Gentlemen,

I am tackling a small issue I discovered when I went to change the differential fluid in my GSL-SE. Looks like somebody slid down a curb or something and rubbed the drain plug away....




I borrowed some special bits from work to try and re-open the hole to allow the plug to be removed. That should just take time and patients, but interested to see how you guys would tackle this issue.

Also, did a quick search on the interwebz for a new drain plug, but didnt find one for the first gen. Anyone know the spec for the drain plug?

Thanks!

 

The drain and fill plugs are the same.I'd like to hear history of that car. I'm wondering if that housing is not original to that car,maybe put in there used to replace a more damaged original axle. Is there any collateral damage or witness marks anywhere else under the car. The huge gob of silicone is a clue.

In answer to your original question,i would grind the surface of the"drainplug" flat and weld a 14mm x 1.50 thread nut to it. Weld around circumference and fill inside of nut with a plug weld. The heat will break hold of original threads of drainplug from welded bung on axle housing. It should come right out and can then be the new drainplug.

Have a plan in place before you start drilling to attempt removal of current drainplug. Currently the diff is holding oil? If what you're planning doesn't work out,you'll have no oil in housing and car would need to be towed to a shop to employ more aggressive means of removal. If you have no means or welding skills,whatever a shop would charge to do that would be cheap-and quick.

 

Thanks for the reply.

Man, I really don't see any damage similar to what is shown on the diff any where else. I have a racing beat exhaust on there car now. I'll check the original exhaust at some point (up in the attic), but i dont remember seeing anything.

Shoot, all the silicone looks like somebody split the differential apart at some point to a void dealing with this plug??

I did do a little bit of metal removal from a corner of the mangled plug that was still visible to see how bad it was. The amount of metal "folded over" is pretty impressive. There is also some dirt packed in underneath it.

Car has about 82,000 miles on it. I am supposedly the 3rd owner. Original owner was a woman in Colorado who allegedly put 20,000iles on the car before selling to a nephew in 2010. He drove it to work for several years about an hour both ways. I bought the car with 76,000 miles in 2015. Of course all that is iffy I suppose!

I like the welding route. May just call a few shops in the area and see if they could knock it out for me.

 

Oh and yes. Currently there are no oil leaks. This just seemed like something that needs to be done sooner or later...

 

The silicone wasn't to avoid the drainplug issue. At 76k,that's early in cars life to have 3rd member out for repair? The glob of silicone is hallmark of an unprofessional install. There's enough silicone there to seal up 6-7 cars worth of diffs and you're only seeing 1/2of it.
Yep,there's a story behind both of these things,related?

At the very least,remove fill plug and feel for presence of fluid. If needed top up for now.

 

You only need to change the rear end oil out every 10 years or so.

So an easy fix would be to get a piece of pvc tubing and either syphon or pump the old oil out of the axle through the oil fill opening.

Then fill with fresh oil.

Leave the drain plug as is, it's kind of cool.

A bit of history.

 

10-4

Good point on checking oil level. Will do.

So far I have not noticed anything odd from the rear end.

 

That is utterly awful. Welding a nut to the existing drain plug is the only method I would use at this point. It ensures a proper removal. Be sure to get a new crush washer when you get a new drain plug.

 

I thought these ones were just 3/8" square-drive straight-threaded plugs, without the use of crush washers? Unless I'm forgetting something.

Yeah, best bet is the welding method. I wouldn't personally do anything with a drill - these axles are getting harder and harder to find, and it would be a shame to lose one due to a walking drill bit issue.

 

these r kinda like a pipe plug. some have an inset square that a 3/8 square drive will fit, others have outside square and use an adjustable or open end wrench on, which that one looks like it was.

 

I have nothing to add other than that's a pretty impressive find. I'm glad that I'm not the only one weird stuff like this happens to.

Welding is absolutely the best option, but another hack that might work is to take a dremel or grinder and carefully cut a straight slot in what;s left of the plug. Then you might be able to use heat and a big flat blade screwdriver to back the plug out.

 

I think that is a solid brass plug. Brass is a soft metal and makes for a good plug because it conforms. I have one on the top hole, but it is hollow. If my hollow brass plug sheared off like that, it would have a hole in it.

How about use a dremal to get a hole started, and then jam a counter clockwise easy out bolt extractor in it. Drilling a hole completely through might put metal shavings in the differential. I've had easy outs break inside, then I was twice as screwed because I had drill bit hard metal inside the soft metal piece I was tapping into.

I bet if you tried welding a nut on it, it would start to melt, and if you had the bolt extractor or large flat head screw driver, you could jam it in there and turn it.

Sure wish the genius that worked on it used the correct OEM plug with 3/8" square recess. That's why I don't like mechanics working on my car.