Oil Dipstick Difficult to Remove

 Have a drink on me and put on your thinking helmet as you ponder this most
perplexing motorcycle mystery.

At the beginning of the riding season here in NW New Jersey I noticed that
the dip stick for my '99 FLHTCI was unusually difficult to remove.
Eventually, I wound up pulling the cap off my digital dip stick.  I still
had the original factory supplied stick, so I put that in and it was tight
as well.  Not only was it difficult to extract, but it was difficult to
insert as well.  The hole looked nice and clean, but just to make sure I
didn't have an accumulation of dried oil, varnish, etc. I took a green 3M
finishing pad and polished the inside of the hole where the dipstick seal
makes contact.  (I stuck a clean rag into the hole first to catch any
particulate matter that might contaminate the oil supply.)  There was no
noticeable difference.  Although, I did clean a little crud from the inside
of the hole.  A week later I wound up pulling the top of the OEM dip stick.

The tech at my dealership didn't have any ideas why I was having such a time
of it, so now I'm playing guessing games.  I'm not an engine person, so I
may be way off base here, but is it possible that there is some kind of
engine vent that has become clogged and, therefore, created difficulties in
inserting and extracting the dip stick?  Again, just a WAG.

Any ideas or insights will be appreciated.

Al Phillips

 Lame Duck wrote:

It's suppose to be hard to get off.......

--
Steve Irving BS#237 - The Delusional Slug
12 mbps Mouth Breather

 Steve Irving wrote:

yeah, ya need to wiggle the damn thing while pulling it out.

-- BS205

 Al wrote:

Or think about Chubby Checker......

--
Steve Irving BS#237 - The Delusional Slug
12 mbps Mouth Breather

 

Well, the thing of it is that I bought the bike new, it now has over 61,000
miles, and I haven't changed my extraction technique.  So why now?

Al Phillips
(the other Al)