Hi, please help...today I went to check my oil for the first time since my last garage service, and I was puzzled to see that the end of the dipstick didn't seem to be coming up with any oil on it..wondered if I'd had an oil leak but it levels were fine (allegedly) at the last service 4 months ago, there have been no oil patches on my driveway or car parking spot at work, and I've had no oil pressure/level warning lights, no problems whatsoever. I then realised there weren't any min/max notches at the end of the dipstick.. then realised that the end of the dipstick was a bit short and therefore suspect that it must have snapped off at the 'max' notch.
So my questions are...do I need to worry? if it's snapped off inside the dipstick tube, where's the snapped off piece likely to have gone? Is it likely to cause any damage or is it just going to happily sit there doing nothing? Assuming I don't need to worry about that...I'll have to find myself a new dipstick from somewhere...but is the snapped off end likely to prevent a new dipstick from going in all the way? And is there any way to check my oil levels without a dipstick?
My car's a Citroen Xsara 1.4i (Oct 2001)
Milo