Stripped oil drain threads

[primal]

Hey everyone, I wish my first post here didn't have to be in this section. :sad:

Yesterday I decided that I was going to do an oil change on the Suzuki GZ250 I just bought. Having the service manual by my side I though, "This is gonna be a piece of cake." Well, all went smoothly until I went to replace the oil drain plug. Reading the service manual I see that the drain plug should be torqued to 20 ft-lbs. Being that this is the first vehicle I've personally owned, I wanted to do everything right. Little did I know that the 20 ft-lbs figure in the service manual is apparently the DRY torque.

Can you guess what happened next?

I stripped the threads in the crankcase. Cursing myself, I ran to my computer to see just how much damage I've done. Well, I don't think its all doom and gloom, but in my searches I couldn't find any specific solutions. I went to the local auto parts store and bought a universal drain plug for stripped threads in the crankcase. Its one of those with essentially a bolt running through a rubber plug. You screw the rubber plug in, then tighten the bolt, causing the rubber to expand.

So, my question is, have any of you ever had this problem and tried this solution? If not, what did you do? I really don't trust this little rubber plug.

Now, I was looking through the parts diagram on bikebandit.com, and unless I'm mistaken, the oil drain plug bolts into the "oil strainer cap" (look at the oil pump microfiche). Is this correct? If so, that means rather than trying to tap a new drain hole, I just just replace the entire cap, correct?

Any help would be great!

[5th_bike]

Well from what I remember the oil drain bolt does not screw in the crankcase directly, but in a little roud plate which is attached to the crackcase with three smaller bolts.

(Edit: yes it is the oil strainer cap:) Looking it up, you can find it at the online parts stores as "Cap, Oil Strainer" under the header "Oil Pump". It cost about $14 and I would also get a new O-ring with it.

Now, don't overtighten those small bolts !

PS I thought it was 17 lbs/ft of torque for the oil drain plug - so far, so good.

[primal]

Thanks for confirming that the oil strainer cap is where the oil drain plug goes. I'd much rather replace the cap than try to fix the current one. As for those little bolts... well, I'll probably just snug it up by hand rather than try to torque it. ;)

[primal]

Oh, by the way, do you or any one else have any tips for replacing the cap? I was considering laying the bike on its side since getting to the oil drain plug was hard enough.

[Easy Rider]

Oh, by the way, do you or any one else have any tips for replacing the cap? I was considering laying the bike on its side since getting to the oil drain plug was hard enough.

Shouldn't be a problem.......since there won't be any oil in it (or very little).
Do keep an eye on what might leak out of the gas cap though.
Might be best if the tank was mostly empty.

Good luck.

[primal]

Yes, I'd planned on draining the tank before laying it on its side.

Thanks for the help!

[jonathan180iq]

Or maybe just take the tank off. It takes all of 2 minutes.

[primal]

Can I take the tank off without worrying about the gas coming out? I haven't examined how its set up yet, so excuse my ignorance.

[Easy Rider]

Can I take the tank off without worrying about the gas coming out?

As long as the petcock is NOT set to PRIme, you should have minimal leakage but............

If the tank is 1/2 full or less AND you don't try to turn the bike completely upside down, there shouldn't be any leakage at all.
Even if the tank is over half full, the leakage should be minimal as the cap is supposed to prevent exactly that.
You just need to be aware that there might be some leakage.

No need to make the project any more difficult than it needs to be...........along with the potential for breaking something ELSE !! :)

[Badbob]

Are you sure your torque wrench is working correctly? I'm always concerned about this.

Are you sure you are setting it correctly if its a click stick? I've seen people break bolts because they were not setting the wrench correctly. It doesn't hurt to double check this.

[patrick_777]

Are you sure your torque wrench is working correctly? I'm always concerned about this.

Are you sure you are setting it correctly if its a click stick? I've seen people break bolts because they were not setting the wrench correctly. It doesn't hurt to double check this.

This is a great point. My torque wrench, I almost found out the hard way, has a inch-pound gauge instead of a foot-pound gauge -- which means I have to multiply everything by twelve and figure out how to set up the wrench first. Not a terribly hard thing to do, but when you're neck deep in chain oil and lawn clippings (it was a little windy yesterday), you're not really in the mood to multiply 47 by 12 in your head, subtract that from 600 and divide everything by 2, just to get the right number to twist the handle to.

Also, are those certified in any way? It seems like it could be wildly inaccurate.

[Badbob]

You can have them calibrated. It might cost more for this than you payed for the wrench. What you get is how far of the torque wrench is. I worked in places that calibrated their wrenches on a regular basis for 20 years and never saw one that was dead on. The click stick wrenches are new to me. I got my first one about two years ago. I still have my old ones.

I got bit buy the inch pounds once but realized some thing was wrong and figured it out before I did any damage.

[Easy Rider]

I got bit buy the inch pounds once but realized some thing was wrong and figured it out before I did any damage.

I wonder if the spec. for the drain plug isn't really 20 inch pounds?
20 ft/lbs sounds like a lot.......as evidenced by the results that started this thread.

[primal]

I got bit buy the inch pounds once but realized some thing was wrong and figured it out before I did any damage.

I wonder if the spec. for the drain plug isn't really 20 inch pounds?
20 ft/lbs sounds like a lot.......as evidenced by the results that started this thread.

Copied directly from the service manual I downloaded from this forum:

"Oil drain plug: 28 N-m (2.8 kg-m, 20.0 Ib-ft)"

[Easy Rider]

Copied directly from the service manual I downloaded from this forum:

"Oil drain plug: 28 N-m (2.8 kg-m, 20.0 Ib-ft)"

OK. So, the next time you change the oil, what are you going to do?
I use the "snug it down until it feels tight" method. :roll:

[primal]

DEFINITELY going to use the "snug it down until it feels tight" method.

I've got a replacement cap, o-ring, plug, and gasket (washer) on the way. My replacement universal rubber plug seems to be holding out, though. Took the bike for its first ride today, totaling 16 miles (and checked for leaks 4-5 times during the ride). I've yet to see so much as a drop of oil so far. I will be relieved to get the cap replaced, though, because I feel hesitant to really push the bike for fear of blowing out the plug. It ran perfectly at 20-30 mph, though (all country roads anyway, so I never got the chance to get it out of 3rd).

[primal]

I got my parts in the mail today and bolted the new oil strainer cap on. I'm really paranoid now about stripping the threads, so I'm hoping I tightened the oil drain plug enough. I'm not going to worry about it unless it starts leaking oil.