this is the kind of detail I was seeking. It’s hard plastic for sure. So I can make a 25mm hole out of the current 24mm and then tap into that. I’ve been a little concerned about expansion/contraction of the dissimilar materials. I’m not planning to tap by hand. The “final solution” is replacing the Drain pan which is very labor intensive and I think not DIYable from what I’ve read. The drain valve/plug does have a rubber O-ring however.
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Tapping drain plug
- Thread starter Mhester1
- Start date
this is the kind of detail I was seeking. It’s hard plastic for sure. So I can make a 25mm hole out of the current 24mm and then tap into that. I’ve been a little concerned about expansion/contraction of the dissimilar materials. I’m not planning to tap by hand. The “final solution” is replacing the Drain pan which is very labor intensive and I think not DIYable from what I’ve read. The drain valve/plug does have a rubber O-ring however.
The pan is on. It’s VERY labor intensive to replace it. I’m not sure how thick it is. Can’t imagine it’s terribly think. Maybe 1/2” at the plug for reinforcement, and thinner elsewhere?
it’s practically impossible for a stone to move the valve lever. It’s very well designed. You push one direction on the spring loaded lever to release it from a notch and then turn it 90 degrees from the initial release direction.
Removing the pan is a HUGE deal from what I’ve read. Lots of other stuff needs to be disassembled.
someone suggested just epoxying on the drain valve/plug. Maybe not a bad idea as a belt and suspender to drilling out and tapping
thank you! That’s good insight. How far does the tap need to go inside to do its job?
That’s exactly how they work. Very well designed. I’m not worried about leakage. Plus there’s a splash shield which totally makes it a non issue
Here are some pictures of the BMW428i oil pan: outside and in
I think there could be problems with just going over size. You can see the very limited extra material around the plug (looks like a donut in the picture above) and how close the plug is to the walls. Even going to M25 might eat most of that away, then you have nothing for the threads to grab onto.
Don’t know about any JB weld or other plastic epoxies: how are you going to clean all the oil residue off of the plastic (and keep them clean while the glue sets) with the pan installed in the car? You will always have some oil dripping off of components from above - spoiling your glue prep surfaces.
I think best course of action would be to pull the oil pan, then decide on what type of plug system is best for a permanent repair.
I think there could be problems with just going over size. You can see the very limited extra material around the plug (looks like a donut in the picture above) and how close the plug is to the walls. Even going to M25 might eat most of that away, then you have nothing for the threads to grab onto.
Don’t know about any JB weld or other plastic epoxies: how are you going to clean all the oil residue off of the plastic (and keep them clean while the glue sets) with the pan installed in the car? You will always have some oil dripping off of components from above - spoiling your glue prep surfaces.
I think best course of action would be to pull the oil pan, then decide on what type of plug system is best for a permanent repair.
Either way you're going to have to remove the pan to clean it, surface prep it (JB Weld needs the material to be clean and rough) or to re-tap it?
Assuming you are doing this yourself, what's the cost of a new pan?
Look at it this way, even if the pan costs you $600, you're going to save that on oil changes over the coming years because I'll bet you won't let anyone other than yourself near that plug ever again.
Assuming you are doing this yourself, what's the cost of a new pan?
Look at it this way, even if the pan costs you $600, you're going to save that on oil changes over the coming years because I'll bet you won't let anyone other than yourself near that plug ever again.
Crankit
Well-Known Member
No kiddin!!
crazy the BMW didn't have the plug a softer material than the pan so the plug stripped
DPittman
Ultra Member
Yes oil residue can be a problem with the epoxies but possibly a soaker rag could be "installed" temporarily for the gluing. I had a 79 VW diesel Rabbit that had a leaky oil pressure line on the engine block and one day I decided to tighten it up more and it stripped. I cleaned it up and JB welded the fitting and the fix was perfect for years and I must have put on another 80000 miles on it before I eventually sold it. I was a bit surprised myself at how well it worked.
Chicken lights
Forum Pony Express Driver
Some beemers don’t even have an oil dipstick to check the oil level. I don’t have a lot of faith in beemer engineers being the best of the best
That's a tough set of decisions there. Maybe if you had a plug which was already size threaded to a plate, the plate could be bonded to the pan. That would confine the cleaning, roughing, glueing to a completely external larger surface area patch. But judging by the pics, you don't have a lot of material to work with there either. The loss of oil through a bad repair of any kind would be a very expensive & bad day.
Ten years from now we'll all be saying that's easy: plastic welding. I've only tried it once and unless you know the material super well and have the right equipment, it's more akin to a glue gun fix now. But I'm sure the tech will improve and prices on the good equipment will come down. Also, you'd need the matching plastic part. I think some of the modern plastic welders now are ultrasonic.
This is an interesting thread.
This is an interesting thread.
Thanks all for the response on this. I went to the website for the oil change place and lodged a complaint with ad nauseum detail saying I needed a new pan installed on their dime. Got a call rather quickly from that shop manager. We chatted a good while. He IS a nice guy. He said that he had a hard time believing that plastic could strip plastic (I tend to agree unless there are great differences in hardness, but I’m no materials engineer) He didn’t like the idea of tapping and putting in a drain valve plug cuz it would extend too low and wouldn’t be able to get the splash shield on it. He said the plug just wasn’t “right” After chatting a bit I suggested maybe trying Teflon tape. So I drove there, he used another new plug and when he came out he said that’s going to do it. That it kinda “snapped” in place. He showed me the previous plug which looked fine. Said to call his cell if I saw anything. That was 3 or so hours ago and there has not been a drop yet so I think it is solved. Only thing I can think of is that manufacturing tolerances weren’t very “exact” on these plugs?
Oh and yes there is NO dipstick on this vehicle. You use the computer and do a measurement on the display. Takes about 30 sec or so. I prefer a dipstick and less tech! It’s like fixing a problem that doesn’t exist.
that said I do admit that it has been the most enjoyable driving car I’ve owned. Infiniti G35 is #2 and Genesis V-8 #3
that said I do admit that it has been the most enjoyable driving car I’ve owned. Infiniti G35 is #2 and Genesis V-8 #3
Hardness is not the same thing as strength even though many materials exhibit that correlation. Without getting too technical here is a quick comparison. Who knows what material the pan & plug is, but lets say fiber reinforced plastic which is probably stronger variety. Reinforced nylon = 10-23 ksi. 6061 aluminum = 45 ksi. 1018 steel = 64 ksi. Yield strength is typically a smaller % of ultimate. So all things equal if the plug was cross threaded & torqued to thread failure for example, 'metal' parts would be proportionately stronger. I'm not saying metal is better, plastics have proven capability in many applications. But purely from strength perspective, most plastics are weaker. In reality this is probably meant to be a low torque installation. I'm sure our automotive experts have seen the same thing in metal, steel studs will shear with overzealous impact wrench setting. Maybe they make nanny cams for cars LOL.
Hope this is resolved for you. Keep look under your car for any suspicious drips. Good luck!
Swharfin'
Out to pasture Red Seal Millwright
My two cents on drilling or tapping into an enclosed unit is to apply grease to the flutes of drill and tap to pick up as much swarf as possible then hunt with your finger around the inside of the pan and gather up the grease/ swarf residue. Also use slow speed while drilling so you don't fling it around when the drill emerges inside being plastic the grease won't effect drilling and tapping. IMHO