@BustedKnuckles yes I agree - now that i’ve had this experience, i probably will stick to dealerships until i get settled in my new city.
There’s no way of determining who all has had a hand in the thread giving up. Figure how many times the oil has been changed in 130k miles and then divide by the number of:
A. Times the plug was actually torqued per specs.
B. Ham fisting it down until the straw broke the camel’s back.
Odds are the latter.
It seems to me that if the oil change facility found a problem with the plug or pan threads the job should stop right then and the customer advised before proceeding further instead of unspoken surprises popping up.
Oversized drain plug; cheap, easy, and good for the duration unless the canned hams on the wrists take over… 
It is absolutely unnecessary to replace an oil pan because of a stripped plug. Sometimes just buying a new plug will fix it. If it tightens to the proper torque you are ok. If not an oversize thread cutting plug will work fine. They have oversize plugs also with a smaller removable plug in the center with high quality threads, I have even seen replacement plugs that are epoxied in with a removable center plug.
The only reason a shop recommends a new oil pan is because there is a lot more profit in it.
As was said above most of the time the pan is repairable, I prefer timeserts over helicoils. I think the timesert is a stronger and longer lasting repair. It involves inserting a steel insert into the oil pan which will provide much stronger threads vs the factory aluminum threads. Most of the time this can be done without removing the pan. http://www.timesert.com/html/honda.html
At 133K this isn’t that unusual of a problem. If that’s the worse car problem you have, you are sitting pretty. Just some stripped threads is all.
I can’t say whether re-tapping or oversized plugs are options as it depends on the particular situation. Only your local mechanic – one who’ll guarantee the results – can make that determination.
Me, I’d be inclined to use a replacement pan and a well recommended inde shop to install it, and ask them to see if a discount is available on an aftermarket pan vs the OEM. Then use an OEM gasket from Honda for the install.
Another option is to see if your shop can source a used pan from the local auto recycling yard.
We get dozens of posts here about losing oil after oil changes. So it’s a good idea after any oil change, no matter who does it, to check the dipstick before leaving the shop, then once you get home, and a third time the next morning, along with checking for new oil leaks on the driveway. It’s a pain to do, I know. The shop shouldn’t make a mistake like that, but the reality is shops do make mistakes. If you’ve ever managed staff employees before as part of your job, you know part of the manager’s shop is to check the quality of the work done. You are the manager in this situation, so if you want to maximize the value you get for your dollars, you need to check the quality of the work done by your shop.
Best of luck.
Slightly OT but a particular source of irritation are guys who change the oil and don’t use the correct size wrench.
A 17 MM drain plug is not the same size as an 11/16 and it’s amazing how many boogered up drain plugs occur because someone used the latter on the former; with the latter being a shade bigger.
They ham fist it home with the 11/16, rounding the hex corners off in the process, and the next guy is the one having to wrestle it.
Good point OT, another one mentioned by the experts in the forum is to always use a new washer/gasket for the drain plug when changing the oil. I had a stripped oil pan on my truck b/c I didn’t replace the washer, so I learned from this and on my Corolla I’ve always replaced the washer and never had a stripped oil pan problem on it.
On my truck, since I’m cheap … lol … I noticed the problem was more with the bolt than the oil pan, the threads were stripped close to the head of the bolt, so what I do now, I put an extra thick rubber washer on it each oil change, and that moves the bolt threads to where they are not stripped. Has been working 30 years, no leaks.
I want to address the issue of oil drain plugs wearing out.
First, we aren’t talking about a plug being stripped. We are talking about it leaking. Those mating surfaces aren’t completely clean every time the bolt is tightened.
I don’t know what Honda uses for sealing purposes - a quick look says it’s a plastic washer - but those will wear in 133K and gradually develop a leak. Virtually every car I own has some sort of leaking problem - most very minor.
Sure, ham-fisted techs can destroy those washer pretty quickly, but it is not outside the reahlm of possibility that this is just plain normal wear and tear.
This is the kind of service that made me a mechanic on my '64 XKE. There is nothing like knowing a job is done right after you have done it yourself. Don’t depend on others to take care of your stuff.
I don't know what Honda uses for sealing purposes - a quick look says it's a plastic washer
I’m pretty sure it’s an aluminum crush washer and the spec is 29 ft-lb which is high enough to cause failure over 133k IMHO.
Sorry Capri, but I simply don’t agree. Drain plugs don’t wear out unless they’re repeatedly overtightened. It is never a dry fitting. It is true, however, that since both the treads on the bunghole and the treads on the plug are well wetted with oil when the plug is reinstalled it’s very easy to overtighten a drain plug.
@radarguy …’ 64 XKE? You have a very cool ride!
Oil plugs simply don’t wear out just because of normal use. Other mechanics I’ve talked to have correctly surmised that the cars we work on regularly never have oil plug stripping issues, and rarely have plug seal seepage. And this is on steel or aluminum oil pans. We have seen stripped oil plugs on cars that have had other shops work done, however. So we have had to deal with it. And the consensus is damage due to ham-fisted technicians either over-torqueing or cross-threading the plug.
Just my personal experience, but I’ve never seen a worn out drain plug in my life. I have seen:
Stripped threads.
Pulled threads.
Frozen plugs due to omission of the drain plug gasket which can lead to either of the above. (Especially with Subarus as I’ve wrestled a number of those while cursing the person who left it off at the prior oil change.)
How do you know some stripped threads aren’t the end result of worn threads?
Simply because the plugs are hardened steel and oil slicked steel like that is not going to wear out in normal use. Even if the plugs and threads in the pan were bone dry each time the oil change was done it would take thousands of in and out cycles to create enough wear to cause a problem; assuming no grunt being used in slamming them home.
Same goes for valve guides, timing chains, and so on.
The drain plugs (steel into aluminum) in my antique Harleys for instance have been out more times than I can even imagine in 35 years of ownership and Lord knows how many times by prior owners. The bikes are 65 and 71 years old respectively and wear has not even begun on them yet.
Cross threading aside, I have never seen a plug that gave up before the threaded bung in the pan. I’ve brought this up before- why don’t they purposely spec out a plug material that is softer than the bung? The sacrificial part should be the easiest one to swap out…
Simply because the plugs are hardened steel and oil slicked steel like that is not going to wear out in normal use.
I’m referring only to steel plugs wearing out aluminum pan threads. Did you torque your Harley plug to 29 ft-lb?
My son and I have used nylon washers on our Toyota and Mazda drain plugs, for a total of at least 500,000 miles. We both understand we must tighten it JUST SO, but I cannot give you ft. lbs. or anything. No drips; no lost plugs, no damaged washers.
We reuse them until they show signs of changed shape, and that is usually several times.
When you buy a Toyota filter, it comes with their version of a drain plug gasket and we simply don’t like the looks of those things at all. By memory, I think it’s a rubber squash gasket.
I used nylon washers for years on both of my Toyota pickups. I kept a supply of them in my oil change kit and replaced them routinely. They’re dirt cheap.