1992 Toyota Camry oil pan/change

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1992 TOYOTA CAMRY
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
100,000 MILES

I took my car in to the dealer for a routine oil change. What attracted me to this dealership was it was a brand new location, they guaranteed work in thirty minutes and a cost of $12.95! Lo and behold at the end of the "long" wait I was taken to the car and shown the threads of the oil pan bolt had come off and the only solution was to replace the whole pan at a total cost in the $500.00 range! If the previous oil change was done at the same dealership (at their old location) and the next one at the new location, how in the world could the threads have come off? Is this normal?

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It is difficult to tell when the damage was done to the drain plug threads. Each time oil is changed the drain plug is tightened. If it is slightly over-tightened during oil changes, progressive damage occurs to the threads. Eventually, the threads will fail and it seems that it happened on your most recent oil change. Obviously replacing the oil pan is one way to cure the problem. However, we tap out the drain plug hole in the pan to the next size larger and replace it with a larger drain plug; a less expensive procedure.