Stripped drain plug on a 2000 Neon

You need to write a letter to the dealership owner and tell your story.

This kind of thing is unbelievably rediculous. Set aside the charge for the $40 for a second. This service advisor sent a car out the door that had a known problematical oil drain plug, one that they admitted to you. If that plug had come out when you were tooling down the highway your engine would have self destructed in about 20 seconds, and the dealership would be on the hook for a new engine. This is extrordinairly irresponsible and if I was the dealership owner I would be furious that they let you go like that.

I think you should find out where your mechanic friend works and start taking your car there for your oil changes.

As far as stripping, you can't really blame the dealership for the stripped plug, you don't know for a fact that they stripped it, (although they most likely did) maybe something bumped the bolt head and jammed it sideways. The standard "repair" used in these circumstances is to thread in a new oil plug that has slightly larger threads that are self-tapping, as the plug is threaded in it cuts new threads for itself. These plugs are available at any auto parts counter, if the dealership happened to be out of stock of the right size on the day you took your car in for the oil change, they should have sent a runner to the nearest auto parts place.

Usually stripped oil plugs are caused by someone trying to do the oil change too fast and not taking the extra 20 seconds to feel around for the threads by hand and be sure the plug is in them, when threading back in the drain plug. I own a car manufactured in 1968 that has the original oil drain plug in it.

Ted

You should take all of your oil change reciepts and go back to the dealer. Then speak to the service manager. They wasted alot of your time fixing a problem they caused. They should have fixed it for free and apologized for wasing your time. It is pure BS that these things go bad because they are old. They go bad because the idiot didn't do the very simple job properly.

--------------- Alex

Does this 1968 vehicle have an aluminum pan that you have? The biggest problem is when you remove a hot steel drain plug from an alluminum oil pan. The drain plug expands and will pull out the threads, Thats probably why your 68 pan lasts so much longer. The same goes for spark plugs in alluminum heads. be careful!!

When I bought my 95 T&C with the 3.8L and the steel pan in it, the van had a drain plug in it that was the wrong thread that some idiot had forced into the pan (it was not self-tapping). Fortunately the plug they used was too short and I was able to clean the threads up with a tap. So it's not just aluminum pans that this happens with.

Ted

Ummm - coefficient of thermal expansion of steel is exactly half of that of aluminum. Try again.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Yes but there's a difference between the wrong drain plug installed in a steel pan causing the threads to cross. Aluminum pans are more likely to go bad just by changing the oil...especially when the pan and drain plug are very hot

Yes.

Find a place that is competent. If they can't even change the oil, I wouldn't want them working on anything even the least bit complicated.

Matt

That would be cross threading which isn't exactly the same as stripping. Stripping is usually caused by overtorquing the plug. Many folks don't realize how little torque is required on most drain plugs.

Matt

But the aluminum pan expands faster than the steel drain plug so it will get looser rather than tighter.

Matt

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oh shit almost forgot you can buy a selftapping oversized oil drain plug from the parts stores for about 8 dollars and it works great i have used them to fix them from other dealers when they deny it and it labor is

25.00 +8 equals total cost of 33.00

amadis wrote:

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"amadis" wrote: > Hello everyone. > > I always take my 2000 Chrysler Neon to the dealer for my oil > changes and 'peace of mind' inspections. > > I recently took it in for the oil change and after they did > it, the guy come out and told me that my drain plug was > stripped and that they didnt have another to replace it. > However, he told me that it should be ok, so I took it home. > > That night, I noticed that it was really leaking a lot of oil. > So I called them monday and told them what happened and how > they said that the nut was stripped. They told me to come in > and they'll fix the problem. > > I took the car to them and they came and got me about 20 > mintues later and told me that the tool they need to fix it > (some kinda TAPPING device) was 'lent out' to somebody and > they are expecting it back shortly. They told me that they > will call me to bring it back and also said that the car was > ok to drive. Even though the mechanic told me that I shouldnt > drive it. > > They call me an hour or so later and tell me to bring it back. > They take it in and 20 mintues later tell me that its ready. > However, this time they gave me a $130ish bill. $17 for the > part and $98ish for the labour. I told the guy that I was > under the impression that it was their mistake and that I > wouldnt have to pay to fix it. After trying to explain that > this sort of oil pan thread stripping is normal for "old" cars > (2000 is old?), he cut the labour fee to $40ish. > > After talking to a mechanic friend, he told me that he hasnt > seen that kinda problem in a 5year old car and that they > should have just put a AA class nut to fill the leak. > > Did I get played?? > > Should I keep going back to them or should I find a new place > to service my car? > > THANKS A TON

