Oil pan drain plug stripped threads

Hey, I say what have you got to lose. The other option is to remove the pan and replace. Whether the hole is aluminum or stell should make no difference. The tap you need will cut its way through either of them. I venture to say you should be fine.

Just a little bit of info. To prevent this in the future make sure to change the aluminum crush ring, on the drain plug, every time the oil is changed. They are one use only. Honda has been using them for as long as I can remember and they make it almost impossible to over tighten the drain plug.

Great addition to this thread! Please feel free to help out whenever you are on the site. :)

Cheers, Ken

Just to jump in with something that I have used a couple time rather then replacing the oil pan and that is a product called Time Sert. It is like a heli coil but better.

When doing this on an oil pan, you coat the tap with axle grease or petroleum jelly and it will grab most of the metal shavings when you tap out the drain plug. Then just pour the old oil back through the engine with the drain plug removed and it will flush out any remaining metal.

Basically this product replaces the entire thread rather then just the coil like a heli coil. With a Time Sert, you are taking out the threads and enlarging the hole and then inserting an entire new thread sleeve and not just a coil of metal. I would do an internet search and check them out. It is worth the money to fix these. Once this is installed in the oil pan it is very hard to over tighten and strip out the new threads.

I completed this on my father in laws 1961 Austin Vanden Plas and 1956 Continental Mark II. Has been many years and not a drip of oil out of the plug any more. Beats replacing the pan. Plus you can do it on the vehicle so you don't have to even remove the pan to do this.

Clearly we don't endorse this product but just a positive review from a happy customer of theirs.