Uh oh, oil drain plug won't go in.

[ice745]

My brother has a '99 Dodge Neon, and he brought it over to me to do an oil change. I got the oil out fine, but in putting the drain plug back in, it'll get almost tight, but then it pops and is loose again (I guess the threads are stripped). So I can't even put oil back in. I dunno what to do. I can't drive it anywhere, and I dunno how to fix it so the drain plug will go back in. I'm worried if I have it towed to a shop to get fixed, they may try to drive it in the garage and kill it .

[alphalanos]

i guess you could try to make a new thread.

[ice745]

how do I do that?

[TEXSRT4]

kragens sells oversized drainplugs.

[growe58]

How annoying is that? A simple oil change turns into a major headache.

Luckily, there's lots of things that you can do.

First of all, is the plug stripped or the oil pan?
If it's the plug, just replace it.
If it's the pan, you can buy a tool that will retap threads. Or you can buy something called a heli-coil that is an insert that basically becomes new threads (kinda pricey though). Or you can buy an oversized, self tapping plug. Go to the GOOD auto parts store, the one with the old car guy that knows everything and talk to him about options. Really, the easiest thing might be to go to a U-Pull-It junkyard and just get a new oil pan for $20 or so.
If you do have it towed, just make sure that the shop and the tow operator know that there is no oil in it. They won't try to start it, they deal with cars without oil pressure for various reasons all the time.

Good luck!

[ice745]

Its the oil pan thats stripped, I looked at the plug after posting this, and I actually saw part of the threads of the pan still on the plug. It almost looked like one of those lock washers that are split at one part and is kinda spiralled. I wound up having it towed, and getting a new oil pan put on, they said the part should come in tomorow and they'll do it then. I put a sign across the steering wheel "NO OIL IN ENGINE" as a reminder to them. Moms is paying for it so she wanted to just get a new one instead of junk yard. Then right after that, I found oil on my drain pan on the other car that me and my brother were sharing, I thought that was leaking too, but it turned out to just be residual. I was about to pull my hair bald, haha.

Thanks everyone at AF, everytime a car problem comes up, I know the good souls here are kind enough to help. I think I'm also starting to lose my grudge against Auto Garages, you really just need to find that good one.