2011 Camry Drain Plug too tight! Dang you Toyota.

Dino01 said:
images


This style as mentioned above has always been my go to for this kind of problem
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WRONG!!!
 
If Jiffy Lube can't tell the difference between a transmission and an engine drain plug,,,,,, they have no business being in business. I have NEVER used one of those places, or any place similiar to it. Feel bad for the poor people who have no choice but to use them. I can just imagine the garbage oil they're dumping into these engines.
 
JeffKeryk said:
So I'm doing the last service to the Camry in prep to give it to the needy family...Simple trans spill-and-fill.
The 24mm fill plug was pretty tight, but no biggie.
The 6mm drain plug was another story. The undercarriage is spotless, but I cleaned out the hex plug for good measure.
Using a 6mm Snap On key, the (soft?) plug metal fatigued; I pressed up even harder but still stripped it.

Guess it goes into a shop unless you have any guidance... And no, I don't know the business end of a welder. Ha!

Thanks in advance.
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If you're ever in this situation again, here's some preventative steps.

--Use a hex bit socket and mallet or nonmarring hammer and pound that bit socket into the plug as far as you can with gentle but firm taps. The single biggest reason that hex plugs strip is that the key is never fully inserted because of paint or corrosion inside the hex. As a bonus, the impacts of the hammer blow tends to loosen a stuck plug.
-- Then stick in a breaker bar into the bit socket and wiggle the plug on both loosening and tightening directions in progressively larger arcs that slowly bias in the loosening direction. Eventually you'll be able to trust that the hex will hold and you can give it a bit of oomph.

I like the Astro Nano hex bit sockets-- they're nice and shallow and made of premium tool steel while not being too expensive.
 
Just wondering about a permanent resolution to this issue with the Toyota ATF drain plugs. Does anyone know of a substitute plug available with an identical thread size which has an external hex head that would fit on a standard metric socket (i.e., like a conventional oil pan drain plug)?
 
Hohn said:
If you're ever in this situation again, here's some preventative steps.

--Use a hex bit socket and mallet or nonmarring hammer and pound that bit socket into the plug as far as you can with gentle but firm taps. The single biggest reason that hex plugs strip is that the key is never fully inserted because of paint or corrosion inside the hex. As a bonus, the impacts of the hammer blow tends to loosen a stuck plug.
-- Then stick in a breaker bar into the bit socket and wiggle the plug on both loosening and tightening directions in progressively larger arcs that slowly bias in the loosening direction. Eventually you'll be able to trust that the hex will hold and you can give it a bit of oomph.

I like the Astro Nano hex bit sockets-- they're nice and shallow and made of premium tool steel while not being too expensive.
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All excellent points

I have removed countless threaded fasteners going loosely-tighty cycling

I also have mucked up some fasteners being the idiot who did not fully insert a cheapie Allen wranch.
 
Hohn said:
If you're ever in this situation again, here's some preventative steps.

--Use a hex bit socket and mallet or nonmarring hammer and pound that bit socket into the plug as far as you can with gentle but firm taps. The single biggest reason that hex plugs strip is that the key is never fully inserted because of paint or corrosion inside the hex. As a bonus, the impacts of the hammer blow tends to loosen a stuck plug.
-- Then stick in a breaker bar into the bit socket and wiggle the plug on both loosening and tightening directions in progressively larger arcs that slowly bias in the loosening direction. Eventually you'll be able to trust that the hex will hold and you can give it a bit of oomph.

I like the Astro Nano hex bit sockets-- they're nice and shallow and made of premium tool steel while not being too expensive.
Click to expand...
Good advice... Where were you before I started! :ROFLMAO:

Actually, the fastener was clean; using a Snap On socket Allen is about as good as it gets. The hex depth is too shallow; 6mm is too small and the material is too soft. I believe later plugs used a 10mm plug.

Regardless, even though I pressed upward, I have to say I could have done better. That's my bottom line.
Back at it today. if I can get another plug. Thanks for your guidance!
 
Pablo said:
All excellent points

I have removed countless threaded fasteners going loosely-tighty cycling

I also have mucked up some fasteners being the idiot who did not fully insert a cheapie Allen wranch.
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It’s unfortunate that most of who got reasonably good at removing tough fasteners only got that way by being quite bad at it and finding every wrong way to do it. And still you will sometimes lose.

Mayhew makes a cool tool called a bolt breaker and HF has a chief knockoff. It’s a square drive like a socket extension, but fits in an air hammer…..

https://mayhew.com/products/pneumatics/pneumatics_pneumatic_sets__bolt_breaker
1751924992585.webp
 
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Knipex Cobras for the win. Easy, actually. I now know I did not have the hex socket seated properly, and I may have partially broke torque... Don't judge me!
As @The Critic and @Trav said, a Torx with a little hammer persuasion would have worked, or even the hex...

I'm so fired... I appreciate all the help. And whoever mentioned the Cobras a couple of years ago was spot on.
1751925519256.webp
 
Glad it’s out 👍. I’d of just hammered the extractor on it but hey Knipex will work too I was thinking it was pretty tight. I’m surprised you actually found one of those plugs in stock anywhere. Maybe it’s the area but we usually have to wait two days for them.
 
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