A Pretty Obscure Question...

[llll1l1ll]

...but what are the specifications of the oil drain bolt? Yeah, I know its a 17mm (oh wait... 19mm hurrr), but the actual threads themselves.

See, I think its leaking from the pan (or the oil filter housing) and my Dad suggested that rather than replacing the pan, why don't we just rethread the drain hole? For this, I need the specs on the bolt... and the hole I suppose.

[jlevie]

Rather than take a shotgun approach, which seldom works, you'd be better of to throughly clean the engine and then watch for the first sign of leaking oil. That will pinpoint the source of the leak.

Unless the threads are stripped, they aren't what seals the drain plug. That's accomplished by the crush washer.

[llll1l1ll]

I have an O-Ring on the plug, but the threads are stripped. It never fully tightens, it just keeps turning.

[NC325iC]

you should get a thread insert i cant remember what the best ones are, threadcert maybe i donno, there was another thread on here about someone with a similar problem you could try to search for it, or someone will chime in

[erik325i]

Rethreading it to the original thread size is not going to accomplish anything.

You can buy a Mercedes drain bolt which is 2mm larger than the e30 bolt and rethread your pan to that size.

-Erik

[llll1l1ll]

Yeah, my Dad was saying that we would go a couple steps larger... Perhaps we will give that a shot.

[homegrone30]

just drill it out and retap it a few mm bigger