Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

stripped oil pan threads: easy fix?

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
    #1

    stripped oil pan threads: easy fix?

    Hey guys:

    Realized my oil pan's drain plug is stripped-- or more accurately, the plug is fine, the threads in the pan are stripped :-/

    Looked up R&R, seems that for a 1990 grand marq it will involve lifting up the engine? Seems pretty involved, actually, and while not ruinously expensive, still not all that cheap to do either-- alldata says $136, so probably $80 at autozone, hahaha

    Seems to me: is it possible just to ream out the hole, retap, and put in a helicoil? Or drill, tap, and put in a new and larger drain plug into the new and larger hole?
    Any other options?

    Or new oil pan time...?


    thanks!
    -Bernard
    Tags: None
    #2
    try a single oversize drain plug. those are designed to cut new threads one RCH larger than stock. It sometimes works, and if it does its a hell of a lot easier and cheaper than swapping the pan out. Just make sure you get the proper thread type, 90 may be standard or metric. Its probably metric but don't assume that.
    Last edited by gadget73; 12-07-2010, 07:09 PM.
    86 Lincoln Town Car (Galactica).
    5.0 HO, CompCams XE258,Scorpion 1.72 roller rockers, 3.55 K code rear, tow package, BHPerformance ported E7 heads, Tmoss Explorer intake, 65mm throttle body, Hedman 1 5/8" headers, 2.5" dual exhaust, ASP underdrive pulley

    91 Lincoln Mark VII LSC grandpa spec white and cranberry

    1984 Lincoln Continental TurboDiesel - rolls coal

    Originally posted by phayzer5
    I drive a Lincoln. I can't be bothered to shift like the peasants and rabble rousers

    Comment

      #3
      There is also a last resort fix I have seen posted on here. Kinda looks like the hardware someone would use to secure a bathroom counter to the wall. The bolt has these wings (so to speak) threaded on it that you squeeze into the pan and they give tension on the pan while you tighten the nut which has a big rubber gasket on it. May work???
      ~David~

      My 1987 Crown Victoria Coupe: The Brown Blob
      My 2004 Mercedes Benz E320:The Benz

      Originally posted by ootdega
      My life is a long series of "nevermind" and "I guess not."

      Originally posted by DerekTheGreat
      But, that's just coming from me, this site's biggest pessimist. Best of luck

      Originally posted by gadget73
      my car starts and it has AC. Yours doesn't start and it has no AC. Seems obvious to me.



      ​

      Comment

        #4
        A solution I have used for the past 4 months to a stripped oil pan plug

        I had the same problem happen on the back plug that faces down. I tried a couple of the self tapping/over sized plugs and had no luck. The inside of the pan that holds the drain plug broke loose, it seems like lead. I had tried the butterfly plugs on the front plug and did have luck once but did not feel comfortable using it again. I decided to use the original plug and bought a tube/roll of JB WELD. This is in the clear tube and you roll it in your hands and it hardens SUPER FAST. About $5.00 at Auto Zone.

        It held for 4 months and I just did another oil change at Halloween and it has held again. I had to apply the JB WELD again. I would push the bolt up as high inside as I could and build a cocoon around it with the JB WELD.

        I did get a small leak a few weeks ago and added some stop leak and that made it leak a little worse. Not too bad though, I have to add a quart of oil every 1 to 1 and a 1/2 months. This is in my 91 GM.

        Mike
        90 Colony Park LS with GT 40 heads and intake. HO cam, 65 MM TB, 67 MM EGR spacer. Has a 75 MM Pro Flow mass air sensor. Borla XS mufflers. 3L55. Shift kit, 2000 stall Tq convertor...Bilstein shocks, front and rear sway bars.
        90 Colony Park LS 64,000 miles all original. 3L55 tow package....front and rear sway bars.
        91 Grand Marquis GS....HO motor..Bilstein shocks poly bushings and police swaybars. This one handles the best.
        70 Torino Squire with M code 351 Cleveland 3.00 has Magnaflow mufflers. Hidden headlights and power windows. All original

        Comment

          #5
          Originally posted by stinkydogfilms View Post
          I had the same problem happen on the back plug that faces down. I tried a couple of the self tapping/over sized plugs and had no luck. The inside of the pan that holds the drain plug broke loose, it seems like lead. I had tried the butterfly plugs on the front plug and did have luck once but did not feel comfortable using it again. I decided to use the original plug and bought a tube/roll of JB WELD. This is in the clear tube and you roll it in your hands and it hardens SUPER FAST. About $5.00 at Auto Zone.

          It held for 4 months and I just did another oil change at Halloween and it has held again. I had to apply the JB WELD again. I would push the bolt up as high inside as I could and build a cocoon around it with the JB WELD.

