Recently had my oil changed and sure enough it started leaking oil around the drain plug. At first I wasn't sure of the cause because the plug is the low point, but I crawled under the truck today and tried to loosen the drain plug and it turns and turns but doesn't go anywhere. So... any thoughts on where to go from here? Any chance its just the plug itself? or should I go ahead start looking for a new oil pan?

Thoughts, Comments Welcome!

Thanks!

 

I doubt its the plug, they rarely strip since the metal of the pan is softer. I would get the old one out, assess the damage, and go from there.

 

Is the head of the plug rounded off? If you can get the plug off, you probably just need to replace the rubber O-ring around the plug.

 

That actually happened to my acura and I just ended up getting an oversized drain plug and it fixed it....but i dont give a crap about that car...but i would see what it is for sure first

 

Ugh. I hate stuff like that.

Try whatever you can to get that plug out, and I would drill and re-tap to the next size up if the pan is stripped. Toyota must have a larger drain plug on another model.

Basically, you don't want to deal with changing out the pan, its a PIA since you have to drop the diff. I did it a few months ago, took a whole day to get it open and out. :/

 

try and get the plug out if you can. You may get lucky and it might just be a stripped plug. I have seen plugs strip and the pan was still good. However, I also have had bad luck with trying to use an oversized plug but have seen a few that worked. I work at a dealer and have seen it happen a couple of times. Toyota uses a welded nut inside the pan. generally when you try and drill it and put an oversized plug in it, the nut breaks loose and you still end up having to replace the pan. This may have been what happened to yours. whoever tightened it up may have gotten a little overzealous and way overtorqued it to the point that the nut broke loose. Or, they may have cross threaded it and ran it in till it wouldn't go anymore and broke it loose. no telling what happened untill you get it off. Not be the downer in the group but don't be suprised if you end up replacing the pan. Good luck. Btw, as far as I know, Toyota only uses one sized drain plug.

 

Ugh is right...

I think I'm going to wait for as long as possible since the oil in there is brand new (synthetic). Once I get sick of adding oil and seeing it in my driveway I'll get the plug out and let you know how it goes.

Many thanks for all who responded!

 

Why not just get an oversized plug and when you draint he oil into a pan put it backin. I done it before on a car at the shop I work in.

 

Try torquing down a drain plug on a manual transmission and get a 4" chunk of cast aluminum come of your case?

 

why not contact who damaged it in the first place and have them make it right.

 

ok, so i decided I couldn't sit and watch my truck bleed so I took off the skidplates and pulled out the drain plug (vise grips and a lot of pulling while turning) to find a few interesting things.

First, the plug was stripped not the pan! So great news there. A quick trip to autozone and 6.71 later I was back in business.

Second, I found that I had been carrying around a friend from sometime in my skidplates! (see below)

Thanks for all the suggestions and comments!

 

http://picasaweb.google.com/nathan.p...88381432736146

http://picasaweb.google.com/nathan.p...88372842801538


Sorry I am failing miserably at adding these pics to the page...

 

Fixed for ya. That plug is pretty toast!

 

Bird looks good. Still Fresh.

Glad your pan didn't strip! Congratulations for being lucky!!!

EDIT:/

200th POST WOOT!

 

FUMOTO VALVE !!!! Get one. They are great!

 

how the hell did the bird end up in there?

 

my only guess is down in the engine compartment, or up through the bottom/back or sides. no way in hell he could have gotten in there from front impact.

 

Nice bird. glad to hear you didn't have to replace the pan.