Complete and utter incompetance: transmission pan plug completely stripped
 

The more I work on my car, the more I realize how much of the previous repair work was completely half assed.

I discovered the drain plug on the trans pan completely stripped. So now I have to drop the entire pan full of fluid.

Is it possible to extract the contents of the pan through the dip stick? An ATF bath is the last thing I want right now!

Undo the rear bolts more than the front and get a tilt going on the pan, to dump in one direction. Catch it in a bucket, not your face. Most fluid is in the torque converter anyway, and at least that exit is controlled through a bolt hole. Probably stripped on your car too... lotsa silicone goo around that hole?

i don't think the top side oil removal that works for draining engine oil will also work for tranny fluid. if you don't want to drench your driveway you could get a new trans pan from another member and have it ready, and drain the fluid by carefully drilling a hole in your existing pan so it just squirts out. your pan will be shot but the time you spend cleaning up a mess will be less than the time/effort of buying a new pan on the cheap

Same thing on mine...just undo all of the bolts slowly and drop a corner a bit lower first.

If you have access to a welder you could possibly weld a nut to the bolt and get it out. Or sometimes the proper size torx bit can be tapped into the allen hole and that works.

Not at all actually. It looks like the mechanic i first brought my car to back two years ago stripped it trying to remove it. I'm guessing he just dropped the pan like you suggested.

I have a large oil catch pan too. I was worried there was like two gallons of ATF in the tray. I'll give this trick a go and get a new bolt that isn't these damned allens.

drill a hole in the pan? then replace the pan & bolt?

If you had a 722.1 transmission then you could push a small tube down the dip stick / filling hole in order to syphon it out. This might work on your transmission - I'm guessing it isn't a 722.1...

You could also loose quite a lot of fluid by disconnecting the oil cooler at the front of the car. (Jack up the back for a bit more of a drip effect! - Hardly worth it though)

And in my experience loads more fluid comes out of the torque converter - if this too is an option of your transmission I'd drain that first too.

At least in these ways you are minimising the amount of fluid left in the pan.

some pans don't even have drainplugs, you just have to do it the way thats been suggested, workhorse P-vans come to mind. :rolleyes:

I once worked at a shop where the owner had a 3-4 foot catch pan attachment for just this contingency, basically a big tapered piece of plastic that looked like an inverted oven hood and designed to fit into the top of a normal catch pan and like triple to surface area where fluid can splash. It was a genius piece of equipment, and I havent been able to find another one just like it.

I made one out of some cardboard and duct tape which worked for a while. If i had used waxboard, it probably would have lasted a lot longer.

messy PITA without a proper drainplug as you obviously know :D

I am unable to remove the plug in the CD, the shop that worked on it last doesn't have a clue.
I also just carefully remove strategic bolts and let it pour out of a corner. No spill, all went into the drain pan. However, there was much dripping from the now exposed transmission, what a mess.

VW Beetle oil pans are like that, no drain plug.

Could you define "completely stripped" in a bit more detail?

Expect 3-4 quarts.

a pair of vise grips should work or a chisel and hammer to knock it loose. should be pretty easy

A topside extractor will do just fine at removing all the fluid from the pan. I do this all the time when changing transmission fluid. It is quick, easy, and pretty much eliminates any mess associated with dropping the pan. I would do this in a second as opposed to dropping a full pan.

Possibly a victim of bad info on the Internet: the Diesel Giant tranny fluid change page says to use a Torx bit.

Since it's alreay stripped - maybe an oversized Torx firmly seated into the plug can get some grip. Or maybe drill through the drainplug?

You could buy a replacement plug, mark the depth, carefully drill through to let it drain, then maybe try an EZ-out; either before or after the pan is removed.

Or - just go straight to assuming worst case and the pan is warped due to overtorquing the retaining bolts and buy a new pan. $45 @ Fastlane, and maybe money well spent depending on how much time you invest in getting it back together without leaks.

http://catalog.peachparts.com/ShopByVehicle.epc?q=&yearid=1985@@1985&makeid=63@@MERCEDES+BENZ@@X&modelid=6193%3AED%7C10000135%3AMB C%7C1504@@300D&catid=241185@@Transmission&subcatid=241318@@AT+Pan&applicationid=W0133-1613125@@AT Pan&mode=PA

The inside of the torx screw is a complete circle.

I finished the job today and also flushed out the power steering pump. The pan didn't have any noticeable junk in it so that was reassuring.

NAPA stores can order those. I think I paid like $25 for mine.

Torx? I think that's part of the problem. Bad info and people use a Torx instead of the 5 mm allen that's the correct tool for the job. I actually started with a Torx per the info from the diesel giant site, saw it wasn't fitting correctly, cleaned it out and used the allen wrench.

Did you drain the torque converter? I think it's the same 5 mm wrench for that one.

my 83 and my 95 are different size bolts but the TC and Pan match each other.

We did my brother's 2001 GMC jimmy last night....dropped the pan, changed the fluid and filter. no drain plug. If we hadn't had to get him back on the road last night, we would have tapped a plug.


start at the lowest corner and start loosening bolts....take the two on the corner completely out, and loosen the next ones half way, the next a third, and just break the next ones. have the pan handy, its not so bad.

Youtube has a good set of how to videos on draining and refilling.