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Date:         Mon, 4 May 2015 06:51:19 -0400
Reply-To:     Frank Condelli <ralanen@AOL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Frank Condelli <ralanen@AOL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Oil drain plug problems-Help!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8


        This is one of the most common problems on these water boxer engines.  The OEM drain plug is steel and the case it goes into is aluminum, the gasket is supposed to be a one time use copper crush gasket.  Quite often that coper gasket gets reused and then there’s a drip, drip, drip leak so someone tries to tighten the drain plug eventually stripping the threads in the case, then someone tries to fix that problem by using an oversized drain plug or some other Micky Mouse fix and it still leaks BECAUSE now the sealing surface in the stupid recessed area where the rain plug goes is to narrow for any kind of gasket to seal on.  All this then causes undue hassle for the owner.  So what to do ?  The “REAL” fix is to not screw it up in the first place by ALWAYS using a NEW copper crush gasket EVERY time that plug comes out and goes back in !  Then, once its screwed up use a Time-Sert to fix it, not a Helicoil !  Time-Serts are solid full threaded repair inserts and once they are installed correctly the chances of stripping the threads are greatly reduced.  Put back an OEM drain plug and you’re back to the way it should be and it works perfectly.  The OEM drain plugs are M14x1.25 therefor you need a Time-Sert to match that and it should only be as long as the OEM drain plug BECAUSE if it’s too long you will never drain all the oil out afterwards.  I have these OEM drain plugs and the copper sealing rings on my website, always !  


<www.frankcondelli.com <http://www.frankcondelli.com/>>




> On May 4, 2015, at 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor <LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <mailto:LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>> wrote:
> 
> Re: Oil drain plug problems-Help!






Cheers,    


Frank Condelli
Almonte, Ontario, Canada
'87 VW Westy, '00 Kawasaki 250 Sherpa, "98 Ducati 750 Monster & Lionel Trains (Collection for sale <http://frankcondelli.com/trainsal.htm>)
Frank Condelli & Associates <http://www.frankcondelli.com/> - Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
BusFusion <http://www.busfusion.com/> a VW Camper camping event, Almonte, ON, June 04 ~07, 2015
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