Oil Drain Plug Strippred? ??????

[General Zod]

how does one go about fixing this?

it went from 14mm to 16 mm.

and i put a 16mm over sized bolt and its still leaking.....

WILL AN 18mm tap work within the parameters of a 1978 GS 400 xc?

I am afraid I may not have enough metal to thread a larger size...

if this is unfixable I may have to scrap and really good looking and functional bike?



HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

[fgh]

Did you use a sealing washer. They are made of soft metal (aluminum or copper). Look for them at any good hardware or auto parts store.

[wayne cooper]

Drain plug woes

Your local bike salvage might have a new pan. You should be able to find one in good shape for about $20. Not a big job to change it. Nothing falls out when it is removed, except oil. A tube of gasket maker from the local auto supply and you're good to go for about $25.

[General Zod]

stripped drain plug

i bought a bolt with a plastic washer...

Did you use a sealing washer. They are made of soft metal (aluminum or copper). Look for them at any good hardware or auto parts store.

[General Zod]

i figured that if I have to buy a bottompan then I would have to reassemble everything piece by piece....but you you know for sure that I dont have to reassemble the bottom end piece by piece,,,then i will look for a bottm pan......

[Nessism]

Not sure about the 400 but the 450 has a removable plate on the bottom of the engine. Easy repair but you may have to remove the exhaust first.

[Steve]

If you do have a removeable oil pan, and can not find another, I am sure you can find a welding shop that will fill in your stripped hole, drill it out and tap it to the correct size so you can install a NEW, stock oil plug and washer.


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[marvinsc]

I am dealing with the same issue on My 850. I went with a self tapping oversized plug with a plastic washer but it still seeped some Oil. I put an O-Ring behind the Seal washer and No more leak. I found that mine had been heli-coiled and the threads came out with the oil plug which started My problem.:-|

[bwringer]

When I built the engine that's in my GS850 now, I put a solid thread insert in the oil pan to prevent these sorts of problems. It's working great so far. (More details after it's been through a few more oil changes.)

The oil pan drain plug uses the same thread size (14mm diameter X 1.25mm pitch) as many spark plugs, so inserts in this size are commonly available.

Helicoils are only usable for parts that you don't need to disassemble later -- they always seem to come out the next time you remove the fastener, so they don't work well for spark plugs or oil drain plugs.

I'd say remove the pan and take it to a machine shop -- they shouldn't charge much at all to put in a solid insert. If they start talking Helicoil, go elsewhere. There are several brands of solid inserts out there. Since your drain plug hole has been hogged out quite a bit, they might also simply weld in more aluminum and drill and re-tap it, as noted above, but I'd be far more comfortable with a steel thread insert rather than just aluminum threads.

If you're in a hurry, there are rubber plugs you can get in auto parts stores that often work fine, but they may not be reliable.

[The General]

General Zod is now The General because he forgot his original username and password....

i figured that if I have to buy a bottompan then I would have to reassemble everything piece by piece....but you you know for sure that I dont have to reassemble the bottom end piece by piece,,,then i will look for a bottm pan......

[OldVet66]

For a temporary fix, I used part of a brass union, a cap sealed with Teflon and an O-Ring on the engine side. It works so well that I keep forgetting to fix it properly. I change the Teflon and O-Ring with each oil change. When I bought the bike, it had what looked like a head bolt from a car cross threaded into the pan cover, about 5" long.

[spyder2120]

my drain plug was stripped out and a guy i know who works at a fastner store recomended a self tapping drain plug. it did the trick. $3.00 and 30 sec. couldn't beat it.

[Henway]

I get bulk cheap aluminum and copper washers at my local industrial liquidators. They stock Earl's lines, so they have the washers. ALWAYS use new crush washers and tighten to torque specs and all will be well. Oil drains, water pump drains, and brake fittings all require NEW crush washers every time.