4 Ways to deal with leaky oil drain plug
The leakage oil that appears from the oil drain plug is very annoying. In addition to making floors dirty, this leakage also has the potential to reduce engine oil. Lack of engine oil is very damaging to the components inside the engine.
This oil drain plug is prone to worn because this bolt is often opened and closed regularly. If the handling method of opening the oil drain plug is not done correctly, oil leakage is likely to occur quickly. (Read: 3 Causes of oil drain plug leak)
Therefore, we need to fix this leaky oil drain plug immediately. How do you do it? In this article, we will share four ways to deal with the leaking oil drain plug. See how to deal with leakage oil drain plugs below.
1. Adding Teflon tape
The first way to deal with leakage oil drain plugs that are most commonly done and powerful enough to use is to add Teflon tape to the bolt thread near the base of the oil drain plug head when you want to attach the drain plug back.
This sufficient amount of Teflon tape roll on the thread near the base of the oil head bolt can hold the engine oil from leaking out. However, care should be taken when winding the Teflon tape on the oil drain plug. We recommend that you roll it with Teflon tape with the end of the roll in the direction of the bolt's rotation when installed.
By rolling the Teflon tape in the direction of rotation, it can prevent the Teflon tape from coming loose or rewinding, which can cause gaps when tightened so the engine oil can seep back.
Also, avoid covering the entire threaded surface of the oil drain plug with thick Teflon tape. It can damage the bolt threads in the oil drain and worsen oil leakage that occurs.
Although it is powerful enough for multiple uses, adding Teflon tape is also often a hassle. Not infrequently, 3 to 4 times the thread replacement in the oil drain hole will get wider, and eventually, it will be damaged because the oil drain plug keeps turning when tightened.
2. Re-thread the hole and replace the oil drain plug
The next way to deal with the leakage oil drain plug is re-threading the oil drain plug hole. Re-threading has the aim of improving the thread width size in the oil drain hole.
The damaged thread will generally widen and make the oil drain plug hard when rotated because the bolt thread does not sit in its position in the oil drain hole. Therefore, we will make the thread in the oil drain plug hole back to its original position and size by re-threading.
To re-thread, a tool called a Tap drill is needed. This tap drill tool has various sizes of pitch and diameter. Select the size that best matches the thread size of the oil drain plug hole.
After resetting is done in the oil drain hole, you should also replace the oil drain plug along with the gasket. That way, we can generally overcome the leakage on this oil drain plug, and its use can be longer than adding Teflon tape.
Also read:3. Oversize the oil drain plug
The next way to deal with the leakage oil drain plug is to oversize the oil drain plug. This method is often done if the second method (to re-thread and replaces the oil drain plug with a new one) is impossible while the oil drain plug is still seeping.
Oversize this oil drain plug means changing the size of the oil drain plug to a larger size. For example, the oil drain plug initially used a size 17mm bolt with a thread pitch of 1.25mm, so with this oversize, we can increase the bolt's size to an extent 19mm bolt with a thread pitch of 1.5mm.
We also need to tap drill on the oil drain plug holes in addition to replacing the bolts. Use a tap drill with the same bolt diameter and thread pitch as the bolt to be attached. That way, the oil drain plug can enter and close the oil hole properly so that the gap is tightly closed and can overcome the leakage.
4. Re-cast the drain plughole
The last way to deal with the leakage oil drain plug is to re-cast the oil drain plug hole. This re-cast means that we cover the oil drain plug hole again with a new metal material that is then perforated, taped, and re-drilled according to the standard oil drain plug size (according to the original size recommended by the manufacturer).
The advantage of this re-casting is that the bolt holes return to their original strength. So it will be stronger and more durable even though it is often opened and closed to change the oil.
Even so, to re-cast the bolt holes is not easy and takes a long time. The engine oil pan must be removed and generally sent to a lathe and cast specialist. After that, we can install the oil pan again.
Re-cast on the bolt holes generally can solve leakage oil drain plugs and has better durability than the three ways to fix the leakage oil drain plugs previously described.