Broken oil pan drain plug

[dwforum]

So I went to change my oil, and everything seemed normal at first, but it felt like I was endlessly loosening the drain plug. Then finally it slid out, only for me to realize it had broken off inside the oil pan. The portion that came off is maybe 3/4 of an inch.
So now my engine is completely drained of oil, and I need to decide how to remedy this when I get back from school. Would it be more sensible to bring the oil pan to a shop and have the remaining portion of the drain plug removed, or would it be cheaper to pick up a used oil pan and just replace mine instead?

[e30sd]

i dont understand. did the plug break inside the threads? if so, use a drill in screw extractor, and remove it.

[e30evolution]

if you can see the broken portion of the drain plug then get and extractor and pull it out.... or take the oil pan off and find the rest of the plug

[Dave]

if you can see the broken portion of the drain plug then get and extractor and pull it out.... or take the oil pan off and find the rest of the plug

Ditto that. Unless you mean it damaged the pan itself. In that case, I'd replace the pan.

[nickmp0wer]

it sounds like theres alrady a hole in it so try to just use an extractor on that

[dwforum]

i dont understand. did the plug break inside the threads? if so, use a drill in screw extractor, and remove it.

yeah, it broke inside the threads


Excuse my ignorance, but where might I pick up a screw extractor, and about how much should I expect to pay?

[Zoso]

I had this happen to me last month with my E36. I panicked after it happened and my friend suggested that we remove the entire oil pan which is a real bitch on an E36.

BMW makes soft drain plugs so that if you over torque it, the oil pan threads will not be damaged. This is a good thing. Use the fact that the drain plug is soft to your advantage.

Get under the car with a flat head screwdriver, hammer, and some pliers. You can jam the screwdriver into the broken off bolt (in the E36's case, the bolt is hollow too), and use the hammer to help you make some traction grooves. Then back it out. This worked great for me.

[AndrewBird]

Excuse my ignorance, but where might I pick up a screw extractor, and about how much should I expect to pay?

Screw extractors (also called easy-outs)look like this:

They usually come in sets and are ~$15 or so for a set. The idea is, you drill a hole in the center of the bolt that is broken, tap the easy-out into the hole with a hammer and then the grooves cut into the easy-out grab onto the bolt so you can twist it out.