# Stripped Oil drain bolt



## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Lefty - Loosie
Righty - Tightie

I've never seen a torx damaged like that.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Unless this is an exotic thread, the arrow is to tighten.

What car are we talking about? A Gen2? Because I don't think the Gen1s were like that at all.


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## Mr Cracker (Apr 26, 2015)

Tomko said:


> Lefty - Loosie
> Righty - Tightie


This applies to every bolt right? The bolt I'm dealing with works the same as a regular flat screw or any other?


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## Mr Cracker (Apr 26, 2015)

ChevyGuy said:


> What car are we talking about? A Gen2? Because I don't think the Gen1s were like that at all.


Not sure how to determine the Gen. This is a 2010 1.8L.


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## ChevyGuy (Dec 13, 2014)

Mr Cracker said:


> This applies to every bolt right? The bolt I'm dealing with works the same as a regular flat screw or any other?


At least 99.99% of them. Certain applications can have screws that work in the opposite direction. But they're quite rare.


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## Mr Cracker (Apr 26, 2015)

The arrow threw me off, I wasn't sure if that was to loosen or tighten the bolt so now the bolt is stripped . 

Not sure if I should send the car in to have this fixed or if there's still something I can do about it.


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## Philb (Jun 18, 2016)

Can you get a pipe wrench or a large pair of locking (Vise Grip) pliers on the plug? Counter-clockwise to loosen.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

Philb said:


> Can you get a pipe wrench or a large pair of locking (Vise Grip) pliers on the plug? Counter-clockwise to loosen.


As well, don't forget that if you resort to these kinds of measures please be sure to also have a proper replacement to button it back up again.


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## Mr Cracker (Apr 26, 2015)

Philb said:


> Can you get a pipe wrench or a large pair of locking (Vise Grip) pliers on the plug? Counter-clockwise to loosen.


The thing is I won't be able to get a grip on the bolt with the pipe wrench or locking pliers as the bolt is flush with the oil tank.


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## Mr Cracker (Apr 26, 2015)

Tomko said:


> As well, don't forget that if you resort to these kinds of measures please be sure to also have a proper replacement to button it back up again.


Yeah, good point. This bolt is going to be useless after I'm done with it. I just hope not to mess up the thread on the the oil tank in the process .


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## Mr Cracker (Apr 26, 2015)

Ok, so after some googling I now understand that the 14Nm = to 14 Newton metre which is a torque unit. So 14Nm + the clockwise arrow is telling me that the bolt should be tightened at 14Nm in a clockwise direction . Now things start to make sense...:yahoo:

I just need to figure out now a way to remove the stripped drain bolt.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

I ran into this problem on my transmission fill bolt, also a Torx. Some people have suggested using JB Weld to "weld" a proper sized socket/bit in there, and then using that to get it out.


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

Consider this:

Craftsman 7 pc. Drill-Out/Screw-Out Power ExtractorsSears.com

M14*1.5 Magnetic Oil Drain Plug,Magnetic Oil Sump Nut


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## Philb (Jun 18, 2016)

Mr Cracker said:


> The thing is I won't be able to get a grip on the bolt with the pipe wrench or locking pliers as the bolt is flush with the oil tank.


I may be wrong but from the photo it appears the plug is slightly raised from the pan. There may be just enough to get the pipe wrench on.


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

Please don't take this the wrong way Mr Cracker, but I kinda think that since you goobered this up your mechanical skill level may not be up to the level required to safely/successfully repair the problem with the drain bolt. I am not saying you can't perform the next oil change with the new "Leftie loosey, rightie tighty" knowledge that you now posses and your new tools. But, it might be better to buy a new drain plug then take the car to a shop to have the damaged drain plug removed and oil/filter changed then the new plug installed and new oil installed (you can even buy and supply new oil to help offset the "repair/removal" of the damaged drain plug.

Currently the drain plug is damaged, but the pan looks to be okay. If you have problems removing the damaged plug, I would hate to see you damage the oil pan and cause more expense and damage to your car...


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

I think you may be better served to take it to your Chevrolet dealer and get an oil change and a new plug. I don't mean to sound so harsh, but yikes this sort of thing can happen to anyone not understanding righty tighty and leftie loosie...Sometimes when under the car I can get confused, so when I use a socket I always get it going in desired direction before I go under the car. I am concerned if your skills are at beginner level, you may cause more damage than you desire.


