Over torque oil pan bolt.

I performed an oil change on my ‘71 Austin and the next day there was a puddle of oil in the driveway. I placed piece of cardboard under the engine to see where oil was from. It only took a few minutes to see that the oil was coming from the oil pan drain. I pulled the bolt, and caught oil a whole day old and not dirty. After I let it stand for a day to let gravity get all of the oil out, I wiped down the oil pan and hole only to discover the threads in the oil pan were stripped. I must have over tightened the oil pan bolt.

Now with the weather finally turning, I find myself missing out on events and such.

Some forums I've read suggest everything from JB weld, making the drain hole larger, welding the hole shut and re-tapping a new plug hole, one even suggested a sparkplug as a temporary fix, and of course replacing the oil pan completely. Any suggestions here?

[BIGSHOT]

Just shoot a helicoil in there. I think that'll work. A good specialty hardware shop might have them, but I don't remember what size is required. Tonight I'll look it up when I get home.

Dan

[Mark]

Yep, what Dan says: Get the helicoil kit. I think there is even one on Minimania.com. Double check that the replacement:
Comes with the new "squish" washer
has the cool magnet that pokes out into the oil and picks up the metal pieces

While working on the cleanup and helicoil process, consider keeping a retrievable chunk of cloth up in the hole so that you can pull it out after you are done and "sweep" the area clean. Also consider pouring a bit of oil in from the top with the plug out to continue that cleaning process. THEN, put it all back together and get to some cool events. If you act fast, you could even make it to the Greenwood car show. - See the events section for that though!
Best of luck,
MSH

[Cheleker]

TOOL08 on the Mini Mania web site.

http://www.minimania.com/web/SUBTYPE..._Inventory.cfm

[1fabmini]

Wow! Looks like the kit comes with 6 Helicoils!
You could become the drain plug guru for the club!

Don't feel too bad. If a kit like that is available off-the-shelf it likely means that plenty of others have preceeded you!!!

[Cheleker]

I've spoken to Kelley (our club Tool Librarian) and we agree that the kit would be a good one to add to the club's library. We'll get one on order.

Ordered. Should be to Kelley by next Tuesday or Wednesday

[Yortabegga]

Excellent news on adding the kit to the tool library.

I checked the drain hole and measured it. The measurement of the opening is 18mm plus threads. 18 mm is just under 3/4". It would appear the drain hole has been expanded before this. I'm heading to Tacoma Screw after work to see if they have a helicoil kit that will be large enough.