I stripped my oil pan screw, what should I do?

Question

I don't have the money or time to order a new one. I changed my oil myself and didn't think it was a big deal, because it went back on tight enough. Now I have no more oil in my motor, and there is a slow leak at the screw. What should I do, I don't want to glue it or anything, because I will need to take it off again next time.

Answer 1

Tap and Die set. Be careful of metal shavings falling in the oil pan. So be gentle when re-threading the hole.

Answer 2

Oil Pan Screw

Answer 3

Pan Screw

Answer 4

I had a friend that this same thing happened to his low mileage car. The company literally overtightened the plug to the point where the spot weld was ripped out of the pan. I removed the plug from the left over piece and it had 105 foot pounds of torque to get it off the pan. He did not get his money back because they said these things wear out. I have a car with 173k miles on the original plug. If they are torqued to a spec or at least tightened to a reasonable level the plug should not strip. If they changed the pan have them advise you of the torque setting they applied to your current pan and see what it actually is at now. If the bolt is way over tightened now you might have a case. Don't see much hope for the old pan but make sure they didn't do it again.

Answer 5

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RE:
I stripped my oil pan screw, what should I do?
I don't have the money or time to order a new one. I changed my oil myself and didn't think it was a big deal, because it went back on tight enough. Now I have no more oil in my motor, and there is a slow leak at the screw. What should I do, I don't want to glue it or anything,...

Answer 6

They make a few repair screws that aren't that expensive. See your auto parts place for one. They require that you tap in a new screw hole, though. I had this problem once. It's a fairly easy and relatively inexpensive fix, and you don't have to get a new pan. Check it out, they should have the size of tap and screw you need, you'll only need to take in your old screw to get the right size.

Answer 7

I don't know about now but at one time the local parts dealers called what I all ways referred to as a "Fitz all" It was a oil pan plug that was slightly larger than the original and was self tapping. As an after thought, was the gasket on the plug when you put it back ?

Answer 8

If it is just the drain plug that is stripped, you can get a new one for just a couple of bucks. If the threads inside the pan are stripped, you will need to tap them out, maybe to a larger size and use a new plug of the appropriate size.

You should buy a tap at a tool store for the same size and one size larger. Try the smaller one first and see if it can clean up the threads. If your new plug of the same size won't screw in properly, use the larger tap and larger pan plug.

Answer 9

You got few choices.
You can tap it with bigger thread and install over size bolt.

You can take out the whole oil pan, take it to machine shop and have them fix the thread. They usually drill the whole thing out and install a thread repair insert.

Or you can purchase a new oil pan and just replace.

Just to buy time, you can cover the bolt thread with liquid gasket and install the existing bolt.

Answer 10

Re-tap the pan.
You can do this with a Tap&Die set or you can take it to most any garage that does oil changes. It's a fairly simple procedure... though you may need to apply a neoprene washer from now on to prevent a drip or two. No big deal.