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## diesel (Jun 8, 2013)

IndyDiesel said:


> Sometimes when under the car I can get confused, so when I use a socket I always get it going in desired direction before I go under the car. .


^^^ This. I always do that, so I don't have to think about it when I'm under the car. When I first started working on cars, I got it backwards once and tightened the heck out of something once and bunged it all up.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

diesel said:


> ^^^ This. I always do that, so I don't have to think about it when I'm under the car. When I first started working on cars, I got it backwards once and tightened the heck out of something once and bunged it all up.


I think we've all been there one time or another.


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## Philb (Jun 18, 2016)

What gets tricky is when you have to work upside down or sideways. The worse is when you can't see what you need to turn and have to rely on feel. What works for me is to picture myself facing the bolt, nut, filter, etc. regardless of my physical orientation and by using the lefty loosy, righty tighty rule I can easily figure it out.


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## Mr Cracker (Apr 26, 2015)

UPDATE:

Okay, so yesterday I performed the oil change and learned I'm not meant to be a mechanic. 

I was able to remove the drain bolt with the vise pliers (Thank you for your recommendations on that) . I got a firm grip on it and gave it a few taps with a hammer and that was it, oiled started to pour out. While the oil pan was being emptied I replaced the oil filter. 

After refilling the oil and lowering the car I took it for a drive. After around 8 minutes I noticed white smoke was coming from under the hood. I immediately turned the engine off, and parked the car on the side of the road. I then opened the hood to see what was going on in there and as I leaned to get a look I saw fire! There were flames on the exhaust pipe just under the engine. I then proceeded to look for my fire extinguisher, only to realize the car doesn't come with one... At that point I'm thinking what stuff I need to get out of the car before the fire spreads and catches a gas line or something... 

Luckily the fire stopped burning on its own. I then realized there was almost no oil left in the pan and almost everything had spilled on the engine and surrounding area. 

I then took my wife's car to go to Autozone to get more oil. Proceeded to remove the oil filter again and noticed I had placed an extra gasket in there so I removed it, tighten the filter in and refilled the oil. 

Took the car for a drive and noticed an oil trail, opened the hood and I could see a thin stream of oil coming out of the oil filter, I tried to remove to filter once again to take a look but I couldn't, probably because I still have around 75% - 80% of the oil in there. 

At this point I'm going to schedule for a flatbed to pick up the car and take it to a workshop to have it properly fixed.









I went from being proud of myself for removing the striped bolt to almost losing my car to a fire caused by me, lol.


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

We've all been there before, brother. Consider it an opportunity for growth.


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## Chris Tobin (Feb 23, 2016)

Mr Cracker said:


> UPDATE:
> 
> Okay, so yesterday I performed the oil change and learned I'm not meant to be a mechanic.
> 
> ...


Sorry to hear about your problems. Hopefully there was no permanent damage to the engine or the car. Sometimes, it is best to pay to have someone do the work for us, if it is an area we are not confident in performing the work ourselves... Most shops employ "PROFESSIONALS" for a reason...


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## Philb (Jun 18, 2016)

Yeh, I think it's best if you let someone else do your oil changes from now on! At least you ended with an "lol".
With today's synthetic oils you could easily go 7,500 miles between changes so having it done a couple times a year isn't all that expensive. Good for you for at least trying!


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

Mr Cracker said:


> UPDATE:
> 
> I went from being proud of myself for removing the striped bolt to almost losing my car to a fire caused by me, lol.


And that's why God invented mechanics! _(tongue in cheek here - no flamers please)_


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## Philb (Jun 18, 2016)

blasirl said:


> and that's why god invented mechanics! _(tongue in cheek here - no flamers please)_


amen!


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## IndyDiesel (May 24, 2015)

Oh my. Hope everything worked out for you. My father was a Ford mechanic in the late 1950s and early 60s. He taught me how to do oil changes when I was probably 12. Yikes that was 40 years ago. I changed the oil on a 73 Lincoln Mark 4 and I recall when I was learning, I removed the spin on oil filter and didn't check to see the gasket was still on the car and put another filter on and two gaskets don't see well and made a mess. I sometimes took for granted having a father take the time to pass some of those skills on to me. Oh he still has the Lincoln and I still have my father which I am thankful for.

Well I think you either take this as a teaching moment, or some folks are better served to have a mechanic or dealer do oil changes. I am done with the oil changes free at dealer on my 15 diesel. I will probably do my own now.

I think it sounds like everything should be ok. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Oh one last thing, is your last name Murphy? :wavetowel2: just kidding


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