:evil:

my car is still leaking oil.

I called the service manager, but he is gone til tomorrow.

sucks

IMNSHO--you got played--IF your car had been serviced by them each time. Although I cannot speak to your Neon, my previous 300M had an aluminum oil pan and the steel drain plug being removed and tightened with each oil change BY ME resulted in stripped threads in the oil pan by 50K miles. If this was the case with the dealer servicing your Neon as I suspect, then they should have been responsible for repairing the damage that they caused by tightening the steel drain plug too tightly (like I did) with each subsequent oil change. I used an oversized drainplug (by .5mm or 1mm, I forget) that was designed to cut its own threads to correct the situation and it did--at a cost of about $5. These threadcutting oversized drainplugs are sold at most automotive stores and many hardware stores. While I cannot quote any case law, I certainly think that it was wrong of them to charge you for their error. Good luck

MikeSp

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It is wrong of them, because when they are selling oil changes, all they are supposed to be doing is changing oil. If they were selling a product advertised as "Oil change plus drain plug thread strip" then they would be in the right. Since they aren't, and they stripped his drain plug, they violated the contract with him on the previous oil change, and are guilty of false advertising besides.

The problem though is he cannot prove in a court that he didn't either strip the drain plug himself or take it to someone in between the last oil change and this oil change who stripped it. So legally he really has nothing since they claimed that the plug was stripped when they started working on his vehicle.

This comes down to perceptions and assumptions. The dealership that he went to is assuming that he wasn't a loyal customer who only went to them for his oil changes - they are assuming that someone else who wasn't them worked on the car and stripped the plug. This was despite the fact that they could have easily looked up his service record in their computer and seen that he was coming in regularly. Since they assumed he wasn't a loyal customer he is going to go right out and start being someone elses customer. A rather costly mistake in my opinion, and this is why I said he should write the dealership owner a letter - it is quite possible the dealership owner has no clue what his service advisor/manager is doing.

Ted

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>

Say, this did not happen with the Chrysler dealer in Newport, RI? Your story sounds real familiar. Did they have only young mechanics who did not seem to know where the parts were?

I've got a 1953 Chevrolet that doesn't have its drain plug stripped.

It's never normal to strip threads. It takes a moron to do it, and only in about 1 second. They should have apologized and replaced the oil pan on their nickel. There's really no excuse for that at the dealer.

Agreed. Your '53 has a steel pan and plug. Aluminum pans are reality of the modern world. Can't have steel pans and lightweight/high fuel mileage vehicles with subwoofers, LCD screens, cooled driver's seat, elctric windows, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. that do 0-60 in 8 seconds that the consumers and the government demand in one vehicle.

Granted it still takes a 1st rate moron to strip an aluminum pan, but it's a lot easier than stripping a steel pan for the determined idiot. As someone stated here a couple of weeks ago, they get better at idiot proofing things, but they keep making better idiots.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

"" wrote: > amadis wrote: > > Hello everyone. > >

I got a hold of the service manager who was very helpful.

He gave me a credit for what I was charged and got me to come in again where they looked at the newly formed leak for free. He thinks the drainage plug was just loose and that it whould be ok now.

If not for this service manager, I would have never gone back to that dealership nor considered another chrysler again. However, it seems that only a couple of the guys there are not as good as others.

This happened in London Ontario, the mechanic must have been in his late 20s and seemed to know what he was talking about. Just the service writers werent as good as I would have liked. Very happy with the way they fixed my problem though.