Oil Pan drain plug

Posted by Randy Berger On 2007/1/5 22:21:24

As some of you know, I had an oil pan drain plug problem when I changed oil in November to give the 400 a long winter's nap. It turns out that the pan has had an oversize drain plug in it since I bought the car. I don't know what finally killed it but I only change oil once a year and the same mechanic always drains the oil and changes the filter. I dove under the tarp to recover the pan off the parts car but it is too rusty to trust. However the drain plug, which seems much smaller than the current one, had really good threads and was obviously smaller in length. Packard spotwelded a thick bung inside the oil pan and the body man at ther garage where I have oil changed says he can drill out the spotwelds on the bungs of both pans and install the good bung by rewelding it in the good pan. He said it would be about $30.00 which is much cheaper than installing a helicoil which was another alternative. The helicoil kit was $50.00 and I would have to purchase the required 41/64th drill bit separately. Dropping the pan is a PITA but I will be much happier with that fix. Sorry to be long-winded, but I wanted to explain the problem and the options in detail.