Anyone Have any ideas on how to fix this, preferable without pulling the engine and re-tapping them? When oil becomes operating temp, it starts leaking like a dripping faucet.

I mean I'm glad its the first row, because you know, the front row is easy to get to... :\

Thanks for any ideas

*Edit*

Btw using 20w/50

 

only way to fix it is to drop the oil pan, re-tap the threads, and re-seal the oil pan...the Toyota FIPG black is great stuff to use. get it at any dealer.



on the same note...

DO NOT over tighten the bolts. Since our pans use a RTV type sealer, once dry, tightening the bolts more wont stop a leak. Plus, aluminum is soft, so think about it...

 

no no you can use Qwik Steel or JB Weld depends how much time you have.

spray out oil pan holes with carb cleaner, or starting fluid to clean out any oil residue. put the bolts back in with a good thick coat or either, wrench them in. Wait till they dry. Refill oil and start up.

make sure you use a gasket or sealer for the oil pan, as you can not torque these bolt down. But they will hold your oil pan and stop any leaks. They will also come back out, if your easy on the bolts..

I think you only need 15 " lbs on oil pan, and half that works just fine. just barely tight works fine.

 

either tap with a bigger bolt, or helicoils and use the same size bolt, trust me you wont strip out a helicoil


I never have good luck with JB weld trying to seal stuff.......i must be retarded

 

do not use jb weld!!!!!!!!!! you will have a hell of a time removing the bolts in the future. the proper way is to remove the oil pan and re-tap the threads. remember the oil pan bolts are only torqued down to 5.8-8.0 ftlbs.

 

Replace the front cover? Thats what I would do. I don't trust re-tapped threads.

 

Even if they only have to hold 5-8 ftlbs?

 

I'd say it depends on the situation, material, torque spec like you ^^^ mentioned, and how much bigger you'd have to make the holes (especially compared with how much metal would be left).

 

No repair epoxys. I used that heli coil repair kit and it works like a champ. VERY easy to do. I used to be affriad of drilling and tapping but the heli coil repair kits made it super easy to use the same bolt. The coil you thread into the hole that you drill and tap can take a good amount of torque.

I don't either, which is why I decided to test out the heli coil repair kits. No more worries

 

Sweet, I'll look into heli coil but since it's the front row i'm probably going to have to remove some things in the way like crossmember n such after all

 

That's a bit like curing the disease by killing the patient, and opens up a whole new can of worms (like the front thrust washer issues).

There's nothing at all wrong with a HeliCoil or equivalent thread repair. It will be stronger then the original threads and a far easier solution then swapping the front cover. The oil pan bolts threads only need to hold 10 Ft-Lbs or so which is well within the capability of a repaired thread. Take a look at some of the industrial applications for HeliCoils and you'll see that fixing the front cover oil pan threads is nowhere near difficult in any sense.

 

Mental note: Aaron would make a terrible doctor.

 

Ya I don't mind rethreading at all now that I tried the helicoil kit.

Just make sure you always use the correct drill bit and only go in about 1-2 turns then back out 1/2 to 3/4 a turn to brake loose the burns in side.

 

-Undo engine/transmission mount bolts (note: may help to undo exhaust downpipe as well)

-Use engine hoist to lift motor high enough to access front of oil pan

-Retap stripped holes

-Insert studs in the front row of holes instead of bolts (the same studs that hold the fan to the waterpump snout will work fine)

My mechanic said (as we faced the same problem on my engine) that he sees this fairly often. He suspects it happens when the pan is dropped with the engine in place and then, due to the limited access to the front row of bolts, they get crossthreaded upon reinstallation (problem exacerbated by techs overly fond of air tools...).
If you're lucky (I was) the threads can be cleaned up with a tap and the studs will prevent it happening again.
Resealed pan has now been drip free for over 5k miles.

 

Personally, I would bite the bullet and replace the whole front oil cover.
To me it's peace of mind.

If you're going to Heli-Coil every single hole, we're talking about...at least 6+ holes you gotta take care of?
Heli-Coil'ing a hole is a delicate operation - you gotta make sure you drill the hole "square" and then insert the Heli-Coil insert properly.
Not done properly, you're just going to **** the hole up even more.
This is not an easy thing to do with the engine still in the car!
If the engine was out, I can understand this being relatively easy.

Side note: Heli-Coils can actually make the fastening point STRONGER.
Some of the old-school domestic guys will Heli-Coil aluminum parts, cause the Heli-Coil insert itself exerts more force over a larger area (i.e. larger hole).
The Heli-Coil insert itself is like stainless steel(?), so it's not going to fail.


-Ted

 

Drilling the hoe and inserting the coil can't be any more straight forward. The package tells you the size bit to use. The threader, as long as you take your time it will work out fine. The coil is just to easy to put in but you must insert it far enough in so the bolt does not bottom out on the end of the coil. I have got past this though by snipping the part of the coil that crosses the bolts path after installation. Kinda tricky to do that though.

 

Wow... RETed agreed with me.... Didn't see that coming...

 

It's a full moon.
Go look outside.


-Ted

 

Wow, please dont use jb weld or Quick Steel. `

1)Try retapping 1mm bigger, or 2mm bigger max.
2)Helicoil as a 2nd option. Just because helicoil requires the biggest hole drilled.
3)buy one from a forum member.

 

"Wow, please dont use jb weld or Quick Steel."

Yea, I'd like to avoid glue, ductape, and bubblegum fixes =)

 

i can GIVE you a front cover.

or just use some silicone to cover it. plus, the oil pan is pretty deep. i wouldnt worry about it if i was in that situation.

 

I like the bubble gun from Japan. It sticks better, but its hard to get off

 

Try a heliocoil.

If you muck it up then you have to replace the cover.

 

Alrighty, one more question, to get to the front row to of bolts on the oilpan, I either have to pull the engine (Last resort) or remove the cross-member which the engine mounts to (Because the front row is being blocked by it to get to the bolts).

My question is, that big chunk of metal that I'm sure is a major part of the framework, will removing it temporally cause any damaging stress on the vehicle? Or even safe for that matter?

I know I'll need to lift and suspend the engine while doing it, but I believe its a lot easier to do it that way rather than pull the block.

Thanks for the help so far

 

How is any of that easier than swapping the front cover? Seriously....