Free spinning oil drain plug.....replace the oil pan?

[F87source]

Originally Posted by myzaq

Okay I completely understand thank you anyway! Any chance if you have a sec you could describe the type of grease I should use for the bit? I know you said the brand you use was discontinued. Is it a similar consistency to like regular red grease or?
If not i totally understand, thank you again for the advice you've already shared. Taken so much stress off my plate.

Yeah sorry I couldn't help more, if I get time I'll try my best to finish this write up.

So the grease I used was a really thick and sticky consistency, it was like malleable like Vaseline but thicker than tooth paste. It's hard to describe but yeah that's the type of grease I used from motomaster (Canadian tire brand so you probably can't find it in the states). I think it's more viscous and "malleable" than red grease.


Let me know if you need any more help.

[myzaq]

Originally Posted by F87source

Yeah sorry I couldn't help more, if I get time I'll try my best to finish this write up.

So the grease I used was a really thick and sticky consistency, it was like malleable like Vaseline but thicker than tooth paste. It's hard to describe but yeah that's the type of grease I used from motomaster (Canadian tire brand so you probably can't find it in the states). I think it's more viscous and "malleable" than red grease.


Let me know if you need any more help.

Okay thank you so much man that helps a lot. My one last question that came to mind, is what temperature should the car be at when doing this? At first i assumed bone cold after sitting overnight, but now I'm wondering if it would be better to do when the car is just a little warm, a few hours after driving so the aluminum would be easier to cut into.

Thank you again man

[F87source]

Originally Posted by myzaq

Okay thank you so much man that helps a lot. My one last question that came to mind, is what temperature should the car be at when doing this? At first i assumed bone cold after sitting overnight, but now I'm wondering if it would be better to do when the car is just a little warm, a few hours after driving so the aluminum would be easier to cut into.

Thank you again man

I would recommend having the oil be very hot (operating temperature) when you drain the pan. Then afterwards let it cool down until you can touch it, otherwise you will get burned. This will also give the car time to drain all of the oil out so it won't be so messy as you tap the pan. Aluminium is very soft, and a delta of 50C or more wont make a difference when you're cutting metal.

[myzaq]

Originally Posted by F87source

I would recommend having the oil be very hot (operating temperature) when you drain the pan. Then afterwards let it cool down until you can touch it, otherwise you will get burned. This will also give the car time to drain all of the oil out so it won't be so messy as you tap the pan. Aluminium is very soft, and a delta of 50C or more wont make a difference when you're cutting metal.

Awesome thank you man. I got very lucky, i just ran an m12 x 1.5 tap through it before i tried anything, and it cleaned up the threads very well. They're definitely damaged and will need to be addressed further in the future but it's holding oil just fine now, and should be fine for a few more changes.

[F87source]

Originally Posted by myzaq

Awesome thank you man. I got very lucky, i just ran an m12 x 1.5 tap through it before i tried anything, and it cleaned up the threads very well. They're definitely damaged and will need to be addressed further in the future but it's holding oil just fine now, and should be fine for a few more changes.

If the threads are stripped, then running a tap through it will only clean up the threads enough that it allows you to smoothly thread a bolt in by hand, and create the illusion it's fixed. But the second a bit of torque is applied the bolt will pull straight through those damaged threads and strip it once again. I've tried the same thing before on an m8 thread, and after tapping it the bolt glided in very smoothly. But the second when the lightest amount of torque was applied, the threads stripped out once again.


This is because tapping a stripped thread only puts a very shallow thread in place, and this super shallow thread can't handle any sort of load.


So if it really was stripped in the first place chasing it though with a tap didn't do anything, if the threads were only lightly damaged and binding it would have bought you a few more cycles.