GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Long story: The Vibe was about 1/4 qt over from a recent oil change I did. I wasn't sure if this would end up harming the engine so I decided to "play it safe..." What I should have done was nothing. Popped the plug loose and drained a little out, put it back in, no big deal. But I have recently acquired one of those clicky torque wrenches and I like to, you know, keep torquing crap down too much. I had it set to a tad before 30 lb/ft (manual calls for 27, my Hyundai is around 30 so I split the difference and leave it set there.) But for some reason either I didn't notice it click or it didn't. It was pretty tight but still would turn. I then looked at the crush washer and thought "hmm, that's strange, it shouldn't be bent outward around the plug like that!" Broke it loose, drained all the oil out and investigated the damage from my inattentiveness and/or outright stupidity.When I put the plug back in, it starts fine and it then requires some effort to get screwed in fully. It's too much resistance to be able to do it by hand, but you don't have to manhandle it with in the ratchet either. It eventually tightens down snug as it should. What I mainly need to know is, is this "normal" for this car? I seem to recall it always needing a ratchet to get it screwed in but I can't say for sure. I'm used to my Accent where the plug spins easily until it's fully in and hand tight, but it could be different since it's got an aluminum pan and this one doesn't look like the same metal so maybe that makes a difference.. *shrug*I called Toyota to get a quote on replacing the pan: $145 for the pan and $350 labor to replace it. GM wants $160 for the pan, not sure how much labor would be, I just talked to the parts guy. Rock auto is much cheaper at $50-65. I ended up going to Toyota and getting a new crush washer and drain plug for the tune of $10. The parts guy there seems to think that if it screws back in and tightens down, perhaps the crush washer took the brunt of the damage. My usual shop said I could always put in 1 size larger plug if this one wouldn't tighten up, but I'd rather replace the pan before that. Got home, screwed it back in with the ratchet and used my old needle torque wrench to snug it down to somewhere around the specified torque. It's tight, isn't leaking and hopefully it won't fall out. It seems OK for now, not sure what trouble if any I'll have on subsequent oil changes.How much trouble is it to pull the oil pan off if I end up needing one? GM guy says it just has RTV for a gasket, so i just need a pan and a tube of that stuff right? And a crowbar to pry the old one loose? Hopefully someone says I'm just freaked out over nothin'.

Every oil plug on all the vehicles I've owned have screwed in by hand down to the base.Drill a small hole through the head of the plug and wire it in place! And maybe use some loctite!

Hmm, if it's supposed to turn in freely, maybe I can put the blame on somebody else for messing it up before I got to it. I need that, I've been beating myself up pretty hard over this. Nice idea on the retainer!

Being the pan on the vibe had to be dropped in order to install the drain for the turbo. I personally didn't drop the pan but did ask the person who did how hard it was. What he said was, no problem, it wasn't his first either. Get a large stiff puddy knife to pry it lose.What was used on mine was black RTV to reseal it.

Is it possible that its the threads on the oil plug itself that are messed up? A replacement oil plug is alot cheaper and easier to try than a replacement oil pan. You can also try running a tap through the threads on the oil pan if the new plug is still tight.

The odds are high that the strength of the metal used to make the pan female threads and the strength of the metal used to make plugs male threads are NOT the same. Most often in an over tightening situation the softer of the two metals would yield to the harder member.My guess is that the plug is softer than the pan and it stripped out. Post a photo of the old plug, are the threads mangled and sheared?If you want to obsess, pull the drain plug again and closely examine the female threads. Are they crisp and standing proud or mangled and mashed?Now, you decide if you are ok or not.Dave

Thay sell a kit to repaire stripped out pan plugs.You install a self tapping plug,that stays in the pan.Then theres another plug that screws into that.I had to use one on a old Ford I bought cause the org was stripped out.Cheapest & easiest way to go.

If you drain pan hole is stripped, get yourself a timesert repair kit.http://www.timesert.com/html/drainplug.html

Get a Fumoto valve and install it with loctite. Once installed all you have to do lift a lever and rotate it. Very easy to take oil samples for testing too.

Thought about that, what's the clearance like on this car? A little concerned about something smacking it and knocking it off while going down the road. It would make things a lot more convenient... But with the ~6k a year that gets put on this car, I only change oil in this car twice a year anyway. It's still on the same oil from months ago when this incident occurred.

Never had a problem, installed on all my vehicles for nearly 10 years. Do any off roading?

I bought one of these from Femco because I used to have something similar on my first car and liked never having to remove the drain plug. However, I never used it after deciding to just let Jiffy Lube do it.http://www.nospillsystems.com/homeOne of these days I'll get around to putting it up for sale.

Quote, originally posted by POPPAJ »Do any off roading?Heavens no, the car barely even does any "on roading." It sits in the driveway most of the time. I was mainly concerned if it hung down far enough below the bottom of the pan and whether it could be yanked off by something.

Finally got around to trying to change the oil again. First time since the previous incident. Went to loosen the plug, there's tension on it but it turns smoothly then when it's about halfway out it goes whacko. It gets tight, loose, then tight again. I could not turn it with my fingers. I was terrified I would get the plug out and not have it go back in or tighten fully, so I just snugged the plug back down and called it a day.She did get a new filter and topped off, better than nothing... Not sure I want to go the self tapping or oversized plug route, concerned about issues in the future... Gonna call around for pan replacement and have it done right I suppose. $cha-ching$ but I just have to own up to my mistakes.

Another option (and much cheaper than a pan replacement) would be to install a Fumoto drain valve (~$25). No more worries about crossed/stripped threads, as you'll never take the valve off again.http://www.qwikvalve.comCV

My concern with that would be I don't know if I could get it to screw in and stay there with the jacked up threads. That would certainly be much cheaper if it would work.

Maybe a tiny dab of Loctite on the threads closest to the valve body, where it actually seats up against the bottom of the oil pan? [Note to self: Wow, I really didn't read this thread at all...seems like I'm not the only one that had this idea].