oil drain plug

[Docman]

Is there a trick to removing a stuck oil pan drain plug?

This looks like the one on the differential which I finally gave up trying to remove and went to a shop that could get to it easier from a pit.

Are these a tapered thread?
Is there a more convnetional plug available (hex head, integral gasket/seal)?

[npanne]

When I rounded the corners on mine I filed it to a tapered square and hammered the drive end of a torx socket on it, then used the equivilent sized torx bit in this - if that makes sense?

[JohnD]

The plug is tapered, the hole is not (Think about a tapered tap. It wouwld get very far, would it?)

It's the tightness in the hole that the tapered plug can acheive that allows it to seal without a wsher , gasket or seprerta seal of any sort.  And that can make them hard to remove.

Thye should always be removed when HOT, which may expand the hole slightly, and will certainly allow the oil to drain quicker and better.    If that deosn't work, then local heating with a torch may help.   It's safe, the flame is seperated from the oil,and you won't be able to heat it more than the boiling point of oil!

A last resort is to weld a piece of angle iron to the plug, as a lever, the heat will help too!
But it is posisble to wrench the plug and the boss out of a sump, ripping the braze!

JOhn

[Hughbert]

I hope your okay with this and I am sure you already know but just make sure you remove any oil or paint from a round the local area of the pan and make sure you have the car up high to allow you lots of movement space before you put a naked flame under your car. Oh and have an extinguisher nearby to hand even a mate with you  ;)

You could try the stuff plumbers use to freeze pipes to freeze the plug I have used it in the past to shrink bolts, etc to remove them I wore a pair of welders gloves to protect my hands when spraying the bolt.

[gfiandy]

It's a bit extreme but when I couldn't get mine out in the end I took the sump off. Once off the car it is easier to get tools on it but I still had to use heat. The sump was full of grunge so it was worth taking it off anyway. I am very gad I didn't put oil flush in it as if that lot had started moving about it would have wreked the engine.

Regards,
Andrew

[yorkshire_spam]

I ended up welding half a land rover wheel nut onto my sump plug to get it out. :-(

[PeterRST]

OK, this is probably not a good reference but I'll tell the story anyways... ;)

When I changed the oil on my 1500, I didn't get the plug out at all. Even drilled through with all the tension removed it wouldnt move a tiny little bit. I suspect that someone has put in the wrong type of plug, probably even metric, and then just tightened it like a mad men for it to seal for good... I ended up taking the sump off and noticed that bolt and sump thread had practically welded themselves together... So even with a gigantic lever and a perfect hex head, I would have probably had more of a chance to tear the sump bolts out of the engine than to move that bloody sump plug...  ;D

Got myself a second hand sump and grabbed the opportunity to clean everything out nicely. Nice side-effect is that it's also not leaking anymore now.... ;)

[mjwman]

I bought one of these after experiencing leaks and fears of one day overtightening.
It is brilliant and now so clean and easy to drain the oil!
http://www.quickvalve.co.uk/ :)

[Freebird]

I have got one of these & haven't scrabbled about under a car with hot oil up my arm since.

http://www.frost.co.uk/oil-drain.html

[Paudman]

Get a small hammer and tap repeatedly and quickly on the sides of the plug and the area of the sump where it goes in. You're not trying to beat it out but set up a quick light rhythm, like an impact wrench, that will shock the plug loose. Work around it on all sides. THEN tighten it slightly - not loosen but tighten, very slightly - as this often breaks the lock that repeated loosening attempts don't, plus it grips on the non-rounded sides that still have a profile, rather than the rounded off ones that take the force of loosening. Once it frees up very little force will remove it. Replace with one of the new hexagon-shaped versions.