Date:         Mon, 25 Feb 2002 10:06:11 -0500
Reply-To:     Jamie Ayotte <jayotte@DESTEFANOARCHITECTS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jamie Ayotte <jayotte@DESTEFANOARCHITECTS.COM>
Subject:      oil drain plug miseries...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

hello hello.... it's me again, thank you by the way, with  the help on the
rear heater core, went in very easily- and BTW you DO have to cut the
plastic thingy...  but that's not my reason today for being here... i bought
my beautiful westy in october and finally am getting all of the quirks
worked out- now one rather MAJOR problem ( i think)  i went to get the oil
changed this weekend (for the first time since i've owned it- i only put
500-600 miles on it so far)  and the mechanic said "no can do"  somebody
(the p.o.???) had stripped the plug and covered it with some red gunk...  he
would'nt touch it.  so i ran to the nearest parts store and purchased a self
tapping replacment plug, obviously the mechanic didn't want to touch that
either- no biggie- i went home with my oil, filter, and new drain plug to do
it myself.  welp. i got under the van and removed the red gunk get out my
wrench and started turning the plug...  it turned...and turned... and
turned, but didn't come out, so i grabbed a pair of vice grips and pulled
and turned at the same time- NOTHING.  so i went to the hardware store and
bought a siphon that attaches to the end of a drill, siphoned out as much of
the old oil as possible (about 3 quarts) and replaced the filter and filled
with new oil.  does anybody see a big problem with that?  and does anybody
have a reasonable solution to my stuck plug?  'reasonable' being i could do
in the driveway... BTW anyone with a heated garage around the portmouth, new
hampshire area could just earn themselves a new friend as well : )...  thank
you for reading this long one (sorry)

jamie

86 westfalia
78 vespa
98 golden retreiver- syd