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-   -   Stripped oil pan drain plug (http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=240204)

latitude500 12-13-2008 07:25 PM

Stripped oil pan drain plug
 
I went to change my oil tonight and sure enough I stripped the pan. I was turning the drain plug and it just turns and turns. Not good. So what is the best way to fix this problem. Tap it out, and plug it up with another drain bolt. Or is there another tool that I can use.

Thanks

87 300SDL

81300sd 12-13-2008 07:40 PM

The best way would be buy a new pan.

You can also tap it to a larger size and get a new bigger drain plug. There is probably helicoils you could get to repair to the correct size, but the cost would be more than a new pan.

Jeremy5848 12-13-2008 07:56 PM

Seems to me I've read of "repair" plugs for such accidents as yours . . . ask at your local auto parts store or even in the plumbing section of a hardware store.

BTW, this is another argument in favor of the oil sucker.

Jeremy

Oracle12345 12-13-2008 08:06 PM

just remove the oil pan and get a new pan and drain plug.

leathermang 12-13-2008 08:55 PM

Good grief.
Yall are being a little over the top for just a few stripped out threads...
I will be back with some references... but I am sure a fix can be screwed into it with little problem and little money...

start here :

http://www.popularmechanics.com/how_to_central/automotive/1272161.html

Here is one of the best...

http://www.timesert.com/html/drainplug.html

blk90s13 12-13-2008 09:18 PM

Autozone rents out a tap and dye set for free ( you get money back when you return the item )

I used once on a Nissan oil pan, just tap it to a bigger or to a different size plug

A fast and easy fix but I don't recomend it for a long term use is the rubber plug they sell at some of auto parts stores it just gets pushed in and it have a expanding nut on it

sixto 12-13-2008 11:24 PM

I got my 87 300D with a pretty mangled plug but it was the plug that was mangled, not the threads in the pan. I'd try a new plug before anything else.

Sixto
87 300D

bgkast 12-14-2008 12:03 AM

I'm not sure I would run a tap in the pan with out it off the car to clean out all the metal shavings.

leathermang 12-14-2008 12:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgkast (Post 2048853)
I'm not sure I would run a tap in the pan with out it off the car to clean out all the metal shavings.

Anytime you run a tap into the car it should have heavy grease on the threads... and go in and back out in small increments cleaning the threads each time it is backed out...
But this is also one of the better places to leave metal shavings in... if one has to do that... first, you can flush from the top just by pouring oil in... and second, this is on the outside of the screen for the oil pickup...and the oil filter...
So , all in all, a pretty safe operation if you understand the physics of heavy grease.... this is used when reaming the glow plug holes also.....a pretty standard machining trick...

jross 12-14-2008 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by leathermang (Post 2048859)
Anytime you run a tap into the car it should have heavy grease on the threads... and go in and back out in small increments cleaning the threads each time it is backed out...
But this is also one of the better places to leave metal shavings in... if one has to do that... first, you can flush from the top just by pouring oil in... and second, this is on the outside of the screen for the oil pickup...and the oil filter...
So , all in all, a pretty safe operation if you understand the physics of heavy grease.... this is used when reaming the glow plug holes also.....a pretty standard machining trick...

Wow, that's a great way to destroy the bearings in your engine and fry your turbo!




Remove the oil pan before you tap it, and rinse it out really well with a foaming degreaser before you reinstall it. You don't want any metal shavings in there, because otherwise you're looking at a world of potential problems - especially on turbocharged cars. Metal shavings can make it through the oil filter, and it makes your oil like a much 'finer' version of the chemical sludge sometimes used to port manifolds. Add that to the heat, tolerances & relative velocities encountered in an oil bearing turbo, and you've got a spendid little disaster on your hands in short order.

Pulling the pan is easy, and it's cheap insurance. Make sure you use a new gasket (duh?), and you'll find life is made much easier if you use some sort of silicon or Gasgacinch on the gasket (whichever is appropriate - I don't recall how tight the gasket tolerances on the Merc pans are).

bgkast 12-14-2008 02:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jross (Post 2048881)
...and you'll find life is made much easier if you use some sort of silicon or Gasgacinch on the gasket (whichever is appropriate - I don't recall how tight the gasket tolerances on the Merc pans are).

That should not be necessary if you use a high quality gasket and torque the pan bolts correctly.

81300sd 12-14-2008 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeremy5848 (Post 2048686)
Seems to me I've read of "repair" plugs for such accidents as yours . . . ask at your local auto parts store or even in the plumbing section of a hardware store.

BTW, this is another argument in favor of the oil sucker.

Jeremy

Only problem with an oil sucker is it doesn't flush any of the debris in the pan out. Draining the oil doesn't get all of it, but sucking the oil is only going to remove any contaminates that is suspended.

::matthew 12-14-2008 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 81300sd (Post 2048672)
The best way would be buy a new pan.

You can also tap it to a larger size and get a new bigger drain plug. There is probably helicoils you could get to repair to the correct size, but the cost would be more than a new pan.


for a 617, that's not a bad idea as you'd spend nearly as much on a helicoil set, but for the 87 300SDL, an oil pan is not a $40 affair...

fastlane's got them for $411

jross 12-14-2008 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgkast (Post 2048894)
That should not be necessary if you use a high quality gasket and torque the pan bolts correctly.

The suggestion is not made to stem leaks, because you're right that a good gasket, installed right, would be sufficient. Gasgacinch/ silicon help keep the gasket from moving around too much during installation, especially when everything is being lined up. I usually use a bit of Gasgacinch whenever I'm working overhead, just to make life a little easier. Less slippage = better alignment = less problems down the road.

leathermang 12-14-2008 01:54 PM

Inexperienced and excitable both, I suspect...
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by jross (Post 2048881)
Wow, that's a great way to destroy the bearings in your engine and fry your turbo!.

This is a serious question :

How old are you ?

This concept of keeping metal cuttings in check has been proposed and talked about several other times in the archives... this is not even a radical idea...

The other cool trick is to use pretty hard wax... if you combine that with a tap with a spiral cut it will actually push the trash out the back side... a really helpful situation when using a bottoming tap...

You need to spend more time with old machinists before ringing any alarm bells...


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