install on your dash. If your pan is cast like my Intek 24 the drain plug is a side entry and unlikely to drain the piece. The tear down is best if you can trust the mechanic to show you the piece found. If you don't go apart you will always worry and should constantly monitor the oil pressure gauge. And with a machine under warranty they may look at you funny and reject the pressure gauge idea with a warning that such an installation will void the warranty. Electric pressure gauge estimate $80-$100 for parts. A mechanical one is a lot less , ?$25," but I had trouble with the oil tube leaking. Just ideas. Hope somehow you can snag that foil.

 

[mikemower]

If it fell into the tube but has not been disturbed by starting etc. what is the chance that it might come right out if the engine was turned upside down? Maybe a silly idea but at some point the oil will need to be drained anyway. Just wondering?

 

[bertsmobile1]

irst things first,
Pull off the entire dip stick tube.
It gets very thin towards the bottom and a good chance you bit of foil will be stuck at the bottom of the tube
Other than that you could try & flush it out with a thinner fluid like diesel or kero ( parafin to some ).
Then you will need to flush out the flushing fluid .

If it was me, I would be pullng the motor out , splitting the cases and removing it manually.
As it is a new engine, you should be able to plit the cases without doing damage to the seals.
However I always replace the lower one as I hate to spend 2 hours pulling an engine out , just to replace a $ 1.00 seal.