There's many a slip . . .

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Anyone still have a 4.5mm socket for some GM module? The tool industry thanked that fine man for a good bit.


I liked my BMW tool kit in the lid of the trunk. Just about everything was reduced to two sockets/wrenches.


There was a 5.5mm tool for the Ford TFI module

I have one of those.

 

[eljefino]

I needed a 5.5mm to extract a blower motor from a saturn.

My cheezy big lots 40 pc socket set has them down to about 3mm, good for computer motherboard spacers etc.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Okay, folks, riddle me this one. I just called the local dealer, Crown Buick, to have them set aside an oil pan drain plug for me. They have them, for six bucks . . . but they insist that it's a 12mm!

"Twelve?" I say, incredulously.

"Yes sir. I don't know what somebody's put on your car if you have something different, but GM puts a 12mm plug on the car at the factory."

????

I called my mechanic, by the way, and he is sure that if I use a 6-point socket, unless the current plug is very rounded, I'll be fine. But what's this about 12mm?

 

[eljefino]

threads are 12mm, the bolt head is irrelevant.

You can use a 12mm open end wrench as a redneck caliper to confirm. Even my saturn this seems about right. Sometimes they'll put a smaller hex head than the industry standard on so you don't overtorque things.

edit: Just looked up your car and mine and they both take 12mm x 1.75 yet different part #s. Yours sticks deeper in the pan for some obscure reason and in a touch of class has a magnetic tip.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Maybe so. But when I tried my 13mm socket on it yesterday, it was too small. Looks like I need to head off to Sears and get one of each to be safe?

(This is getting annoying. Which law of thermodynamics is it that is translated as, "Everything takes longer and costs more"?)

ETA: Rockauto has the plugs, and both say 15mm: "AutoGrade - Boxed; Type Magnetic / Thread Size M12-1.75 / Under-Head Length 30.22mm / Head Size 15mm / Head Style Flanged Hex #11518377, 24100042, 8-11518-377-0, 8-24100-042-0, 88891787}
M12-1.75 Thd." So the dealer was telling me about the threads, not the head size?

 

[Kestas]

Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
There was a 5.5mm tool for the Ford TFI module

I have one of those.

7/32" = 5.56 mm
Maybe close enough to 5.5 mm? Most sockets have some tolerance built in for a slip fit. 7/32" should fit, just perhaps a tad tighter.

 

[PF52]

Originally Posted By: Benzadmiral

Oh, I did try the metrics! I couldn't imagine why an American car would have a metric bolt, but I tried them anyway. None of those in the kit fitted.


Its amazing how often this comes up. Even though the domestic manufacturers have used metric fasteners for 30 years or so, people are surprised.

Originally Posted By: sciphi

On my old Hyundai anything could be taken off with a 10, 12, 14, 17, and 32mm socket/wrench, a pair of pliers, and a medium Philips screwdriver. My Buick needs many more metric sockets. Although some small bolts are 1/4".


GMs typically are a lot of 7, 10, 13, 15 and 19mm bolts; suspension bits see bigger ones such as 21 and 22mm. FWD axle nuts are 30 or 32mm depending on model. Oh, and was mentioned earlier, don't forget the 5.5mm nutdriver for various electronics, modules and stereo stuff.

Once in a great while I'll see something different, like the 12mm in the steering rack on my Cobalt. I didn't even have a 12mm socket!

 

[Stu_Rock]

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
I have 11, 13, and 15mm sockets up to my ears. I hate them and never use them.

Only work on Japanese cars? 13 mm is the US and European standard head size for M8 fasteners.

11 mm is for the rare M7 fastener, so that one is nearly never required. I actually use mine frequently as a back-up wrench for 7/16.

15 mm is an oddball size. It's common on M10 fasteners in US-made metric equipment of all kinds, not just cars. That said, it does not conform to any standards that I know of. I think the ANSI wrench for M10 is supposed to be 16 mm.

What about 9 mm wrenches? They aren't specified in any standard. I remember having to use a 9 mm deep socket on some special body nuts on my old 1986 LeBaron. It was the only time I ever needed anything that size.

 

[Stu_Rock]

Originally Posted By: css9450
GMs ... FWD axle nuts are 30 or 32mm depending on model.

GM also used 34 mm on several models. Try finding that one in a store!

The good thing is that 1 5/16 also works.

 

[Kestas]

I've posted this before. I keep the list below in my tool box. If a fastener is between two STD sizes, I know which metric wrench to grab, and vice-versa.

inches - - mm

3/16 - - 4.76
7/32 - - 5.56
1/4 - - - 6.35
9/32 - - 7.14
5/16 - - 7.94
11/32 - - 8.73
3/8 - - - 9.53
7/16 - - 11.11
1/2 - - - 12.7
9/16 - - 14.29
5/8 - - - 15.88
11/16 - - 17.46
3/4 - - - 19.05
13/16 - - 20.64
7/8 - - - 22.23
15/16 - - 23.81
1 - - - - - 25.4

 

[Nick R]

Originally Posted By: Stu_Rock
Originally Posted By: css9450
GMs ... FWD axle nuts are 30 or 32mm depending on model.

GM also used 34 mm on several models. Try finding that one in a store!

The good thing is that 1 5/16 also works.



Took me considerable time to find the 30MM deepwell I needed for my axlenuts. Finally found one at Advance for $12

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
There was a 5.5mm tool for the Ford TFI module

I have one of those.

7/32" = 5.56 mm
Maybe close enough to 5.5 mm? Most sockets have some tolerance built in for a slip fit. 7/32" should fit, just perhaps a tad tighter.


The "tool" has an incredibly thin wall. Otherwise, I'd just use a 5.5mm socket.

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
Its amazing how often this comes up. Even though the domestic manufacturers have used metric fasteners for 30 years or so, people are surprised.


I'm not surprised. The totally senseless "hybrid" nature of the fastener selection is just too whacked to comprehend.

I think the 2nd most odd socket size (other than the aforementioned 4.5mm) was (iirc) 27/32 socket that had no real purpose in my first Craftsman purchase in 1973. Then at some point I had to remove a starter on a Chevette and one of the bolts just wasn't finding a socket to work ..and then the 27/32 had its one and only purpose in the rest of my life.

I wonder whose uncle got the contract to make the OEM oddball bolts.

 

[Benzadmiral]

Well, guys -- a wise general knows when the battle is lost and it's time to take his army home.

My new 15mm socket from Sears fits the drain plug fine. But I still can't get the darn thing to budge, and I shouldn't have to risk tearing a muscle just to change my oil. Either the plug is ever-so-slightly-rounded off, possibly thanks to my earlier efforts; or it's been slammed into place by an air wrench; or both.

Next week I'll take it to my usual shop and, as I mentioned above, get him to snug my new plug from the dealer down by hand, so that I'll have a chance to do it myself in the fall.

And thanks to all of you, I'll be ready for it in November!

 

[dime]

Gm's use either a 13mm or a 15mm,you have to go back into the early to mid 80's to find one with a std size plug,fords use a 16 but a 5/8's fits just fine and chrysler uses whatever they have on hand,haha the new ones usually use a 13mm though.

 

[SuperBusa]

I always use a 6-point socket or wrench if I can. Only time I use a 12-point is when I need the finer tool for tight quarters.