Wingnut from oil drain plug lost inside oil pan! HELP!

Dudes,

I was changing the oil on my 92 and had to get the universal oil drain plug out to replace it, when the wingnut part broke off inside of the oil pan. How can I get this thing out? Is there a way I can do this without taking the engine out?

My Uncle said something about cutting a hole in the bottom and welding it back on after the missing piece was located. Anyone have experience with this?

Somebody help me please!

Is there any way to drop the oil pan alone?

If it's a 2wd I understand that you can pull the oil pan without lifting the motor. Although I imagine that it's a tight fit.

If it's 4x4 your pretty much stuck.

If you don't think the broken part will be a problem you could get a 1/2 " nut welded to the oil pan, sealed up, and use that as your drain. Although If I was stuck doing this I'd use a strong magnetic drain plug, and only as a tempuary way to get me mobile. Try getting a nut with pipe thread, and there's lots of plugs in any hardware store

Very Important, Whenever you have to weld.. or cut on an oil pan Always remove at least 1 valve cover, and have a helper blowing compressed air through the drain hole every few seconds.
This is because There is still gas vapor down in there and it'll blow if you don't get it to vent out.

Calm Down. Jump in another car, go up 2 your local autoparts store and buy a pansaver. they will know what your talking about and it will be a buck fix. easy as hell to install and will save you from a lot of hassle.

ooh and by the way its not a wing nut inside of your oil pan. its just a plain old nut that was welded to the pan. the weld just wears out. theres no way your going to get that out of there w/o dropping the pan. but there shouldnt be a problem with the nut just chilling at the bottom of the pan. its not gonna go anywhere.

Thanks for all the replies fellas.

The car is a 4x4, according to my uncle you have to take the engine out to get to the oil pan. He also said that if I leave the broken piece in the oil pan, it might lock up the engine in a few weeks, says he has seen it happen before (he's been a mechanic for 20+ years).

I am going to try to use a magnet first thing in the morning, if that doesn't work I'll go find out what a pansaver is, and get one. The magnetic drain plug sounds good too. I hope Advance Autoparts has this stuff.

Cutting and welding will cost me at least 150 bucks since the equipment would have to be rented.

just use a magnetic oil pan plug, and if your worried use a mechanics magnet to fish the nut as close to the pan plug as you can

I couldn't locate the nut so I just went ahead with the rest of the oil change, and I'll let you guys know if my engine seizes up in the future. I would have gone with the magnetic oil pan plug but the threads on the pan are stripped.

Just out of curiousity, what dod you use to plug the oil pan without threads?

As for a magnet go down to a computer recycling place, and ask for a magnet from a hard drive, they are incredibly strong, and it'll stick right to your oil pan and never move. They'll probably just give you a handfull.
They should be listed in the phone book under recycling.