I've got a tiny bit of oil dripping out of the drain plug hole on my '89 Civic. The shop I took it to for the oil change informed me that the hole in the oil pan was stripped. The thing is is that they got it tightened pretty significantly so I wonder just how stripped it can be. They also used a new crush washer (I checked). I got under there the other day to inspect and attempted to tighten the plug with a 17mm box-end. It was too tight to move by hand. I'm guessing around 35 or so lb/ft or more. The gasket for the oil pan is leaking a bit as well as I can see residue on all sides of the pan. The leak isn't that bad, but it is dripping ever so slightly. Looks pretty normal for a car with 157k on it IMO.

The shop said that I may have to replace my oil pan. I have a few questions before I go to that extreme though.

1. The shop was hesitant to use the next oversize drain plug or a self tapping plug. Is there really a problem with doing that on these cars? Has anyone done this before?

2. How much of a problem would it be to just drive the car this way? Could I get away with it?

3. How difficult is it to replace the oil pan? I'm assuming you just drain the oil, unbolt it, replace the gasket and pan and refill with oil? They quoted be about 1.5 - 2 hours labor and another $130 or so in parts.


[Modified by oi-punx, 7:43 PM 1/9/2003]

 

Do you replace the drain plug crush washer? If you can't deal with the leaking, stripped hole, either get yours repaired (welded and steel threaded), find a used one, or replace it with a new piece from http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com. do it youself; follow the factory tork sequence.





[Modified by GTI 1.8t, 7:30 PM 1/9/2003]

 

make sure it is infact your oil drain plug. the oil will leak from the gasket and make its way to the plug as it is the lowest point on the pan and then give you the impression of a leaking plug.
take what the mechanics tell you with a grain of salt, they could be mistaken, lazy or trying to make a buck.
replacing a gasket is fairly easy, the hardest part was removing the downpipe.
good luck
stan


[Modified by 90crxsi, 1:03 PM 1/9/2003]

 

I agree that it is probley just leaking from the gasket and down to the plug giving the impression that it leaking from the plug. Now for your question of if you can drive around like this, well the answer is yes if your not losing to large amounts of oil through the leak. Alot of people on here though they would probley not like to admit are losing oil out of their cam seals on a daily basis. Watch your oil level and carry one extra quart in the back of your car all the time. I would fix it as soon as you have the money as that would be the best solution. Basically, you probley need a oil pan gasket. -HIT


[Modified by HookUpsImportTek, 3:50 AM 1/23/2003]

 

Thanks for the advice. I will most likely put this repair off until the weather gets better and there are more daylight hours in which to change the gasket. If it isn't that hard I will start with the gasket first. If the drain plug was truly stripped I don't think I could get around 30+ lb/ft of torque on it.

I do notice after several days of driving the bottom of the pan gets a light oil film on it, most likely from the air underneath the car smearing the tiny oil drops at higher speeds. I have wiped it clean, but two weeks later it is back. I am not losing significant amounts of oil (about 1/2 qt between oil changes). I can see no other oil leaks and the valve cover gasket was just replaced last summer.

What else needs to come out to change the oilpan gasket besides the exhaust downpipe. I haven't spent a lot of time down underneath the car. I've only owned it for 2 months.

Thanks also for the tip on the self-tapping plugs. I will be sure not to use this.

 

if it is the drain plug problem, there are special drain plugs made for this type of problem......you can look for a "piggy back" drain plug...(its a drain plug w/ a drain plug on it,....it has "slashes" on the treads..... the only thing is that when you change the oil it takes longer to drain...smaller drain holes, but this only works if the hole is not TOO badly striped)....did a shop did your oil change? if they did, a good chance that some dumb **** messed it up....(i have seen people putting in spark plugs w/ impacts.....using impacts to take off the drain plugs...)