here's my problem. i noticed on my oil pan where you bolt the drain plug has thread thats messed up. becuase of that, the drain plug bolt dosent tighten completely causing a little bit of leakage. i was thinking about putting some silicon around the bolt to stop the leaking until next oil change and was wondering if you guys had any other ways to fix this besides changing the oil pan. should i buy a kit and re thread the pan? any cheap, more permanant fix it advice would be helpful, thanks

94gsARRR

 

use a few metal washers over the nut, and a rubber washer on the end to take up the difference.

 

there are epoxy thread repair kits out there from permatex.. with a thread release agent that you coat over the drain plug. so.. clean the pan threads, coat in epoxy resins, coat drain plug with release agent, screw into pan, and once dry you will be able to remove plug and have new threads that are typically 80% as strong as the original threads (even stronger if some of the original threads remain just be sure to take it easy when tighting plugs, snug is all it takes. If your oil pan is steel you can usually also get a plug with a longer reach instead of the regular shorties, if you have a cast pan you should have a longer drain plug anyway, if you have a shorty someone else has replaced it with an inappropriate plug. regardless the epoxy is a cheap and easy fix... and sure beats drilling/rethreading.. the pan