Story time... Last week when I changed the oil in my 2001 Toyota Echo I used a torque wrench for the very first time to tighten the drain plug, I've always just hand tightened. Set that baby to 28ft/lbs, getting tighter, and tighter, still no click, then loose and turning again. Only thought that went through my head was crap I stripped my oil pan threads.
Made a couple calls to the local shops, no pans on hand, they would have to be ordered in for just over $100. I ordered one off amazon same brand for $60, would be a few days to arrive.
I tightened the drain plug as much as I could and put a little oil in it and left it for 6 hours. No sign of oil coming out. Filled it up with some cheap conventional just in case it ended up being a loss.
I drove it about 400km till the new pan arrived. I kept an eye on it, it was weeping, I figured it dripped about 4-6 times a day judging by the little spots it left.
Once the pan arrived I drained the oil, (managed to save most of it), I had to turn the plug way more times than normal to get it out. It is magnetic so it just stuck to the pan as I drained it.
It wasn't until I had the pan off that I really look at the threads on the pan and the plug. Turns out it was the plug that had wrecked threads... I could have just put the original bolt back in. Facepalm moment and lesson learned. Check first to see what threads are actually wrecked.
I tracked down my purchase of the plug, it was from amazon in 2017. Listing no longer exists. I never heard of the bolt stripping so I wonder what it is made of. People always say not to overtighten and strip the pan threads. I always assumed the bolt would be stronger.
Anyway the pan was already off so I installed the new one with a fumoto valve. I documented my silliness with photos.
Made a couple calls to the local shops, no pans on hand, they would have to be ordered in for just over $100. I ordered one off amazon same brand for $60, would be a few days to arrive.
I tightened the drain plug as much as I could and put a little oil in it and left it for 6 hours. No sign of oil coming out. Filled it up with some cheap conventional just in case it ended up being a loss.
I drove it about 400km till the new pan arrived. I kept an eye on it, it was weeping, I figured it dripped about 4-6 times a day judging by the little spots it left.
Once the pan arrived I drained the oil, (managed to save most of it), I had to turn the plug way more times than normal to get it out. It is magnetic so it just stuck to the pan as I drained it.
It wasn't until I had the pan off that I really look at the threads on the pan and the plug. Turns out it was the plug that had wrecked threads... I could have just put the original bolt back in. Facepalm moment and lesson learned. Check first to see what threads are actually wrecked.
I tracked down my purchase of the plug, it was from amazon in 2017. Listing no longer exists. I never heard of the bolt stripping so I wonder what it is made of. People always say not to overtighten and strip the pan threads. I always assumed the bolt would be stronger.
Anyway the pan was already off so I installed the new one with a fumoto valve. I documented my silliness with photos.