Oil return line leaking. Stripped hole. Could I..........?

[kam dsm]

My return line for the turbo is leaking extremely bad. I pulled it all apart and found that one of the holes on the oil pan for the bolt is stripped and needs to be rethreaded. Could I just rethread the hole with one of those threading tools? I don't want to mess anything up on the oil pan because I don't feel like spending that kind of money buying a new pan. What other ways could I fix this problem. What do you suggest?

 

[romeen]

Yes you can drill the hole smooth and then tap it to accept a slightly larger bolt. The stock bolt size is 6mm. Whatever size you choose make sure the bolt will fit through the hole in the return pipe flange and the bolt head will clear the neck of the return pipe.

One other option is to helicoil it which works very well and allows you to use the stock bolt size but it will cost you more than the first option. The kits cost about 35-40 dollars and come with the helicoil inserts (about 10 of them I think) and the corresponding tap, and some kits will include the appropriate drill bit that you need as well. An added bonus if you choose to do this is that M6x1.00 is a very common size/thread pitch on our cars and you will likely have other opportunites to utilize the kit.

Final option is if you have a welder. You can remove pan, cut out damaged portion and weld in a an appropriately sized nut to fit the stock sized bolt. I am not recommending this last option but I have seen someone do it.

Ideally you want to remove the oil pan for these methods since the drilling and tapping will create metal shavings which may get into the oil pan. The oil pickup screen will likely keep any shavings from circulating but I just don't like the idea of metal flakes sitting in the pan. If you don't want to remove it you could probably get creative with magnets.

Hope this helps.

 

[kam dsm]

Thanks bro. Im going to try the first method you suggested. I already have thread tapping kit so I'm pretty sure it will all work out. Thanks again.