I have an oil pan on an '05 Civic EX that I need to replace because the female portion of the oil drain plug is stripped out. The original oil pan is aluminum and I had been reading that a lot of people were having trouble with stripped out drain plugs with this oil pan. I had fixed the problem initially by tapping out the pan and using a larger plug which had worked okay with minimal oil leak, but I wanted a more permanent solution. I didn't really want to buy the same part if it was going to have a high rate of similar failure, so I am looking to locate a better quality replacement part. I had checked all the part sources listed in the FAQ but did not find any. I heard that Honda may be manufacturing an improved version of the part, but I am not really sure about that source of information and wanted to see if anyone on this forum had any information or alternatives. Thank you for any help.

 

They only strip-out because people over-torque the drain plug. The OEM pan itself is just fine, I've had no problems with mine for over four years.

They're relatively easy to replace. If you have an automatic transmission, it's a little more work, but not much. (or difficult)


Buy an OEM replacement and some Hondabond (or liquid gasket) since the oil pan doesn't use a rubber or cork gasket.
Apply the Hondabond in a bead (about 4mm wide) along the broken line located all the way around the lip of the pan. Put the oil pan back in place and finger-tighten the nuts and bolts.

Here is the torque sequence for re-installation.

 

Yes, my wife had taken the car to one of those express oil change places and when I was doing the next oil change the threads came out with the bolt (after an epic struggle to loosen the bolt.)
Thanks for the schematic. The closest replacement I found was at partsgeek.com W0133-1713017 http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/200...l/oil_pan.html which says it filts '05 Civic DX, LX, LX special edition and something called 'value package', so still searching for a replacement.
Thanks again.

 

Ah, the notorious "oil change place" scenario. There's been a few of those "oops" stories lately.


Don't forget to check craigslist, ebay, local junk yards and/or car-part.com for a used OEM replacement. There are a few floating around ebay right now.

I'm sure you'll get it sorted out.

Happy hunting!

 

I'm doing a repair on them with new thread with 7075-T6 material. Come with original Honda oem drain plug. Way stronger than original thread. Pls PM for info. Thanks