well once again the place my dad brought my car to get an oil changed stripped the oil plug... i don't understand why you have to tighten it so tight???? i just tried to change my oil, get under the car.. and the bolt is basically stripped... does anyone know how i can get the bolt off???? thanks in advanced...

 

DAMN, sorry bro you're on your own here.. That must suck donkey balls BIG time. just a fyi, to prevent a stripped bolt, one must use a socket wrench and not just a regular wrench.

 

i would get a vise-grip... clamp it on and then turn it

and then make sure you never go back there again....

 

but see the vice is too big to fit around the bolt... like our bolts are a little recessed.. yeah i always use a socket but i see them use wrenches... imma just take it back to them this time and imma buy that suredrain.. after they change the oil imma run home and replace it with a suredrain system... it has happend before and they had to torch and chisel the bolt off....

 

what i did when i had a stripped bolt was pound it a socket that was a little smaller. like going from metric to umm, the other one, standard? yeah, its probably bad for the socket, but it got the bolt loose. i think theres special sockets u buy for doing that, but oh well.

 

yea there are sockets for taking off stripped bolts. But i used that method for my last oil change too. somone flared the ends of my oil pan bolt when i got my oil changed last time so i just hammered on a socket and took it off and bought a new bolt from autozone.

 

Oh yeah, I feel your pain. I tried changing the oil myself earlier but that darn thing was sooo tight, I actually got into a position where I had to use my left hand (right is my dominent arm) and grab onto the sway bar in order to get some force and broke it loose. So a normal 20-minute self oil change turned into a 45-minute ordeal. But anyways, I changed the oil and I'm happy. OOOOO...I've also installed splash guards too. Tomorrow, coolant flush!!

 

yea i did the same thing, i rounded it real bad trying to get it off. I just took it to canadian tire and they replaced it for like $20 labor(welded on a nut to unscrew it). make sure to get a gasket for the new bolt

 

Just keep your fingers crossed that they didn't stip the oil PAN's threads!!!! Some cheap-o place (got a certificate for 4 chages for the price of one) must have used a numatic wrench to tighten down my plug, right? Well, I couldn't even get the plug off w/ a torque wrench. I took it back to have them to remove it and once they got it off, they said I had stripped out the threads. They didn't take responsibility for it, either. Aholes!
Oil pan replacemnt is about $750.00 with labor. I had the Acura dealer "rethread" my pan...only cost about $100.00 but it should only last about a year or two.

Lesson to be learned, don't let anyone ***K with your car, and do all basic maintenance yourself! Crank your drain bolt ONLY a quarter past snug...if that. there is no reason to really crank down hard on your plug.

 

Heh...I tried that last Friday then on Saturday morning, when I was down there again to change the coolant, I noticed oil leak. Well, I found out I didn't tighten it tight enough even though it was snug. So it's very very tight now.

Question: Do we really have to replace the washer everytime we change the oil?

Also, I was on Ebay and found an oil drain plug with a little piece of magnet attached to it selling for $8. Do you guys think it's worth it?

 

BE CAREFUL AS SHIT!!! Take it from me. I had the same problem. It happened when i frist got my car. I just got the car and whoever did it for me had that thing on there tight as hell, and it was stripped out. I tried so hard to get it off and the wrench kept slipping off. I even tried using a gator grip on a Snap On electric impact wrench, it wouldnt budge. Finally i got it with an open end wrench. But it didnt come out the proper way. I broke the actual threads on the oil and it liek chipped off. The threads on my oil pan had broken off. IT WAS FUCKED!!! I had to have it towed to the dealer. And it cost me 1,200 for a new oil pan. most all of that price was labor. The engine had to be removed. Trust me have someone else deal with it. I learned the hard way, now u can learn from my mistake.

BTW: I'd like to welcome my self back to the forum its good to be back.

 

I have never replaced the washer, and I never have had an oil leak....

 

Vise-Grip Pliers... If you can get your hands on a Grainger Tool Supply book you can find them on page 876... or the Cobra grips...

To use these once you have the tool... just with a file (not a computer file) file down or grind the bolt down so that you can get 2 flat surfaces on opposite sides of the bolt...
_
Example: (_) Sorry for the low quality image...

This will give you a bit more extra grip so you can loosen the oil plug... Like this you can just go and buy a new one for a couple of bucks...

 

First off, Welcome back 96_2.5TL. Second, sorry to hear about your oil pan. There is something that's called a Helicoil (spelling???). It cost me $100. at the dealer labor included. I know that doesn't help now....but maybe it'll help someone else.

 

Sorry to hear about your oil pan. Anyway, the Heliacoil is a decent fix. Usually it is used to replace spark plug threads that have been stripped. You should be able to find this and use it for your oil pan. Basically, you have to rethread the oil pan so it will accept the larger Heliacoil. But if you are going to do that, you might as well just put on a larger drain plug.

As for replacing the washer during each oil change, I do this religiously because my Dad had a car that never replaced the washer and one day he was driving and he lost all his oil and seized the engine. For 10 cents a washer, its worth it!!!

 

REPLACE the freakin washer...its only a few cents. The heat causes the washer to warp. Happened on my accord. Your more likely to strat leaking oil. SO REPLACE IT. Honda recommends it every oil change and they wouldn't do so without reason.

 

Get a tap & dye set and get the bolt out. If the thread on the oil pan is messed up, then go out and get a Fram Sure-Drain. Screw it in there tight and seal it around the edge. You won't have to risk messing up the thread any worse; Sure-Drain is just a drain plug that attaches like a normal oil pan bolt, but it has a lever that you can open and close to drain the plug. I normally wouldn't recommend it, but if the thread on the oil pan is screwed up, then this is your probably best bet, next to replacing the entire oil pan.

 

Sure Drain sucks. I had one in my Explorer and it had oil leaks, even when it is tightened very very tightly. Here's a better one:

http://www.fumotovalve.com/

Check it out. It worked a whole lot better than Sure Drain.

 

good news... breaker bar, lots of hammering and a long pipe for leverage and its off, i got it off 2 days ago and put the sure drain on... i gotta say that i was relieved when that bolt broke free... so far i haven't had any leaks... i bought a bigger socket to tighten the suredrain on.. (not too tight) and so far no leaks that i know of... i like that fumoto but ill only get it if suredrain seems to give me any problems... thanks everyone for your help...

 

Hey Wolfpack,

Which one out of the four did you get? The Fumotovalve website doesn't mention anything for the '96-'98 6 cyl...

 

Hmmm...I'm not sure. I'll check it out for ya.