Stripped the oil drain plug hole

Well it was the last ride of the season on Saturday morning. Took to bike out for a last blast before the usual winterizing. Drained the oil, removed and changed the filter and put it back and then as I'm screwing in the drain plug (not the filter bolt) it just went around and around. I did'nt even get to use the torque wrench. It must have been just on the edge of stripping.
Bummer.
I wrapped the drain plug with a bit of teflon tape, stuck a hose washer on the end, screwed it back in, filled with oil and put the bike in the shed where it will sit for the next four months.

In the meantime I have to figure out a fix. Did a search and see where I might be able to tap a new slightly larger hole and fit a 1/2 inch bolt

rstnick - if your reading this, Hows your repair holding up ?

Any other suggestions wellcome.

The PO of my bike (aka mr muscles) stripped head bolts, the oil pan bolt, and a couple other ones that were needed to keep my feet on the bike, so nothing serious.

My handy dandy machinist tapped a big, course thread bolt that was bigger, and used a nylon crush washer so it wouldn't leak. He had to run a bead of weld on the inside of the oil pan though, when I took it off and looked at it I thought it was toast, but he saved it. That was three years ago and has worked great for me. He does the same fix for tractors and oil equipment so it should hold well for a little motorbike engine.

either drill/re tap the hole and use a bigger plug, or put in a heli coil to use the same plug (you may want to do #2 if you have a magnetic plug)
Scott

Hey JR, sounded familiar as I was reading through.

I've had no trouble this past season. Still using the oversized bolt as my drain. Each oil change I do, I re-wrap some plumbers tape making sure not to wrap to close to the tip of the bolt.
I did buy another complete oil pan over a year ago, but have not needed to change it so far.:whistle:

Thanks guys. That's great. Sounds like I have a few options and it's always good to have options. With a bit of luck and a bit of work she'll last another few years.
Cheers

del

JMKZHI wrote:

Someone else posted this link on another forum - it's a cheap & easy fix using a self-tapping plug. Gadgets fixes .

JMK.

Thanks JMKZHI
That sounds like it's worth a try. I'll see if I can find one.
I'll let you guys know in March how it all worked out.

del

Fast forward 4 months to today when I pulled the bike out of the shed. The fix recommended by JMKZHI was self tapping 12 x 1.75 oil drain plug which was designed for just my problem. I picked one up a few months back and was confidant it would work, Unfortunately it did'nt. I'm sure it would have if the original drain plug was still in the bike but somewhere between 1980 and 2003 a PO probably buggered it up and so to make a long story short the drain plug I had in the bike was a 1/2 inch. So there went plan B which was to tap a 1/2 inch hole and fit a 1/2 inch plug.

To make another long story short I eventually ended up with this thingy - see photo - part #265240 from OIL-TITE. Universal winged drain plug. I wondered if there would be enough clearance since the shaft is quite a bit longer than the old bolt so I stuck a screwdriver up the hole and there seemed to be enough room. Anyway, took the chance and fitted the new winged plug and before starting the engine I turned the crank over a few times using the 17mm nut under the timing cover just to make sure it was'nt going to run afoul of moving parts. Got the rest of the bike back together and fired her up. So far so good. No strange sounds when I put her into first gear. I hav'nt run it up and down the street yet but will later.

Right now it's just good hand tight and I figure I'll be checking it befoe and after every ride from some time to come....while I look for an oil pan on ebay.

What do you think folks ? Does anybody have any experience with these things ?

Never seen one of those before, neat idea for a quick fix though. If you are worried about the length it's easy to cut something that small down with a dremel and cutoff wheel or on a grinder, just make the end of it neat and you wont have any trouble screwing it back in. Since its already installed I'm thinking you are about done with that stuff though. Personally I'd probably want to tap a new bigger bolt in there for peace of mind. I've seen kits for transmissions (cars of course) as well so you can add a drain plug, you would need someone to weld the nut to the inside of the pan. On the other hand if it works....

Ron

Is heli-coil no longer an option?

I have not tried those before but I'd say if the bolt on that seems a bit long you can probably cut it off as long as you have a nut threaded on there to straighten the threads back out.