I have a 96 Dodge Ram 1500 5.9l. I'm having issues with getting my oil stick to go down the tube into the oil pan. We dropped the oil pan yesterday to replace the oil pump and the dipstick was going down the tube just fine and sliding through the oil pan just fine. As soon as we got the oil pan back on. The dipstick wouldn't go all the way in again. You have to shove it down through the tube with pliers or vise grips and then it will finally go down through the pan. Does anyone know what could cause this?

 

Pan is slightly misaligned..... There is a welded 'sleeve' on the inside of the pan the dipstick is supposed to slide thru.... and yours isn't quite lined up properly.

 

We also had this same problem before the oil pan was even dropped. With the oil pan not being on it we tried to slide it through the tube, there was no problems sliding it through with the oil pan dropped and we tried sliding it through the the welded area on the oil pan no problems at all, but as soon as the oil pan was back on same problem as before the dipstick will not go in without force.

 

You have two separate parts that need to line up properly for it to work easily as intended. Unfortunately, you can't see either part when putting it together. Granted, there just isn't a lot of wiggle room there.... Best I can suggest is to drop the pan again, make sure the mounting rails are FLAT, fit loosely to the engine with some bolts to hold it in, put the dipsitick in, then snug things up a little at a time, making sure the dipstick still works properly as you go.

 

Have you tried putting an ever so slight bend at the tip of the dipstick?