Stripped oil pan threads

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by Xist

Yes, Xistday is Xist's birthday. I always find it strange how much attention-seeking behavior I have. You would think that I would have cut back before turning thirty-five!

When I bought the car, I was told that I had a leak in the rear-main seal. Would there be any point in fixing that at the same time?

Nah, just let it keep leaking oil. It won't harm the engine as long as it's still got oil in it. What's the loss of a couple of quarts of oil per week? The oil leak helps lube the roadway, which reduces friction and increases MPG. If the oil seal eventually ruptures, that will really get your attention.

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Rear seal requires a tranny removal.

regards
Mech

Hmmm. What's the cost of a rear seal repair vs. replacing a quart or more of lost oil per week?

[user removed]

Loaded question?

regards
Mech

[Xist]

I should have changed the oil when I purchased the car, but I drove it little, and the dipstick always showed "full." It definitely dripped in the driveway, more than I would have liked, but not enough to concern me. Yesterday morning it showed "full" and the puddle in the pan this morning was not overly-worrysome, I really doubt that it would need a quart per week.

So, purchase the pan in Mesa, install the valve, and forget about the rear main?

[Xist]

I finally picked up the oil pan and bought a gasket, oil, PB Blaster, a drain pan, and jack stands. I keep reading about how to do the replacement and people linked diagrams, although many of the images did not show up for me. Someone finally linked a .PDF of the Honda repair manual, so I have a few pages that I will print off, I can probably interrupt my roommate's Rock Band in order to use his printer, but he was gone before I went to O'Reilly.

None of this sounds fun, just doable, and I would rather do it myself. I wish that people stopped trying to tell me that if I had just paid Quick Lube to do this for me, I never would have had this problem. That is exactly why I have this problem!

[vskid3]

Even if a shop discovered the stripped threads, they probably would have done their best to hide it. Shops are the main reason for stripped oil pan threads, but I've heard of many more stripped threads than replaced oil pans. At least now you know and can fix it. Are you adding a Fumoto valve?

[XYZ]

Originally Posted by Xist

I finally picked up the oil pan and bought a gasket, oil, PB Blaster, a drain pan, and jack stands. I keep reading about how to do the replacement and people linked diagrams, although many of the images did not show up for me. Someone finally linked a .PDF of the Honda repair manual, so I have a few pages that I will print off, I can probably interrupt my roommate's Rock Band in order to use his printer, but he was gone before I went to O'Reilly.

None of this sounds fun, just doable, and I would rather do it myself. I wish that people keep trying to tell me that if I had just paid Quick Lube to do this for me, I never would have had this problem. That is exactly why I have this problem!

It's not rocket science. The hardest part is being underneath the car to drop the pan and reinstall it with all the bolts. However, after you change the pan, the gasket and the oil, it might still continue to leak. If it does, then you will realize that you were barking up the wrong tree. Been there, done that.

Let's hope it's just that, and not the engine seal.

[user removed]

I would put some silicone on the gasket, assuming it has one. Also make sure you don't overtorque the bolts holding the pan. It doesn't take much to get them tight. We used to carefully check the threads on the drain plugs. You can tell when they have been overtorqued. The threads will show the damage before it gets critical. We stocked the drain plugs and copper washers and replaced them regularly, but I can't remember ever stripping one. Always threaded them in by hand until the washer contacted the pan. If they wouldn't thread in by hand they were on their way to being stripped. I used a box end wrench and my open hand to get them tight. Never had a problem.

regards
Mech

[Xist]

Right. I forgot to get a smaller torque wrench. Also, I keep reading about scraping off the old seal and putting Honda Bonda on the new one, but the guy did not know anything about that.

My ex\girl\friend (sorry for bringing up my soap opera!) is trying to make arrangements for one of her coworkers to fix it for me, since I need to be doing my schoolwork.

I should be able to make the repair in two hours or less, right? Gah. Let's set up a pool on how long that actually takes, I just do not have any idea what the prize would be. I went to put Chorizo on jacks yesterday, but that did not quite work out. I just wanted to spray PB Blaster on the bolts, but I might as well drain the oil, and then I would not be driving it anywhere.

If I were to have the guy change my oil pan for me, I would need to drive half an hour each way in Bacon, pick up the girl, and then drive Chorizo twelve minutes to the local vocational school. In theory, as long as I top off first, I should be fine driving five miles, and if I do lose oil, her only job is to honk, but that is over an hour that I could have had to work on it myself.

This video seems to describe it pretty well: [video has been deleted]

This is all that the repair manual shows:

[Xist]

Well, you cannot believe everything that you read on-line. I do not have any idea what this is supposed to be, but I really do not think that it would ever function as an oil pan!



So, this is my new one:



It is a little weird, it looks like they ground down the metal on the outside, but not the inside:


I ended up pulling up the YouTube video that I linked while laying under my car trying to figure out where a bracket was so that I could spray the bolts. I guess that it is above the header (?), which I still have not removed, and while I marveled at PB Blaster, those fasteners are on tight! I sprayed them again.

There was some plate inside of my oil pan, I sprayed those bolts, which also looked rusted, and they came off easily. They required one firm twist with my wrench, and then I used my fingers. I wanted to clean out the PB Blaster, but I just want to clean the entire part now, there is burned oil and metal shavings. Magnets wouldn't do any good!