I never experienced this so I guess I have been lucky for 50 plus years. My new to me 2006 3.0 has an oversized oil drain plug which I found doing the first oil change. Evidently to repair someones stripping or crossthreading the original.

Oil actually looks OK and inside valve covers looks very clean, no sludge, so it has been maintained. At least I have that going for me.

Now, the oversized repair -plug is a dorman M14-1.5 SO, which means oversized. It starts to leak as soon as you budge the bolt, it is very tough to turn the bolt until it just about falls out, and the area near the bolt had some thread sealant so it has/is leaking.

I'm looking long term on this one since it only has 114,000 miles, and would prefer to not reuse the oversized bolt. Remoiving and repairing the oil pan on the motor or taking off the oil pan is not an option, the manual starts with, remove flywheel, so no. I need an on vehicle repair option.

I think the pan is steel, so there are more options, and was thinking of using a product called Time Sert.

Anyone with experience using this?

Does it look like a timesert has already been done to this pan? I ask as I am not sure about the perfect ring just inside the outer silver part, I am not familiar with 3.0, the 5.0, 5.8, 347, I'm your man. :)

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Just a thought, would it be possible to tap it and put a helicoil in?

 

Thought of that, problem is they do not make a helicoil that would properly lock. I could use a non locking helicoil but it would have a high probability of coming out. I sent an email to the Timesert folks and they gave me a part number for one of their inserts. I will give it a thought next oil change. For now I reused the oversized plug with a new crush washer.

The Timesert option is not cheap, $165 for the specific kit with tools, but far cheaper and faster than letting dealer do it or dropping tranny and raising motor to replace drain pan. Seriously, 50 years working on cars and first time seeing this, how screwed up a mechanic do yo have to be to mess up the drain plug this bad?

 

Timesert and helicoil are good to repair threads that are not used much after tightening, i.e. water pump bolts, manifold bolts, accessory bolts, ect.............

Oil pan bolt will need to come out a few times a year, hopefully, lol

You have the correct fix, with the oversize self tapping Dorman plug.
But you need to use JB Weld when re-installing it.

Clean up area as much as possible
mix JD Weld as directed
Apply to threads and both side of washer/gasket
tighten it but be reasonable or you will just strip it out more

Let JB Weld setup.

Install center plug, add some oil and see if it is leaking.

When removing center plug to drain oil use a wrench to hold the oversize bolt while unscrewing the center plug.

The oil in the pan is not under pressure, a gallon of oil(4 quarts) weighs just under 8lbs, so there would be 8lbs of pressure on the drain plug, not too much, so snug does the trick no reason to over tighten it, which is often why it was stripped out over time, too much muscle.

You can use teflon tape on center plug threads, it seals it a bit but also makes it easier to remove down the road.

 

So you say use the jbweld to form some threads and use as sealant. Then I guess break that free when you remove the bolt or does the jbweld stay in the threads?

 

I'm wondering why I couldn't jbweld a threaded bung onto the oil pan drain bolt flange, build up the jbweld around the bung really thick like a weld, how would that hold up? I've seen it used for some pretty amazing things.

 

Or, last option, threaded bung jbweld end, tap through the bung into the drain hole, then use a helicoil which connects the bung to the pan, and use jbweld outside to hold it all and seal it, than use a standard drain plug.

 

Sorry I thought you already had one of these: 1/2-20 Double Oversize Piggy-Back Drain Plug

If not then get one, yes you seal the bung to the oil pan with JB Weld.
Then use center plug to drain the oil in the future

 

Thanks I'll try those

 

Any auto parts store will carry those type of bungs