Oil Pan Drain Plug Leak Repair

If you find oil streaks or puddles on the cardboard in the morning then that s a sign that there s an active leak.

Oil pan drain plug leak repair. First slide a piece of cardboard under the engine and leave your vehicle sitting overnight. If the threads are completely stripped it can even lead to the drain plug not fitting at all which would leave your engine completely empty of oil and unable to be ran. Position your plastic container beneath the car s oil pan. Screw the self tapping oil drain plug into the hole.

Expanding rubber oil drain plug. Remove it with the help of a wrench. Screw the oil pan drain plug into place. Open the hood of the car and refill the oil that was removed during the process.

If your engine oil level is dropping one of the first things you should check is the oil drain plug to make sure it s not leaking. To avoid making a mess you ll need to remove the car s oil before beginning your repair. There s a drain plug located at the base of it. Depending on the plug and the oil pan you may need to drill the drain hole first to allow the self tapping drain plug to fit and tap into the hole.

A stripped oil pan drain plug can be especially frustrating because it will leave your oil drain plug loose causing a constant leak. You may need to repeatedly screw it in a little ways back out and clean the threads to remove displaced aluminum that was chiseled out by the tap. Consider replacing the oil filter while doing this task as a new oil filter is the only thing missing for this to serve as a complete oil change. Drain all of the oil from the car s engine.

The rubber plug is used as a temporary fix and it s not meant to be a permanent fix. Use a rubber plug as a temporary repair if you are in a tight spot and you don t have time to repair the threads in the oil pan you could install an rubber drain plug for the oil pan. Overtighten the oil drain plug and you can strip the threads out of the oil pan. Once that happen you ll leak oil.

Here are the four options to repair a stripped drain plug.