I have an 88 camaro and the drain plug is stripped. It turns in both directions and does not even move foward to come out. Every place I called about replacing the oil pan itself said it is a tough one. One place said it was $175 just for labor.
I would like to do this myself but since everyone is saying how tough it is, could you guys help on what is involved with replacing an oil pan.
If this makes a difference, I have the 5.0.
Thanks

 

you may be able to get away with putting in a self tapping over-size drain plug.
Every time a car came into pep boys that we either stripped or was stripped when it came in, this is what we did.

Also available is a universal drain plug, it sotra jams in and then you pull a lever and it wedges it in place, cant explain it better than that, you will understand when you see it.

But, if you insist on replacing the oil pan, it is a PITA!

start by removing the distributor cap, I removed the whole dist. on mine cuz I changed the intake gaskets as well.

next, pull the exaust manifolds off(you may not have to do this, but I did cuz I had headers, which got in the way of lifting the motor)
then get under the car, remove the motor mont bolts, remove the starter, drain the oil.

go up to Pep Boys and rent an engine puller, its free, it just requires a 250$$ deposit. you get every penny back, just be sure to tighten all the bolts up on the boom, I didnt and my engine almost came crashing down!

connect the engine crane to the engine(1 bolt per side of the intake, at opposite corners) and lift the engine as far as it will go.

get back under the car and remove the oil pan.

 

Josh-

That's what you guys did at pep boys? When I took mine in to get the oil changed they said they couldn't take the plug out.
I would prefer to just change the draing plug itself with an oversized, however I cannot pull out the plug at all, it just keeps on turning in both directions. An auto place told me to try using ice grippers but I have no idea what those are.
How do you guys take off a stripped plug at pep boys?

Thanks

 

depending on how the pan was made this is what i'd do. find the next size larger drain plug and drill and tap the pan for it, as long as there was still extra thickness of metal there. if not then i'd weld the hole or weld a plate on and drill and tap. the last thing i'd do is try to remove the pan and replace it.

 

I have never encountered one that I couldnt get off with just a wrench.

ice grippers?

seems I may have heard a reference in the past to Channel Locks bieng called Ice Grippers, maybe not, but it makes sense.

get a set of channel locks on there and pull as hard as you can, while turning it out.

 

Just do the right thing and replace the pan. Search the tech archives on here there is a great article. I did mine about 2 weeks ago. It seriously only took 3 hours. Basically you remove the distributer cap, disconnect your y-pipe from the manifolds, remove the motor mount through bolts, jack the engine up from the oil pan with a piece of 2x4. Next use 2 short (6 inch) pieces of 2x4 and put them between the motor mounts and the shells to keep the engine suspended when you let the jack down. Now you should be able to remove the pan bolts and slide it out.

 

One more tip that will probably help if you is.... if your pan doesnt want to come out the first time you try to pull on it, try rotating the engine so the crank fillets move. That way you can kinda figure out what way to move them in order for the pan to come out. Sometimes it seems like it's stuck on one of the crank weights and it just wont come out !! Rotate the engine until it clears all of them

 

Good call Blackened....I totally forgot about that part.
By the way...how did you do that LED dash?? It looks bad ***!! E-mail me with how you did it please!

 

They had to mean VICE GRIPS. Clamp them on the hex head of the plug and turn and pull at the same time. If you can get the plug to come out just a little you can then wedge a flat blade screwdriver under the head and pry a little to help put pressure on the plug as you unscrew it.

~M~

 

Morley has the answer. Tap a small screw driver between the plug
and the pan to put some tension on the plug then turn it out
slowly. You may have to graduate to larger screw drivers to keep
tension on it but it should work.

 

Hey thanks everybody!
I'll try prying it out tomorrow, hopefully I'll be able to do it.
If not, I'll take to this place who said they'll change my pan for me for 80 dollars.

What do you all think about that new fram sure drain plug?

Thanks