Has anyone used one of these???

The oil drain hole on the oil pan is pretty messed up on my 94 civic.
Not looking to replace the whole oil pan...

 

The hole of the oil pan is pretty thin. I believe time serts are made for closed backed threaded holes i.e. head bolts holes, exhaust manifold stud hole etc.

On an oil pan drain plug hole the usual fix is to tap it larger and use an oversized drain plug bolt.

 

Take the pan off and have a welder weld a nut to it. Easiest way without a new pan

 

They have oversized drain plug kits, or something like that, at many autoparts store.

 

Time Sert 1415C M14 x 1 5 Honda Aluminum Drain Pan Thread Repair Kit | eBay

^ That's the kit I was looking at.


I just bought this car for $1000. It's my beater, runs good but looks terrible. So I'm honestly not looking to put much money into fixing it. It looks like the previous owner stripped the threads in the oil pan and put in a slightly larger bolt.

 

Ive never used that kit but ive used time serts for everything from head stud holes to transmission cases NEVER had a complaint one from me or anyone whose repair ive done. Ive eyeballed that kit a few times too but havent had a reason to pick one up yet.

 

Some Honda/Acura dealers use the Time-sert thread repair kit for oil pan drain plug repair.

 

You didn't mention what your car was, so don't know if it's the aluminum pan or the thin walled steel pan.

I don't think there is enough there for a time sert on the steel pans but I could be mistaken.

I personally would just tap it larger and use an oversized drain plug. That is probably the cheapest solution all the way around. Then again I also own a tap and die set.

 

It's a 94 ex w/ a D15B8 motor swap. Honestly, it looks like the oil-pan was swapped so I'm not sure if it's steel or aluminum.
I'll stick a magnet on it later to find out. lol

I just need it to be cheap, and not leak a ton of oil. And I need to be able to use the hole for future oil changes.
Open to anything that doesn't involve removing/replacing the oil pan.

 

theres a huge difference in aluminum and steel oil pans. all you need to do is look. the steel pan is most likely black and has a thin flanged lip with it meets the bottom of the block. the aluminum pan is a more silver color and will have a porous texture indicating that its been made in a styrofoam cast.

 

a magnet is a surefire way to know

 

It's a steel pan.

 

Tap and over sized bolt, or new oil pan.

That timesert kit specifically says for aluminum pans (thicker wall, deeper hole) being it has something to grab onto. I'm 99% sure it won't work out well on the steel pan.

 

This. No point in getting a timesert thats not properly fitted, or won't be properly fitted on.

 

Thanks dude, I appreciate the advice!