I am in the process of putting in a new 5SFE in my 96 Camry. The old one had a rod knock and looked like steel wool in the pan.
I am almost complete with the swap, but I am having issues putting in the dipstick. I have never encountered a problem like this before, so I am unsure of how to go about it.
When I got the new motor, the tube was twisted against the block for I am assuming easier transportation. Now I have moved the tube to where it looks like the original. My problem is that the tube is slightly kinked.
I would like to know if there is a different dipstick I can use that is not the flat style, such as a rod style, so I can just work with the tube I have, or if I have to pull the tube out. If I have to pull it out, is there a special tool to pull it out? And how do I go about doing it while it is in the car?
I am itching to fire this thing up and get it back on the road, but I want to make sure I get it all done right.
While I had the motor out, I replaced the dogbone mount (The rubber was torn), both axles (The boots were torn, and the joints were dry and dirty), timing belt and pulleys, serpentine belt, power steering belt, water pump, rear main seal, and I had to replace the lower timing cover (My old one was cracked). Is there anything else I should replace while I am at it?
I have new plugs, and wires on it from the old motor. They have less than 150 miles on them.
I just bought this car last June, and had to get it smogged after I bought it. It passed, but the same day blew up. I changed the oil, plugs and wires for the smog, and put in some Chevron 89 Octane. It passes the smog, but blew up about 50 miles later. The car has about 150K miles on it.
I am new to Camrys, but want to take care of this car so it will take care of me and my kids.
Thanks for any info you can give.

 

Have never heard of a Toyota OEM round dipstick for this engine.

Autoparts stores should sell universal dipsticks but not sure if they are round. They can be cut to length.

Have you tried rotating the current dipstick to orient the thin portion of the blade with the kinked area of the tube? Much like rotating the auto trans dipstick to get it to slide into the tube.

 

The dipstick on the motor has a natural bend in it so it will clear the exhaust manifold as well as the motor mount. So I cant twist it. The stick has a twist in it to help go down through the bend. The tip is also naturally bent to help go around the bend in the tube. My thinking is if the stick was round, and it was small enough, that I could use it since it is smaller than the flat style.
I will look into fabricating one out of a spare wiper blade piece of stainless steel I have laying around my house. It is smaller than what I have, but it still flat.
I will also look into a round style. I have seen one on a work van I used to service for the tranny since the stick was so long and had numerous bends in it.

 

So I cut the old dipstick and then welded on the piece of steel I had laying around. So now I have a functional dipstick. Thanks for the thoughts on this one.