threads were ok

Well actually I guess it was minor bad and very good news. I took my car in to our base hobby shop for an oil change and immediately discovered that the drain plug was stripped by some dummy who must have over tightened it on the last change.....wait a second, I do my own oil changes....crap.

Anyway, I did have a new just in case plug on hand and was able to remove the bad one with a chisel and a few taps of a hammer. Good news was that an examination of my filter showed nothing amiss. I ran a magnet over the filter and had no issues.

Car runs great and after a fresh 9.5 quarts of Castrol Syntec with Edge (10w40), I'm good to go for another year or so.

Oh yeah, I made sure not to tighten the drain plug quite as much as the last dummy

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

made from harder material because in that case it would much more likely have been a significantly more expensive repair.

I assume he means the head was stripped, not the threads, and therefore a harder plug might not've stripped to a dysfunctional condition. Of course if the engine's threads were stripped, rather than the plug's, that would've been a bummer.

Just the allen head socket. Very soft metal! I've read about other having similar problems so I was aware (I thought) of the potential.

Now I'll plead my case.

1. I know better than to over tighten a drain plug.

2, This was my 4th oil change on the Boxster since its purchase.

3. 7-8K between changes...

4. Garage kept car.

Honestly, the head stripped as soon as I started to try to loosen it.

I won't even suggest that others be careful. Instead I'll suggest that it might be wise to have a spare drain plug on hand...just in case.

BTW, I wish I could say that I was being proactive by having an extra plug on hand but actually I purchased my plug as a filler to get free shipping!

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

... also damaged the drain plug have done so by (unknowingly) using a 5/16" Allen instead of an 8 mm hex wrench.
The 5/16" wrench is just slight smaller than the 8 mm and when torque is applied it tends to slip.
Make sure you haven't mixed up some Allen wrenches from an SAE and a Metric set.
Happy Boxstering
Pedro

Pedro Bonilla
1998 Boxster 986 - 314,000+ miles: [www.PedrosGarage.com]
PCA National Club Racing Scrutineer - PCA National HPDE Instructor - PCA Technical Committee (Boxster/Cayman)

---

Racecar spelled backwards is Racecar

"Racing is life. Anything before or after is just waiting" ... Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney in "LeMans"

"If you wait, all that happens is that you get older"... Mario Andretti

"Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose" ... Ayrton Senna

...It is the only Allen set I have! I did try to hunt through various SAE Allen head wrenches once the thing was buggered up but didn't have one big enough.

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

It happens that I have an ancient, worn, hand-me-down half inch box wrench that's always worked perfectly on 13 mm nuts and bolts. Everything else I have has to be a nominal match.

in the drain plug plug's tool bit hole and some will stop pushing the bit in when they feel some resistance. The problem is the bit is not inserted all the way. The force necessary to remove and then tighten the drain plug damages the bit hole.

This makes it more likely the next time the tool will be inserted in just part way (even a bit less than before) and the drain plug is on its way to eventually being 'stripped'.

This happened to my Boxster's drain plug when I took the car to a quick oil change place. The next time I needed the oil changed and didn't have time to do it myself, I took the car to a dealer the tech inserted the bit all the way but the bit and the drain plug were stuck together. The tech had a spare (used) drain plug and gave it to me. The parts department didn't have any in stock and I was in a hurry to leave town. Before I left though, I ordered 2 new drain plugs. As soon as they came in I gave the tech one to replace the one he gave me and put the other new one in the center console.

Before having the oil changed at the quick lube place I had changed the oil countless times before and never had any problems. The drain plug was the orignal one. But I learned the 1st time I did the oil change the bit hole in the drain plug is quite deep and rather a close fit to the bit and made sure to fully insert the bit all the way, not letting the resistance at about half way in fool me.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

I did try some gentle hammer taps to the bit but it was most likely too late by then.

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

or at least reduce the risk of stripping the drain plug's tool bit hole and having to drill the plug out which might have required removing the pan -- but once he got the bit all the way in and after he managed to unscrew the drain plug he couldn't separate the bit from the plug: the drain plug was jammed/stuck to the bit. I believe he later when he had a few spare minutes managed to separate the bit from the now ruined plug.

Sincerely,

MarcW.

Can you explain further?

dghii
2000 Boxster S 6speed 112k miles

Minus 40 degrees... Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?

The less sharp corners will be less likely to get caught inside the head hex. I'm saying only the edges and corners where the end face meets the six sides, and slightly at that. Don't soften the side-to-side corners. With patience, a fine file could do the job, with maybe a little polishing to get rid of any roughness. If the bit's width is too large for the head's hex (manufacturing tolerance?,) evenly take down the bit sides until it fits, without being wobbly of course.

Minus 40 degrees... Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?

in that the lube tends to act as a seal and as the tool bit is inserted into the hole the air trapped by the bit and its coating of lube offers the resistance. I might add that in my case my tool bits are pretty high quality and are properly sized (among other things) and I suspect the the drain plug's tool bit hole is likewise pretty high quality and properly sized.

My experience saved me in that usually a tool bit's hole depth is 1.5 times the bit's size. Thus a drain plug (in this case) with an 8mm or 0.314" tool bit hole should have a hole depth of 1.5 times 8mm or 12mm or 0.472".

Sincerely,

MarcW.

As opposed to something more goopy and viscous. If allowed to drain or dry out, I can't see it being a hinderance at all, and only helpful. The bit, properly sized, inserted and spun straight around its axis ought not to slip out (and mess up the plug) even with lubrication.

Minus 40 degrees... Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?