Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 10:31:19 -0400
Reply-To: "G. Matthew Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "G. Matthew Bulley" <gmbulley@BULLEY-HEWLETT.COM>
Organization: Bulley-Hewlett
Subject: Re: Oil Drain Plug Options
In-Reply-To: <67AF2AA8-B379-11D6-879F-000393874FD0@pobox.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
It is no sweat. Just re-tap it, move up to the next size plug. Apply
some (gentle) compressed air to the case while you are tapping so the
swarf exits the tap hole.
To prevent this, use a torque wrench on your drain plug in the future or
find a mechanic who works on VWs. Most American wrench heads try to
torque these plugs to 5-trillion foot pounds, like it is a Terex
dumptruck.
I seem to recall 8 foot pounds is all that is necessary/recommended.
Developing business and guiding change since 1996,
G. Matthew Bulley
Bulley-Hewlett
Marketing & Communications
Business: www.bulley-hewlett.com
AIM = IExplain4u
Phone: +1.919.658.1278
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of Jeremy Speer
Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 9:42 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Oil Drain Plug Options
IMHO the single weakest point of the flat four engine is the oil drain
plug. My brother in law once owned a 1969 21(?) window ragtop bus. He
tried to change the oil one day and all the threads came out with the
plug as he unscrewed it. To this day i don't remember how he fixed it...
all i remember is the cursing and yelling.
Yesterday I was out at my Van guru's place changing the oil.
He pulled the drip pan over, gingerly removed the drain plug....
"Uh oh. Oh, dude, i think we've got some thread loss."
Arrrgh!
He handed me the plug. It had a ring of crankcase metal around it near
the head end.
Ok, so it's not the end of the world. He cleaned off the plug and
screwed it back in after the engine had drained for a while. Then we
over filled the engine and backed the plug out letting some oil slowly
drain across the threads. Sure enough shiny flecks came out. But,
eventually there was just clean oil draining out. He tightened the
plug... and all seemed well.
But this morning i find the plug is leaking a little. Again, at this
point it's not the end of the world, but my question is, what repair
options exist for the drain plug threads?
And, what vehicles beside flat four VW's and Porsche's use an oil drain
that is threaded right into the crankcase?
-jspeer
'89 Westy GL, "Mystery Machine"