Removing oil pan plug to drain oil... is there some sort of secret?

pneumagger · Sep 18, 2009

So I started pulling apart things after work to change my head gasket today. Got the coolant drained and the radiator and heat shields out. In an attempt to drain the oil, I grab my socket wrench and the nut is not budging. I even layed on my back under the car and put 2 hands on the damn wrench and giving just about everything I got.

FYI, I am not a little guy. About 6ft 250lbs and played college football. I'm pretty sure I'm not the problem. I don't wanna go f'in crazy on it because In addition to not wanting to strip the bolt, I am laying under a car on jackstands - not where I wanna be if I knock it off the stands. Last oil change was at a jiffy-lube... so I'm not sure if they use a ton of tourque.

Should I grab a breaker bar or am I missing something simple here?

#40Fan · Sep 18, 2009

Lefty loosy, righty tighty. But I am sure you know that if you were able to remove the rest of the stuff mentioned.

If you didn't already have everything else undone I would say take it back to Jiffy Thieves and have them loosen it or pay for a new pan. Since you are already into it, find a small pipe to slip over the end of the ratchet and give her a yank.

Denji · Sep 18, 2009

pneumagger said:
So I started pulling apart things after work to change my head gasket today. Got the coolant drained and the radiator and heat shields out. In an attempt to drain the oil, I grab my socket wrench and the nut is not budging. I even layed on my back under the car and put 2 hands on the damn wrench and giving just about everything I got.

FYI, I am not a little guy. About 6ft 250lbs and played college football. I'm pretty sure I'm not the problem. I don't wanna go f'in crazy on it because In addition to not wanting to strip the bolt, I am laying under a car on jackstands - not where I wanna be if I knock it off the stands. Last oil change was at a jiffy-lube... so I'm not sure if they use a ton of tourque.

Should I grab a breaker bar or am I missing something simple here?

Be careful when removing that bolt, you don't want to round the bolt. If you have an impact wrench that would be your best bet because you wouldn't likely strip the bolt in that case. If it were me, I'd make sure I had a 6 sided socket and use a breaker bar or slide a pipe over my socket, however, this is at your own risk, if you bring it to "jiffy thieves" that would be a reasonable option too.

KevinRR · Sep 18, 2009

I would just use a 6 point socket and a pipe should do it, don't forget to get a new crush washer I'm pretty sure the one on it is junk.

Defiant · Sep 20, 2009

pneumagger said:
FYI, I am not a little guy. About 6ft 250lbs and played college football.

Hey, look, it's Al Bundy.

Don't ever let Jiffy Lube do your oil change.

GTOJohnny67 · Sep 20, 2009

Jiffy Lube is known for cross threading bolts in. I had to get an oil change on a dodge 2500 diesel one time when I drove to Florida. The oil plug used an hex head. They crossed it so bad I had to weld a nut to the plug and then impacted it off.
I also know some one who used to work at Jiffy Lube and said the guy that worked the in trench used to take bolts off cars for fun.

Red97Eclipseboy · Sep 20, 2009

Yeah, man. Jiffy Lube-up-your-ass is notorious for over-tightening and cross-threading. Leave it in and take it back!

regulator213 · Sep 20, 2009

for the record, dont take it a firestone either. they are just as worthless

dsmTripp · Sep 20, 2009

check out stm's deal for oil and a filter i believe pep boys has close to the same price for royal purple and a filter... much easier to do it your self and not have to worry about un educated people working on your car. as for your drain plug if your that big a guy and can get it to budge they definitely over tourqued it and use a breaker bar or a pipe as mentioned befor over your wrench. at worse you strip the drain plug bolt or the threads on your pan and you have to replace the pan and drain plug. also those can be found fairly cheap at places that sales used parts i.e. salvage yard and such places. and the best that can happen is that you do break the plug free its done but you might also want to replace the plug if it looks like the threads are jacked!

PandaMan · Sep 21, 2009

I had the same problem, ended up using some vise grips and a couple good times hitting it with my hand to jerk it loose before I could get some good leverage on it.

pneumagger · Sep 21, 2009

Yeah, i ended up getting it off. Got oil everywhere, as I was not in the position to deal with oil.
I got the breaker bar and put a 1/2 socket on it, got under the car, and did a bench press on the breaker bar.
So now the filter wont come off. I stripped the flats on the filter with my filter tool. Then used a filter strap wrench and only managed to start turning the oil cooler assembly.
I need to wait untill I can get a buddy to hold the cooler still while I wrench the filter.

Seriously, I'm never going to jiffy lube again.

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Removing oil pan plug to drain oil... is there some sort of secret?

pneumagger

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KevinRR

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Red97Eclipseboy

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