Foreign object on dipstick

I know I'm new to Subaru's and this forum, so I will start by saying that I first searched for "fuzz on dipstick" and "foreign object on dipstick" and found no results. I also checked the "Here are the similar threads we found" above this posting window, and still no luck.

 

I just finished changing my oil and drove around the block to warm up the engine for final inspection. When I pulled the oil dipstick, I noticed a fuzzy object on the end (see images below). I know the dipstick was clean when I put it back in when I first checked on the cold engine after the change. Any thoughts about this? I guess I won't drive any more this weekend, and will take it to the dealer on Monday. Has anyone else seen something like this before?

 

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg313/civexsi/DSC_0171.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg313/civexsi/DSC_0172.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg313/civexsi/DSC_0174.jpg

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg313/civexsi/DSC_0176.jpg

maybe piece of a oil filter?

It reminds me of fabric/fiber material used in hood liners.

hmm, maybe someone checked the oil previously with a piece of paper? and then maybe that paper got snagged in the hole on the dipstick, inserted into the pan, and has been floating around ever since?

hmm, maybe someone checked the oil previously with a piece of paper? and then maybe that paper got snagged in the hole on the dipstick, inserted into the pan, and has been floating around ever since?

 

This would be my guess.

Saved by the oil pump screen!

hmm, maybe someone checked the oil previously with a piece of paper? and then maybe that paper got snagged in the hole on the dipstick, inserted into the pan, and has been floating around ever since?

 

 

sounds like the most plausible idea to me.

unless you used mobil 1 synthetic, which has been found to leave fuzzy deposits on the dipstick.

 

otherwise, I'd go with the remnants from wiping the stick prior to insertion theories

Thanks, all. Sounds like no worries then. I'll do a compression check this week and log a run to make sure.

unless you used mobil 1 synthetic, which has been found to leave fuzzy deposits on the dipstick.

 

otherwise, I'd go with the remnants from wiping the stick prior to insertion theories

when we did a pressure test after installing my FMIC, there was a bunch of unexplainable schmegma that flew out of the oil filler tube that looked like this...so weird....couldn't and still can't quite explain it outside of someone humping my oil filler tube at night as I sleep.

 

so weird.

Is it gooey or fibrous? It kinda looks fibrous (like paper media that is breaking down).

 

I'd guess oil filter media breakdown, but I don't know if the oil filter media would make it through the whole system before getting back into the sump

 

You don't use fram do you? Hehehehe....

 

Joe

Fibrous, yes, like paper. LOL, the filter that was on from the previous owner was Subaru blue, so I'm assuming no Fram. I put a PureOne filter on.

 

I'm going with the theory that the prior owner didn't check the dipstick after wiping it with a paper towel. I just didn't expect that it would stay in there for 3,000 miles.

 

The car seems to be running better, smoother after the oil change. Not sure if it is placebo or there is something to switching from Castrol conventional to Penzoil Platinum. The strange thing is that the obnoxious drone of the Magnaflow cans is almost gone now. Again, possibly placebo, or I'm just getting used to it.

 

On a side note, I just pulled my first logs last night with RomRaider/Tactrix, but I didn't log the correct parameters, so I need to re-do it this weekend. I really hope I read somewhere that you're not supposed to log at idle, because the knocksum count was 32. I didn't see any knock under load, so I hope I'm OK for now.

 

I need to get a stage 2 flash ASAP. If I can't figure it out in the next 2 weeks, I'll PM Infamous. As far as I can tell, I'm stock other than custom (welded together/no vendor stamp) 3" down and mid pipes, 2.5" y pipe, and Magnaflow cans. The stutter at 3500 rpm scares me.

Fibrous, yes, like paper. LOL, the filter that was on from the previous owner was Subaru blue, so I'm assuming no Fram. I put a PureOne filter on.

 

I'm going with the theory that the prior owner didn't check the dipstick after wiping it with a paper towel. I just didn't expect that it would stay in there for 3,000 miles.

 

The car seems to be running better, smoother after the oil change. Not sure if it is placebo or there is something to switching from Castrol conventional to Penzoil Platinum. The strange thing is that the obnoxious drone of the Magnaflow cans is almost gone now. Again, possibly placebo, or I'm just getting used to it.

 

On a side note, I just pulled my first logs last night with RomRaider/Tactrix, but I didn't log the correct parameters, so I need to re-do it this weekend. I really hope I read somewhere that you're not supposed to log at idle, because the knocksum count was 32. I didn't see any knock under load, so I hope I'm OK for now.

 

I need to get a stage 2 flash ASAP. If I can't figure it out in the next 2 weeks, I'll PM Infamous. As far as I can tell, I'm stock other than custom (welded together/no vendor stamp) 3" down and mid pipes, 2.5" y pipe, and Magnaflow cans. The stutter at 3500 rpm scares me.

 

I get the same stutter on my car at that same RPM range. My car is bone stock, and is a 2009 LGT. But you upgraded your exhaust, which I thought would get rid of that stutter. I guess there is more to do than just making the engine breathe "gooder."

 

That fiber stuff is what I found on my dipstick as well. When I cleaned it (soaked it in water) it was a piece of shop towel paper. No worries. I just hope my K&N oil filter is just as good as the stock subaru oil filters. I had to do an emergency oil change because I committed a major sin of going over 3000 miles without an oil change on dyno oil.

Hope its not from the prior owner's FOTL Tee Shirt... Geez..I wonder what happened to him just before he sold that car....Hmmmm ? LOL...Or perhaps, its the result of... "The Case of the Jilted Girlfriend..." I can only imagine what havoc would ensue if, God forbid, somehow a feminine pad got stuffed down the overly large oil filler neck/tube and was then suddenly sucked into the oil pick-up tube or snagged on the crankshaft counterweights! OMG! I better shut up...might give somebody ideas...Shhhhhh...