Oil Pan and Oil Plug

I was told today that the threads in my Oil Pan were stripped and that it was from normal wear and tear and that I would need to replace the Oil Pan to the tune of $700.00. I have take this car to the dealership for each oil change since I’ve owned it.

I feel that the reason the thread was stipped is because their person put the plug in wrong and crossed the threads the last time they changed the oil. They told me it was normal wear and tear.

Can anyone tell me if normal wear and tear can strip the threads in an oil pan or on an oil plug?

No, this is not normal wear and tear.
But, just for the sake of discussion, how about revealing the model year, odometer mileage, and number of oil changes that this car has had over its lifetime?

No, there is no “wear and tear” on an oil plug. Unless someone overtorques it or cross-threads it and strips it out. So this is totally on them, if they’re the only shop that ever touched the plug.

But before you do anything, check to see if oil is leaking from the plug. They may just be feeding you a story in order to collect 700 unnecessary dollars for a boat payment. Last time I had my oil changed at the dealer, they tried to tell me my oil pan gasket was leaking (which it was not) to the tune of $400. So buyer beware.

If it is stripped, the threads can be fixed fairly easily without resorting to a new pan. Take it back there, make them fix it, and they’ll find a way to fix it without installing a new pan.

Normal wear and tear doesn’t strip oil pans, over tightening them does. You don’t have to replace an oil pan, there are all sorts of products to repair stripped oil pan threads. They range from oversized thread cutting drain plugs to stretchy neophrene plugs to threaded inserts that have a removable plug,

This is the main reason I change my own oil, you don’t save much money by doing it but you choose your own brands and you don’t strip the plug, over or under tighten the plug or filter or over or underfill the oil. All ove these things happened to me when I had my oil changed. I also had the air clener left disassembled because I wouldn’t allow them to change my “dirty” air filter with 3000 miles on it.

Its not wear n tear.

not normal wear n tear. Where is this dealer so i can steer clear

2001 PT Cruiser. 122,000 miles. Oil Change every 3 months like clock work since I’ve owned it (3 years). Under an extended waranty and that is why I’ve been taking it to the dealer to have them do all the work on it.

Thanks for all of the comments everyone.

Thanks for the reply. This is very helpful.

Why do people always think their cars receive superior service at a dealership?? The clowns on the grease rack are no better than the ones at Grease Monkey…

There are about ten different solutions to a stripped drain plug and none of them involve replacing the pan, none of them approach $70 let alone $700…

You are making the claim that the shop damaged your drain plug. Since you are making the claim the burden of proof is on you. Simply saying “no one else ever worked on the car” is not good enough to prove it was them that damaged the plug. You must prove they did it,they do not have to prove they did not do it.

It is very telling that you’ve taken it to this dealer since you’ve owned it and they are calling the problem ‘normal wear & tear.’

There are much cheaper ways to fix crossed threads on an oil pan (which the dealer had to have caused, if it was the only place you’ve had your oil changes).

This dealership appears to be taking advantage of you.

Changing an oil pan - even though you probably don’t need it - should be cheaper than $700.00.

Go somewhere else - or hold this dealer responsible.

Show them all of your maintenance records (even though they should have them) and ask (demand) that they fix it for no cost (assuming all you’ve said is correct).

Total agreement with the others this is not a wear and tear issue; it’s a case of someone at sometime (maybe the plurals of those 2 words) getting a bit ham-fisted with the drain plug when tightening it.

If this dealer uses a lubrication tech to do jobs like this then odds are he’s a young guy with little mechanical experience and who has the grunt 'er down mindset.

What the heck is wrong with so many shops that they cannot seem to perform a simple repair of stripped threads? Jeez, this is elementary mechanic level stuff.
Do NOT listen to what a service writer tells you. Most of these people have little mechanical aptitude and changing the oil on their own car is about the deepest many of them have ever gone into auto repair.

I’ve never stripped an oil plug in over 40 years of car ownership, and I’ve kept cars for hundreds of thousands of miles. It is not normal wear and tear. And if I did strip a pan, I’d use a repair kit like the one in the attached link.

http://www.timesert.com/html/drainplug.html

We’ve had a number of people say on this forum say that they’ve been told they need to replace the pan at hundreds of dollars for a simple stripped drainhole. I don’t understand why so many places are so quick to waste honest people’s money.