[AT] Oil drain plugs?

[Robinson]

	Has anybody come across oversize or tapered replacement oil 
drain plugs? Its a common problem especially on stuff where 
others often change oil like cars and trucks. "Two Ton 
Torque Ted" works at the local filling station or quick 
change place and he thinks (or just doesn't) that an oil 
drain plug tightened to 150 ft. pounds is loose...   :-)  He 
is a first cousin to that guy that used a 350 ft. pound 
impact wrench on your new aluminum wheels and ruined two of 
them. That guy is responsible for half of the warped brake 
rotors replaced each year.   ;-)
	I have never stripped the threads on a plug but I have 
bought a lot of vehicles with partially stripped plugs. 
Actually it is worse than stripped plug threads because some 
how it is usually the threads in the pan that strip. I have 
used the rubber plugs that you stick in the hole and tighten 
with an allen wrench until they mushroom inside of the pan 
to seal it but I don't really like them. I have also used 
but don't like those repair plugs where you force screw a 
self tapping plug with a threaded hole in it for a smaller plug.
	It would seem to me that a better product would be a 
replacement plug with the same TPI but made with a taper a 
little like a pipe plug. Maybe even a plug that was only a 
few thousandths bigger that was tapered on the end for easy 
starting.
	I have on occasion drilled the pan out and tapped the hole 
for a larger plug but even with a bit of flushing I worry 
about missing filings in the pan. Many of today's vehicles 
require removing everything but the license plate to take 
the pan off to make a repair.
	I noticed when I changed to oil on the Lincoln that one of 
the drain plugs was about done for. I'll try just buying a 
new plug and tightening it gingerly. I also noticed that 
when I took out the secondary plug it looked and felt like 
that was the first time it had ever been removed. I guess 
they had always just left the dirty oil in that sump each 
time. The PO had always had a quickie place change oil.
	Any new ideas out there?
-- 



"farmer"

"Those are not carbs, those are potatoes."


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net