Has anyone stripped the oil plug threads in the pan?

[Samckitt]

Personally I have not ever done this. A young girl my wife is in school with took her car to $#%^ (name with held to protect the guilty) & they stripped it & now they are telling her that she needs a new oil pan. I don't know what kind of car it is, or how much work it will be to replace the pan, or the cost of the pan, but this girl is 19, pregnant & I think it is BS that she is expected to pay for this. How hard is it really to put the plug in without stripping the threads? I have done it for years & never had a problem.

[molyorange 77]

They stripped it so they pay for it! And they need to fire the dumb ass that did it!!!

[Samckitt]

I got more to the story. She went to Jiffy Lube the last time (screw the guilty) & they stripped it & they put a different plug in it with larger threads or something & told her that it would have to be fixed more permanently compared to what they had done. So this time she took it to Goodyear & they told her they are going to have to put a new pan on it because the threads are stripped. I told her Goodyear isn't going to eat the bill, because they didn't do it. And I don't know how she is going to get Jiffylube to pay the bill if another shop does the work.

[Nate_ERC]

I know that they are just changing oil, but still.... How the hell do they find employees who can't even put the drain plug back in an oil pan!?

[Nate_ERC]

As a second thought, they should have incredible oil plug re-installation skills... They're specialists!!!!

[Samckitt]

I know that they are just changing oil, but still.... How the hell do they find employees who can't even put the drain plug back in an oil pan!?

No kidding. Is it really that hard? They are probably trying to put it in with some kind of power tool & not hand starting it first.


As a second thought, they should have incredible oil plug re-installation skills... They're specialists!!!!

No kidding!

[Tom Welch]

I've seen this several times, cars come in from the "quick change" places and the customer says that they were unable to remove the drainplug or that it was stripped sometime prior to them working on it. This is typical of the "quick change" employees ability and his employers standards. A crescent wrench is not the proper tool for this service. I would bet that this could be repaired by somebody with a smidgen of common sense. The oilpan threads can be recut with a self tapping plug, I have personnaly used several to fix this exact issue. Another problem with the "quick change" place is when they try to get into diagnostic work. Boy, oh boy is that a can of worms..

[MonzaRacer]

Ok honestly I have never stripped threads with a Cresent wrench, the head yes but not the threads.
Now what most oil changers do is try to hold the front bumper on with the oil plug.
Now if the pan is aluminum I will use the larger tap that I bought just for this problem, retap and install a larger drain plug.
I have a 9/16 and a 5/8 tap in fine threads and I laso now have a larger 14mm thread tap that IF I can source the proper plug I save the pan with out removal.
I do also charge for extra oil to pour through the pan to clean it out, if it can sit over night I will use kerosene instead as it will evaporate. Then finish it.
I have also retapped several steel pans as long as the nut hasnt came loose inside.
I actually had a customer who didnt want to pay for pan removal so I simply mig welded a nut to the pan, then flushed the pan and sent them in thier way no problems.
Usually only cost 1/2 an hour to repair.

[Samckitt]

My wife told me tonight that they want to charge her almost $500 just for a new pan. Holly Cow, my road race with trap doors & windage tray & all that was less than that. So I called the dealership & found out the most expensive pan for that car (didn't know the engine size) is less than $250. She has been calling & b!tching to get them to pay for it because they are the ones that screwed it up.

[MrQuick]

I see it all the time. The guys at these speedy oil changer places are required to get make sure they are tight. You always get that a hole that will put it on tighter if it was hard for him to remove.

Is it an aluminum pan? We have a great tool that over sizes the hole then you thread it for a nice insert. Works great and gets alot of use. I believe its made by thread-sert.

[Samckitt]

Not sure if the pan is stamped or cast aluminum.

[Jim Nilsen]

There are several companies that make an oilpan drain plug repair kit. Any pepboys , o'reilys or autozone should have them. J.c. whitneys I am most certain has one.

Like the others have said, just retap a bit bigger and call it good. If you want you can put some teflon tape on the threads just back toward the head and you should be good to go. It doesn't have to be that hard unless you want it to be.

[Samckitt]

There are several companies that make an oilpan drain plug repair kit. Any pepboys , o'reilys or autozone should have them. J.c. whitneys I am most certain has one.

Like the others have said, just retap a bit bigger and call it good. If you want you can put some teflon tape on the threads just back toward the head and you should be good to go. It doesn't have to be that hard unless you want it to be.

I agree, retaping it & using a larger plug will work. Wifes friend said the place that has it now told her it will need a new oil pan. I haven't seen it so I can't say for sure. Probably charge her outrageous amount for a new pan & just retap the hole.