          I did get a small leak a few weeks ago and added some stop leak and that made it leak a little worse. Not too bad though, I have to add a quart of oil every 1 to 1 and a 1/2 months. This is in my 91 GM.

          Mike
          I had some kid bring in a camaro with the oil pan all crushed and leaking from doing something retarded. (looked like some off roading) We turned them away, then they came back with the drain plug encased in JB weld and again asked us to change the oil. I laughed my ass off on that one.


          The long and the short of it is you NEED a new oil pan.
          Builder/Owner of Badass Panther Wagons

          Busy maintaining a fleet of Fords

          Comment

            #6
            I bought an oil pan for just this sort of thing since my front plug is stripped and held in with JB-Weld. The pan is currently collecting dust in the shop and has been for about three years.
            Pebbles-1968 Ford F250
            Pile of Junk! An Electronics Project Site (To get wet by)<---Clicky! NEW STUFF!!!!

            Comment

              #7
              Very annoying when that sort of thing happens. My recent bright idea is to attempt to braze a NPT bung (or repurposed pipe bushing, or a nut with a pipe tap run through it, or whatever) over the original drain hole.
              2012 Mazda5 Touring | Finally working on the LTD again!

              Comment

                #8
                Hmm... seems to have held for 1300 miles so far.
                I'm going to do the oversized plug thing-- does it really work? Or am I going to be renting a car for the next week while I buy an engine crane on craigslist and prepare to swap out the pan in this 40F weather, after the oversized plug just falls out?
                At least it's holding for the present

                I'm planning on getting the explorer engine in just over a year (to rebuild for my engine class, which takes place the summer after this coming summer), so any kludge need only last that long: then I'll be getting a new pan, and everything else, anyway

                Comment

                  #9
                  It's a crapshoot, but it probably won't make things worse than they already are.

                  85 4 door 351 Civi Crown Victoria - Summer daily driver, sleeper in the making, and wildly inappropriate autocross machine
                  160KMs 600cfm holley, shorty headers, 2.5" catted exhaust, 255/295 tires, cop shocks, cop swaybars, underdrive pulley, 2.73L gears.
                  waiting for install: 3.27's, Poly bushings, boxed rear arms, 2500 stall converter, ported e7's, etc

                  06 Mazda 3 hatch 2.3L 5AT (winter beater that cost more than my summer car)

                  Comment

                    #10
                    One trick I ran for quite a few years involved a rubber plug of some description with a hollow inside it (don't know where it was from, it was provided by a quick-change employee). It started leaking after a year or two when run just by itself, so I stuck a short piece of lamp rod inside it. Ran it that way for three or four years, at which point the rubber thing was starting to deteriorate and I got one of those toggle cap plugs. In my case, I started with a stripped-out oversize plug, though, so with any luck you can get an oversize plug to work for a while. Only thing to keep in mind is that the threaded part in the pan is just a bit of stamped steel tacked to the inside of the pan, so there isn't really a ton of material there to start with.
                    2012 Mazda5 Touring | Finally working on the LTD again!

                    Comment

                      #11
                      you dont need a picker, you just have to jack the engine up. doesn't really make it the job any easier though.
                      Give a man a fish and he will be fed for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will promptly forget that he once did not know, and proceed to call anyone who asks, a n00b and flame them on the boards for being stupid.

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Try Teflon Pipe Thread Dope. If the plug is staying in, given its current condition, it will hold it in solid and will not leak either. My front drain plug was constantly leaking, this was the only thing that stopped it, and allows me to remove it if i need too.

                        2011 Grand Marquis LS Ultimate Edition
                        Dual Exhaust w/ AP XLerator mufflers and 3 1/2" tips, Eibach 1" rear sway bar, Pioneer Head unit and speakers, 17X8 Drag DR-72 wheels

                        RIP 1984 2Dr Crown Vic "The Millennium Falcon"
                        Carbed 5.0 HO w/nitrous , Performer RPM intake, GT40P heads, E303 cam, FRP Shorties, FRP 9mm plug wires, Off-Road H-pipe, Magnaflow round mufflers, 2000 rpm stall
                        NA-15.78@91.21, 80hp shot-14.48@96.21

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Do you think I might be alright, then?
                          The torque curve went up and up, and then just stayed flat. I probably went an extra half turn at most.
                          So I'm guessing the threads have started to pull but are still there.
                          The torque never dropped off-- which would be when the threads are actually separating!

                          Mind you I've driven quite a ways and I checked and it is not, in fact, leaking.
                          So maybe some teflon tape or pipe thread dope with the next oil change in 1500 miles, and not too much concern before then..?

                          IIRC there was no gasket either, so I might add one...

                          Comment

                          Previous template Next
                          Working...
                          X