Oil pan bolt threads are weak, going to install a Fumoto valve. How to make sure it stays?

[Gasbuggy]

Are there at least 2-3 threads nearest the head of the bolt?

I have been burned in situations like this. It will feel fine for now, but without enough threads, the bolt will loosen up after some heat cycling.

It's hard to explain without a picture. There is still a thread pattern the whole way through, but about 2/3 of the outer height of the threads pulled off. So even when I put the drain plug just a turn or two it still felt secure, no wiggle, even though the threads aren't totally there.

Deep inside the last two threads were still fully intact.

I was saying the factory drain bolt still felt secure but I decided to use the Amazon bolt that is slightly oversized. It bites into the aluminum pan pretty well.

 

[Gasbuggy]

If you followed your original idea of draining the oil very well and then jacking up the car and then clean the hole with drugstore alcohol, then insert a Fumoto or a Valv-O-Max valve with a generous covering of Loctite E-20 HP epoxy it would hold. You'll have to buy the dispensing gun if you don't have one already or don't know anyone that have one. Loctite E20- HP is such a good epoxy that it's worth buying the dispensing gun could you get many years of use from it.

Loctite E20-HP can handle heat and oil with no problem and it bonds to just about anything except waxy Plastics such as polyethylene.

You can buy Loctite E20 - HP from McMaster-Carr along with the dispensing gun.

Valve-O-Max is probably a better valve to get than a famoto valve because the right angled for Fumoto valves are a crapshoot about what angle the valve ends up pointing at with respect to the threads that are in the drain hole and how they valve happens to align with those threads. Valve o Max it's just a straight shot but it has a second piece that you have to attach each time you use it so you have to make sure you keep it someplace where you're not going to lose it. I installed a famoto valve on my 2016 Honda CRV and I had to drastically over tighten the valve in order to get the angle of the output nipple to be pointing in a good direction. Since the valve was made out of brass I was seriously concerned about breaking it off but I was lucky that that did not happen. If I had it to do over again I would go with valve o max.

I was going to use 3m panel bond, I already have it and the $90 3M gun and a tube, but I think it's a near identical product.

I was prepped and ready to go but the Fumoto valve the company listed on the website for this car doesn't fit on this recessed drain plug pan. Naturally, I found out after I had it fully cleaned and prepped. When I called Fumoto to ask wth they said I missed their small warning that the one they suggest doesn't actually fit. They did offer to send the right one but it was going to take days to arrive.

 

[Gasbuggy]

I'd personally have no qualms with just stepping up a size with a hand tap (shrug). Honestly the biggest concern is tapping square so your new plug seats on its flange head.

I just use thread repair to maintain OEM size -- and steel inserts in Al are a bonus.

But I'm just a white trash machinist (can I say that? Can I identify as white if I am??) so maybe I'm wrong. Who knows......

YMMV

I don't think there's room for a tap, it's in a tight spot. No room to drill it out either, maybe if I cut down a bit and put it in the smallest 90° drill I could find. Though this is way past the tap sizes I have, so I'd be buying the tools to attempt it.

 

[JimPghPA]

I was going to use 3m panel bond, I already have it and the $90 3M gun and a tube, but I think it's a near identical product.

I was prepped and ready to go but the Fumoto valve the company listed on the website for this car doesn't fit on this recessed drain plug pan. Naturally, I found out after I had it fully cleaned and prepped. When I called Fumoto to ask wth they said I missed their small warning that the one they suggest doesn't actually fit. They did offer to send the right one but it was going to take days to arrive.

I had to take a quarter inch off of the edge of an exhaust flange with an angle grinder to get my famoto valve to fit. I don't know if that's the case in your situation but sometimes a slight modification it's still allows what you're grinding away at to still work properly is sufficient to get the formato valve to fit in place. At least that is how it was with my application. However, I did not find out until I was tightening the valve down that the way the right angle spout was when it was tightened down to the amount that Fumoto suggested the spout was not pointing in a usable Direction. I had to tighten it more to get at the point and our usable Direction and all the time while I was tightening it I was thinking that this thing's only made of brass and if it snaps off I'm going to have a heck of a Time straightening this out. If I had to do over again I would go with the valve o Max that is just straight and you have to connect up the second piece every time you do an oil drain.

 

[ecotourist]

I have a 2007 Honda Accord V6 with only about 190,000 km. The oil pan on mine is aluminum too. I've been very careful tightening that oil plug. Fingers crossed.

 

[The Critic]

It's hard to explain without a picture. There is still a thread pattern the whole way through, but about 2/3 of the outer height of the threads pulled off. So even when I put the drain plug just a turn or two it still felt secure, no wiggle, even though the threads aren't totally there.

Deep inside the last two threads were still fully intact.

I was saying the factory drain bolt still felt secure but I decided to use the Amazon bolt that is slightly oversized. It bites into the aluminum pan pretty well.

Based on your description, I will say that plug is probably not going to hold.
Timesert is doable in that application but space will be tight. I highly recommend a new pan over the Timesert unless the exhaust parts are an issue.

 

[Gasbuggy]

Based on your description, I will say that plug is probably not going to hold.
Timesert is doable in that application but space will be tight. I highly recommend a new pan over the Timesert unless the exhaust parts are an issue.

Thank you for your expertise. We shall see what happens.

 

[Soft Cars]

Thoughts?

I'm wondering what the service manual says about pulling the pan.

 

[LouC]

I’ve heard of this happening on Yamaha 4 stroke outboards as well and one thing you can do is simply use a good vacuum pump to suck the oil out via the dipstick tube. It will not get every last bit of oil out but if the oil has been changed regularly it is inconsequential; I used one of these on my inboard boat for years….

 

[MParr]

Do a proper repair or replace the oil pan. Those are your options..

 

[srfdude]

I've used several of the Fumoto valves over the years. They come in various configurations, including straight where the angle is not an issue.