Help! Oil Drain Bolt Stuck on '92 Accord

If you don't already have a 17MM 6-point socket, go and find a GOOD one...DON'T get the cheapest thing you can find! 1/2" drive is preferrable. Also, get a 1/2" "Breaker Bar", a socket wrench that doesn't ratchet, the longer the better. AutoZone may loan them to you (you have to deposit with your Credit Card). Try to loosen it this way. MAKE SURE THE SOCKET IS SNUG!!! If there's any play at all, try a different / different brand of socket. If you still can't break it loose, get a rubber mallet and whack the end of the breaker bar with the mallet until it starts to loosen.

Good Luck!

If you plan to keep doing your own oil changes (which I would do if the mechanic uses a air wrench to tighten that bolt), the craftsman 1/2" breaker bar works quite well. It, and I'm sure there are comparable ones by other companies, is about fifteen to eighteen inches long which will give you plenty of user supplied torque.

Paul S wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh! Ouch!

Do you have ANY idea how fragile the drain bolt threads are?

If the bolt is _that_ tight, there's a good chance the threads are distorted and are binding. In other words, the pan threads are damaged.

Once you break the bolt loose, you'll probably find it won't spin off freely, and you'll have to crank it around with a wrench until it's off.

If you find this happens, that butcher of a mechanic of yours needs to cough up the cost of a fix.

Once he gets the bolt out, he shouldn't need one! (Um, DON'T encourage him to tighten it more than needed! ;)

Better investment would be a TORQUE Wrench!!! (And the spec for the oil plug...)

The good news is the drain bolt threads are pretty tough. The bad news is the ones in the pan are not. I'd guess you may need a new oil pan after getting this thing out.

Who the hell uses an air gun to put a drain plug in?

This is the reason I trust nobody with my car. To these guys, quick is always better than right. Add 5 minutes to get the torque wrench out, and set it. Tighten the bolt. They look at it as 5 minutes of lost earnings.

BTW, I don't use a torque wrench on mine. After xx years of doing this, you can feel how tight it should be. And ALWAYS use a new crush washer on the drain plug.

I'll use my 24v impact driver to take lug nuts off, but they always go back on my hand and are torqued by hand. When I get new tires, I take the wrench with me, and make the mechanic just hand tighten them. I have had too many warped rotors from the grease monkeys hitting them with an impact driver.

G-Man

perhaps someone used thread locking material to keep it from coming loose and really didn't pound it on like that. I think the torque spec for our civic is 21ft/lb. I'll make another vote for a good 6 point socket ... and be careful.

Agreed on getting the bolt out only part, definitely don't use a breaker bar to tighten. Should have been more specific.

Thank you...that certainly gives me a better idea what to look for. A couple more related questions:

1) since I found it easier to remove the front driver's tire to do the oil work, does anyone happen to know what the recommended torque spec is (in ft. lbs) for the lug bolts on a '92? What about an '04 accord?

2) how about the torque on the new drain plug, once I get the old one off?

Thanks aga>

Generally, 12mm (thread size) lug nuts are 90-100 ft lbs.

Someone said 21 Ft Lbs. I do it with a wrench until the washer crushes.

I had a feeling that's what you meant! ;)

"Paul S" wrote

From

, '92 Accord Repair Guide, 80 ft-lbs (same as my 91 Civic's).

Try the free owner's manual resources listed at

33 ft-lbs, from Also the same as my 91 Civic's.

And, one last jibe, are you turning in the correct direction?

Righty, tightly, lefty, loosey

Or, clockwise to tighten, counter clockwise to loosen. Except, on Nash Ramblers built before 1968, on the driver's side wheel spindle! They used left hand threads on many cars built before 1970, on the Left Side of the vehicles, on the wheel spindles.

But, really, when we are laying down on our backs, often we become somewhat dyslexic.

And the driver's side lug nuts on old Chryslers. The first car I drove was my mother's '64 Dodge, and when it had a driver's wheel flat I thought I was just too weak to get it off. Then somebody told me about the threads....

Mike