rx300s415

Hey everybody, unfortunately I did the most thing today.
I stripped my oil drain pan pretty bad, when I unscrewed my drain plug a whole strip of metal came out with it. I went to about 7 different stores in my neighborhood looking for a temporary fix (a expansion drain plug) but nobody seems to have any and all they do is recommend I re-tape my drain pan with them (which I've heard horror stories of).

Does anybody know where I can get a hold of an expansion drain plug that fits the oil drain hole? Or does anybody have a separate solution to the problem aside from replacing the pan itself?

bob2200

I think there are fixes other than just a retaping of the hole.

A good auto machine shop should be able to thread or weld an insert into an expanded hole. I would think you best bet is to remove the pan and take it in to them.

The new drain plug threads into the insert. I think this approach is preferable to using a rubber plug in the hole permanently.

carguy07

I think stripped mine too, it's holding fine for now but the next change might include a surprise.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=357208

I was considering getting an oversized plug or a piggyback and give it a shot.

http://www.cgenterprises.com/drain_p...ize_repair.htm

I'm pretty sure stock is 12MM-1.25.

A new pan is not the end of the world at $65 aftermarket or $130 OE.

Let us know what you end up doing.

code58

They sell oversized drain plugs that retap the hole as it's threaded in. They even have ones that are more oversized for when you strip THAT hole. What's wrong with that? Beats the heck out of replacing the pan. That is not a way that I would go. I have never stripped a pan plug in any vehicle I have owned and have changed my own oil for longer than you want to know. Believe it or not, it doesn't have to be THAT tight! I would tap it to the next size that i could get a FUMOTO valve to fit and forget about ever stripping a pan plug ever again!

rx300s415

Thanks for the input everyone. I've decided to go with a piggyback single oversized drain plug. I'm putting it in tomorrow, I'll tell you all how it goes. As of now I have a nice puddle coming from my drain plug =(. I'm thinking the piggyback might have seepage around where it re-taps into the old pan threads (just imagining it in my head). But if that happens I guess I'll just buy into a new pan. Just trying to find the cheapest fixes right now.

rx300s415

Just an update.

So this morning I woke up a bit hesitant to force in this oversized piggyback drain bolt. So after letting the new-ish oil drain out I tried hand-threading in my old drain plug without the gasket. It worked perfectly, it created a perfect seal and it didn't act like anything was stripped. (Yesterday I thought I knew the pan was stripped because the drain plug didn't seem to have any thread deformations and when I was screwing the drain plug into the pan it would just keep going and going as if it never got tight) This morning without the gasket the drain plug got real tight (but I stopped tightening) before doing any further damage to the oil pan as it is). So now I am going to run over to Toyota and pick up a new drain plug and gasket. Hopefully this is all I need. I took a closer look at my drain plug under a magnifying glass and I do notice that a line of threading closest to the side where socket-meets-bolt is a little bit dull compared to the other threads. Could this miniscule dullness cause my leak? There was a huge puddle this morning where I parked my car.

link13

Why are you putting so much force on a drain plug? Honestly, I think if it were just a bit more than finger tight, it would be fine.

rx300s415

My torque wrench is off-sync I guess. I was using a torque wrench set at the factory spec. and it never clicked or slipped or showed any sign of me hitting the specific torque. So I kept going. I agree that finger tight should be just fine, I guess I was just being overcautious.

Anyways...

I never got around to actually trying out the oversized piggyback but I ran over to Toyota to grab a drain plug and gasket. I came home only to realize that with the gasket...the bolt acts as if it is stripped...but without the gasket it creates its own seal nice and tight. So right now I'm just using the drain plug bolt without its gasket. =\. I know it's bad but right now it's the only thing that works, and I guess if I get future leaks I'll just buy the whole new oil pan. Thanks for all the help and advice guys!

carguy07

Are you using the old plug or a new toyota one now?

rx300s415

The new Toyota one...I brought the old drain plug with me and ~3 of their technicians said the threads and everything match up. I was doubtful because it looked slightly different....but it's just that the new Toyota drain plug doesn't have that extra slab of metal that stretches further into the pan (this part doesn't have threads). So now I'm just using the new Toyota drain plug bolt without the gasket/washer. Is there something I should know about doing this?

carguy07

I doubt there is any problem with the new one. I'm just guessing, but I would think that the new plug is slightly "bigger" since it has never been used before and is not stripped at all. The threads should be sharper and fill the hole a little bit more. That would give you a chance of rethreading the damaged pan a little bit. The plug is probably tapered a little bit too, so if you go without the washer you are probably getting it to bite on the biggest part of the plug, maybe even the last few turns in the pan that were not damaged because the old plug did not bite into them spaced out with the washer. Who knows I'm just speculating, but I'm definitely going to get a new plug and try that when I do my next change.

rx300s415

Sounds pretty reasonable! I've heard that without the washer/gasket I risk having a minor oil seep/leak but almost microscopic, and I've already heard it'll be harder to take off the drain plug at the next oil change. Glad I helped you out a bit too though carguy.

code58

Are you sure that the spec. isn't in in.lbs. rather than ft.lbs.? I torqued the intake manifold on my son's Suburban once and though I did the conversion from in. to ft., the wrench wasn't clicking off. When I got out the in. lbs. torque wrench it was way overtorqued (fortunately no damage) because at that low of a setting, though it was set correctly, it didn't click off when it should have. I learned to get the proper T.W. out rather than trying to save time. I looked for my shop manual to check torque setting on the pan plug but have moved some stuff around and couldn't put my hands on it immediately. The pan plug shouldn't call for a setting high enough to strip the plug. I have changed my own oil all my life and have never used a torque wrench on it and have never stripped a plug. Still say once you get it resolved (whatever way you do) you should consider a Fumoto valve and never again worry about torqueing or stripping.

Gunther

The drain pan can also be repaired with steel threads using a
Time-Sert thread repair insert.
http://www.timesert.com/html/drainplug.html




Cheers
G

Lil4X

Thanks, Gunther, and welcome to CL! That's a good idea if you find the threads badly stripped. Heli-coil makes a similar product I've used on large outboard motors (curse those aluminum head bosses).

Another product that might be worth consideration if you do your own oil changes is a quick drain valve (www.quickoildrainvalve.com) or similar products.



A friend who headed up the Houston Police garage introduced these little gizmos to the fleet quite a few years ago, and they have worked well, preventing stripped threads and saving tens of thousands in replaced oil pans. (Figure an oil change every two weeks on nearly 3,000 vehicles in severe 24-hour daily service - stripped oil plugs requiring new pans were a large portion of the budget.)