I think you should keep taking this to different garages until you find one that will repair the pan. But first. make sure the plug is not loose right now. The mechanic should put a wrench on it and apply a little pressure to see if it can be tightened. If it is snug for that, that is it doesn’t turn easily, then it should be safe to drive.
A good garage should be able to remove the plug, then run a roll forming tap to restore the threads. These are also called thread restorers. Unlike a cutting tap that remove metal, a roll forming tap is very hard and it deforms the metal to restore the thread. The threads are actually stronger than when new, except minus any missing material. Then use a new plug.
In the future, use this mechanic for ll your maintenance, including oil changes.
If the threads are too far gone, there are repair kits that can be used that cost a lot less than a new pan. It may be a steel pan, but it still has a bung in it for the drain plug. That bung can be drilled and retapped to a larger sized drain plug.
Replacing people’s oil pans for hundreds of dollars for a stripped bunghole has, unfortunately, suddenly become way too common. It happened to a neighbor of mine. IMHO it’s a clear ripoff. It upsets me every time I hear of it.
Replacing the pan is usually overkill. A careful and competent mechanic can usually repair the threads or cur new ones. The fact that replacement is done so often may be a commentary on the care and competence of mechanics. Replacing a part is increasingly overtaking the practice of repairing a part.
LIke I said, I’m looking at the images in your link. Please post a link to an image showing one of those kits applied to a steel oil pan. My understanding is that they don’t work for a steel pan.
In 1971/72 when I worked at a gas/service/repair Chevron station I encountered a total of 2 cross threaded oil drain plugs. We had a selection of self tapping replacement plugs with gasket. Oil pans were steel. The plugs worked fine. We informed the customer that whoever performed their previous oil change was incompetent and charged nothing for the repair. They almost always became loyal customers. Customer satisfaction as the number one priority seems to now be considered obsolete but it still actually works. When I was 16 I cross threaded a lug nut on my 1955 Chevy. I drove it 4 blocks to my Crusty WW2 Pacific Theater Veteran USMC aircraft maintenance Sergeant mentor. He showed me how to replace the stud and lug nut with spare parts from his drawer. He then instructed me on one of the most valuable things I have ever learned. “How to avoid cross threading”! Turn the bolt/nut/plug in the opposite direction of tightening until you feel the threads seat/click then finger tighten. If there is unusual resistance it is debris or damaged/defective threads. Clean and inspect. So simple. The 1955 lug nut was the last thing I ever cross threaded. $400 to $700 oil pan replacement to repair a possibly cross threaded drain plug? Criminal!
I have repaired several cars I bought that turned out to have botched drain plugs. Some with over-sized self tapping plugs and some with self tapping drain valves , all on steel pans and all the repairs lasted the life of the car.
The steel pans on my cars dident have the extra thickness of metal that the OPs pan has.
Yep, I’ve been doing that for years. Especially on brass. Can’t remember where or when I picked it up but I’m sure I ruined a few threads first. Broke a few bolts off too on my go kart before I learned a little restraint. Of course only having a breaker bar for the sockets didn’t help matters when tightening.
Until this is repaired the most critical thing is keeping an eye on the oil level as a minor drip is something that can really get away from you and ruin an engine if the oil level drops too low.
You also need to deep six the mechanic who told you a new pan is needed. Not.
There is no way a new pan is needed so deep six the guy who told you this. They offer self-tapping drain plugs at the parts houses for 3-4 bucks. Remove oil plug, screw in new, done.
If the oil in the engine is clean I would suspect some lube jockey (not a mechanic…) at the dealer botched this and they should take care of this gratis if they have any honor at all.
Insightful, the overwhelming majority of the images in my link, perhaps 95%. are of taps, inserts, helicoils, self-tapping plugs, and even some expanding rubber “boat plugs”. If you don’t know to use taps, self tapping plugs, inserts, or “boat plugs” on steel holes, I cannot help you understand what you’re seeing.
Sorry, but you need to stop focusing on only a few specific images and look at the images overall. If you cannot recognize or do not understand tap & die sets, inserts, and other standard metalworking tools, I really can’t help you. You should in that case rely on a shop and not attempt to do this kind of work yourself.
Sorry, but you need to stop focusing on only a few specific images and look at the images overall. If you cannot recognize or do not understand tap & die sets, inserts, and other standard metalworking tools, I really can't help you. You should in that case rely on a shop and not attempt to do this kind of work yourself.
Please don’t insult me. I’ve used tap and die sets for 50 years.
I simply asked you to provide a link to an image (or reference) where a kit (e.g., Time-Sert or Helicoil) is used on a steel oil pan.
I believe the repair kits that are sold for aluminum oil pans include a steel insert for the drain plug to go into. If you buy a kit that doesn’t say it’s for aluminum oil pans, it likely doesn’t have the steel inserts since they wouldn’t be needed.
If you’ve used them for over 50 years, why are you questioning their use on steel oil pans?
My link is to oil pan drain hole repair kits and other hardware to repair both aluminum and steel oil pans.
The link is to the tooling, not the pans. And there’s lots of it in the link to repair steel pans. Even if the photos show inserts in aluminum pans.
Are you aware that steel oil pans aren’t just stamped sheetmetal, but rather have steel bungholes welded in to accommodate sufficient threads for the drain plugs?