Hi Guys Do any of you have any tricks to stop an oil drain plug from leaking? One of the survace guys overtightened it and damaged the thread and now I can't stop it leaking. I've replaced the plug & ran a tap through to clean out the thread & now its leaking worse! I use the subaru crush washer but would gasket paper be a better option? How much work is it to replace the sump pan? Cheers Mike
Dickhead. With just the slightest bit of care, it's bulletproof. I'm guessing you'll seek compensation for the fix. These people need to be taught a lesson.
You should fix it right. You should be able to find a good junkyard pan for a reasonable price.
As to the job, look under the car and see if the pan can come free without removing any steering or suspension components. If it can, the job is a pain, but not all that demanding.
If you have to pull suspension or steering parts, all bets are off.
My suggestion would be take it back to the morons that stripped the drainplug threads and have them eat it, and if you can't or don't want to do that then buy an oil pan from Subaru OEM.It comes with a new drain plug already installed. You must jack up the engine to replace it. Loosen the Y pipe at the cyl heads, take the motor mount nuts off, jack the engine up by the front of the trans., and replace the pan...it uses Fuji Bond sealer no gasket. Have fun....
Is your vehicle new? Sometimes the original gasket is stuck on with black paint and stacking a new one on top will yield leaks.
They probably have to repair a leaking pan once a month. Helicoil or other system should get it going. If you don't trust them, get your indie mech to fix it.
I'd check someplace like a Napa parts store or a foreign auto parts type store for an oversize repair plug. These usually come self-tapping type and are easy to use.
"Mike" wrote in message news:46d86f16$ snipped-for-privacy@clear.net.nz...
No way would I pull the pan. That's a big job compared to you options:
There is this: Go to automotive store. They sell repair kits for stripped oil drain plugs for cars. The kit consist of a large self tapping bolt with a hole bored and tapped through the middle of it for a included drain bolt. The self tapping bolt has a thick cork seal on it. You turn in the self tapping bolt until it seats. Then insert included drain bolt into the self tapper. Now you have a drain bolt that does not leak, and very little work involved. Even if it doesn't work, your in the same boat as you were before...you have to drop the oil pan and put in a insert. It has worked for me in the past, and know many others that have used it. Tips...don't strong arm the sef tapping bolt...just put it in enough to compress the gasket. Snug, NOT TIGHT. When you tighten or loosen the drain bolt, hold the sef tapping bolt with another wrench so as not tighten or loosen the self tapping bolt. The posititve of this fix is that you can select a drain plug with a magnet. Here's what they look like.
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Then there is this: (read the second paragraph on page 2) - The positive of this fix is that you will never have to worry about loosing the self tapping bolt (described above) by accident. I've used these and they work great. (Unfortunatly I was not able to find a picture of this plug)
Carl, did you with or sans the nipple? I've got my 00 OBW with a slight leak even with a new crush washer so I'm thinking of one of these drains for the repair.
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