Pissed right now. Went to change my oil on my day off, been dripping a little oil, went to loosen the drain plug, and when i put the wrench on it, the plug moved. Had them change the oil last cause i had to work.

Turns out the pans stripped, the bolt just comes right out, AND i literally pulled the oil pan threads OFF the bolt. Going to call them tomorrow, they better fix this.

If they are dirtbags and wont fix it, whats the best bet? I only have till sunday to fix it.

About to punch people in the throat

 

dorman makes a thing that looks kinda like the thing you hang stiff on the wall with it grips from the back side and hand turns in, has a big rubber gasket seals pretty well, my friend bought a used car with it on and it doesnt leak. if you go into any auto parts store they will prolly know exactly what im talking about. hope firestone will fix it tho

 

Just find a bolt that is a bit bigger than the original and tap it to that thread. Simple. Did it to my 95 GMC Jimmy.

 

they better fix it. Cant say how i mad i am. You would think if its your job to change peoples oil you would just do it right all the time, cutting corners isnt cool

 

I dont want all those metal shavings in my rod/main bearings, thats a real bad idea.

 

If your careful, you can do it without getting too much in the pan. Basically you pause and back the tap out often and clean up any shavings that start to accumulate and use a vacuum to suck everything out. A quart or two of cheap oil down the filler hole will help wash anything out that might have escaped.

If you do choose to go that route, use only a bolt thats just big enough to ensure good threads. The bushing on the other side isnt real thick if I recall. This will also eliminate the need to drill, which is the source of most of the metal shavings when tapping.

 

Little confused here. Isn't tapping drilling?

 

A tap is actually a threaded tool thats made out of very hard steel. It cuts new threads. To tap a new threaded hole, normally you use a drill to ream out the hole, and then use a tap to cut the threads. If your doing something like this with the next size up threads, and the material isnt too hard, you can get away with not having to drill, which eliminates a lot of mess. Definite plus when dealing with an engine.

I dont know what thread size the stock oil pans where off the top of my head. If you know the thread size, you can use a thread chart to select which new thread will be best to use. You want the root diameter of the new bolt to be the same or slightly larger than the outer major thread diameter of the old bolt for proper threads to be cut.

Little more difficult of a repair, but better than using a repair style plug that dorman has.

If your not mechanically inclined, you may want to leave it to a shop to fix. Taps are very very hard, and if theyre forced or abused, they snap off in the hole, and are virtually impossible to remove.

 

Thanks for clearing that up. Not sure if I feel comfortable doing that myself or having a shop do that. Wondering if I should just do the oil pan if they wont fit it. Only problem is I have a welded exhaust so I can remove the entire y.pipe. just disconnect it from the headers

 

i vote you go the dorman way then i can say it honostly works and i havnt had a leak, and its like 5 bucks

 

When using a tap on the oil pan, put a bunch of Vaseline on the threads so they stick to the Vaseline and don't fall off into the pan.

 

They make oversize drain plugs, its a common problem on old cars.

 

thanks for the advice everyone.

Update, Firestone offered to replace the oil pan free of charge, in the process they broke an "exhaust" bolt, not sure which, waiting one more day for them to finish up, happy with the outcome so far.

Good to see companies still doing whats right by customers.

 

That's pretty amazing they're taking care of it. Common fix as already mentioned is to get the next size up bolt or the repair drain plug. Them breaking an exhaust bolt off is pretty normal for old exhaust parts.

 

be sure they use the correct oil pan and gasket. I don't know if you have a one piece or 2 piece rear main seal

 

Wow, I'm surprised they actually took care of this problem. Not surprised they broke something else, but glad to see they are fixing what they broke. This is one reason I don't take my cars somewhere to have the oil done. I have heard a lot of horor stories from people who have worked at oil change places. You'd be amazed at what really goes on.

 

I'm not suprised they fixed it. I work for Firestone, all you really have to do with them is raise enough hell and they'll fix just about anything. Yes there is some shady stuff that happens, but i doubt it's really any worse than anywhere else, and as of late they are firing alot of people for being shady. Btw it was probably a y-pipe bolt that they broke.

 

Update. Went to pick up the car and it ran and sounded horrible. They did infact break a ypipe bolt and.boy is it leaking. Car hesitates and just has a really bad sound I told them I wont accept the car that way.

They are getting me a rental till they can take it to an exhaust shop to have the broken bolt removed and fixed. They better do it right. So mad right now. I tried to give advice on doing the oil pan and they shrugged me off saying " I think I have pretty qualified people who can do it ". Could of done a better job on my back in the driveway wtf.

 

Then why in the hell are they having to fix their screw up! Wouldn't happen if the idiot who did the work didn't try and over tighten the drain plug.

 

I've heard/used the same method, and used Vaseline or axle grease on the tap to help collect shavings and debris.

 

Qualified mechanics huh? I wonder how many oil pans are stripped a year. One reason I do all the work myself on my cars unless I know the shop and skills the people have there. Sorry this happened to you man.

 

I agree. Last time I didn't have time to work on my wife's car (bog stock Falcon), I took it to a major chain for new front pads, rotors, and bearings.

Over various trips back to them for several months, they managed to both over and undertighten the hub nuts, resulting in 2 sets of ruined bearings, ruined rotors, and required an upright to be replaced. Ultimately I gave up with them, and fixed it all myself. Was just a parade of clowns each time I went back.

Seems the easy jobs like oil changes etc are given to some idiot kid fresh out of his last Mcjob. Not possible to screw it up, but they find a way! Bet this kid knew he stuffed your oil drain and didn't bother telling his boss.

 

Yes its true that several oil changes a day get handed off to gs guys. But hell, if you could do it so much better, then why'd you even take it to firestone. Takes all of 30 minutes taking your time to do it yourself. Firestone is a volume service place guys, and while I may take pride in my work, It's all about speed there . At least its being fixed free of ccharge and they're not trying to say it was already like that, and before anyone says it, I'm not saying this because I work there.

 

I'm not saying all the mechanics in every shop are unqaulified. I just think that there should be some sort of requirement like car knowledge or automotive experience to work there. And if by chance they mess your car up, at least have the guts to tell someone so no further damage is done. Thats all.

 

I agree that you should have some experience or knowledge, but hell with that ideology, there would never be any fresh blood in the field. I also agree that they should tell somebody if they screw up.