98 accord needs oil pan

you may have the aluminum pan, in which case it is more expensive. either way, stripped drain plug is imo a crime punishable by moving your business elsewhere.

It should never happen unless the plug was put in cross-threaded, or it was over-tightened. Find a new dealership to do your service.

That's the price of dealing with a dealer. You could try talking to the service manager, to see if he will cut you a break, since the damage was obviously done by his shop...

I'm not so sure. We are the second owners of my daughter's '93 Accord, and the previous owner relied too much on Midas for service (original timing belt at 163K miles!) Still, we made it through about half a dozen do-it-myself oil changes before the oil drain bolt stripped. Had Midas been overtorqueing the bolt and it finally caught up with me? Dunno. But I suspect even torqueing "by the book" results in gradual erosion of the pan threads. I can testify that a mechanic can do it exactly right, even several times, and still the bolt may strip. It also seems to be a uniquely Honda phenomenon; I haven't seen any other make that has this problem... unless cross-threaded, of course.

NAPA carries single and double oversize drain bolts for Hondas. Hers now has a single oversize and it has done well through a handful of oil changes. My only complaint is that it doesn't thread in very far by hand the way the original did, but it does thread far enough to ensure it isn't cross-threading. I recommend leaving it at as-is unless and until there is another stripped thread. If that happens, at least it won't be with a new pan!

Mike

"Michael Pardee" wrote in news:f9CdnfJJV4O2KcTYnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@sedona.net:

It does not. The single and sole cause of stripped oil pan drain bolt threads is overtorquing.

Too many mechanics (even dealership ones, unfortunately) hand-torque the bolt to save time, usually overdoing it by a considerable margin.

The first oil pan in my Integra made it barely 3 years with oil changes exclusively by an Acura dealer. The second, well...It's still on there.

Unlikely. Do it right, right from the start, and that bolt will go a long long time before it strips. And I mean a decade or more, or well over 100 oil changes.

It is. It has to do with the way Honda makes the threads in the oil pan.

The official Honda cure is Heli-Coil.

"TeGGeR®" wrote in news:Xns987B4E76F9883tegger@207.14.116.130:

Then perhaps this?

over my dead body.

Jim Yanik wrote in news:Xns987B51AFC3DD5jyanikkuanet@129.250.170.85:

Or just torque the damn bolt properly.

Last time I had the local dealer do an oil change (some time last year) I noticed a notation on the invoice that stated the drain bolt had been "hand-torqued". I thought, uh-oh...What's the opposite of that?

May it mean that they DIDN"T use one of those fancy new extensions that apply the correct torque automatically? Just a guess. bob

Fram had something like this for sale many years ago. I bought one, but never installed it. Possibility of a bad outcome scared me too much. bob

Well, I already spoke to the service manager at my dealer who after quoting me the outrageous price of $380 I very politely explained to him that HIS service dept is likely responsible for the stripped plug. His response was NO, it was age and the best he would do is discount the bill a whipping

10%!!! When Jiffy Lube did it to my '88 Accord I complained to corporate who promptly and without argument reimbursed me for my new pan. But my dealer.....????? Now I am pissed and am ready to go corporate to Honda as well.

Any suggestions on that route?? Thanks again, Matthew

I called American Honda and opened a case. Awaiting a response...

"N.E.Ohio Bob" wrote in news:455a1e09$0$6937$ snipped-for-privacy@roadrunner.com:

What scares me more than anything else is that the thing hangs down below the oil pan bottom. Can you say "exposed", boys and girls?

Dealer swore to me it's natural after ten years or so, ... no?

J.

ten years of what? ten years of over-torque, yes, it'll fail. 10 years of correct usage? no.

They are a neat idea, but I don't like the fact that the oil in the bottom of the pan cannot be drained.

I suppose you could run a quart through after emptying to clean the bottom a bit, but it would be nice if someone would come up with such a solution straight from the factory that would actually empty the pan...

Ask the dealer if there are any other bolts in the car that he considers it normal to have strip after 10 years of normal use and torque...

Maybe the spark plugs. Boy would THAT be a good deal for a dealership.

Under normal torque, without being cross-threaded, the threads should last forever. If they don't, then there is a problem with Honda that needs to be fixed.

Actually, I suspect that's the case. Even with careless torque other makes seem to hold up forever. I don't think I've even seen the subject come up in other auto fora.

It would make more sense if the annulus the plug screws into were aluminum. I'm pretty sure it's steel so I don't know what to make of it.

Mike

Mike, Joe, Jim...I just hope American Honda agrees with you guys (and me!) The more I think about it, the more aggravated I get with the dealer. Unusual since this dealer has really taken good care of me service wise... I'll post again after I hear from the arbitrator.

"TeGGeR®" wrote in news:Xns987BD3336465tegger@207.14.116.130:

It wouldn't on my 94 Integra GSR;the oil plug is on the side not the bottom of the pan.You'd tear up your oil pan (and everything else under your car) before you got the valve.