Oil Drain Plug Spinning - Stripped Oil Pan

[JStang]

Last night wasn't a lot of fun. What was supposed to be a routine oil change turned into a major pain in the ass. When I was attempting to remove the drain plug, the bolt would just spin and place and would not come out. I kept working on it and finally got it out.

I wasn't sure if the bolt was going to be stripped or the oil pan so I ran to Auto Zone first thing this morning and they didn't have the right size bolt. I then ran around the corner to a repair shop that advertises that they repair BMW's to see if they would have one on hand that they would sell.

A black F15 X5 was parked out front which happened to be the owners. I told him what was happening and he said the exact same thing happened to him and it turned out that there was a small crack in his oil pan. He said BMW is aware of this issue. He did not have the bolt on hand so I went to my local BMW dealership to get one.

I got home, started screwing in the bolt and everything was going great. I grabbed the torque wrench and it just wouldn't tighten. I do not have any oil leaks and called my independent mechanic to setup an appointment for Tuesday.

Anyone else with experience with this problem?

[turboawd]

Which engine you have? Steel or aluminum pan? You may need to retap the hole. And why you using a torque wrench? A plug just needs to be snug. I don't understand those who feel the need to crank the plug on tight. It's not holding anything!

[JStang]

Originally Posted by turboawd

Which engine you have? Steel or aluminum pan? You may need to retap the hole. And why you using a torque wrench? A plug just needs to be snug. I don't understand those who feel the need to crank the plug on tight. It's not holding anything!

N55 and I grabbed a torque wrench to tighten to the spec BMW recommends which isn't very tight.

[turboawd]

Originally Posted by JStang

N55 and I grabbed a torque wrench to tighten to the spec BMW recommends which isn't very tight.

At least you use a torque wrench. Some use an impact wrench. Lol
You going to try and fix yourself? There are repair kits. Even on Amazon.

[E90325M]

Same thing happended to my F15 35i yesterday, that was my 3rd oil change by myself, when I was attempting to remove the drain plug, the bolt just spin and would not come out. I use a plier to hold and give it a down force and turned it as the same time, when the bolt hold a firm postion (kind of hard to turn), I immediately change to my 3/4 drive with 17mm and turn it carefully and then finally got it out.

After the oil come out, I use small tweezer to check the thread and some steel debris dropped and I also find a lot of debris in oil drain container.

It seems that my oil pan thread was stripped and checked the drain plug bolt and it seems normal. I bought another M12-1.5 drain plug from Advanced Auto Parts and carefully screwing in the bolt and take extra cautions and not too tight and the bolt seems holding the positon. ( but I thought if I gave more torque, it will stripe again). And filled into 0w40 6.5quarts and changed the oil filter as well, take the car out for a drive and test the oil level it was normal.

I will check it from time to time to see if there is any oil leaking and if it can hold until to next oil change, I may give oil pan a compelete check at the shop or may change the oil pan (that is $$$).

[MH20jy]

Originally Posted by E90325M

Same thing happended to my F15 35i yesterday, that was my 3rd oil change by myself, when I was attempting to remove the drain plug, the bolt just spin and would not come out. I use a plier to hold and give it a down force and turned it as the same time, when the bolt hold a firm postion (kind of hard to turn), I immediately change to my 3/4 drive with 17mm and turn it carefully and then finally got it out.

After the oil come out, I use small tweezer to check the thread and some steel debris dropped and I also find a lot of debris in oil drain container.

It seems that my oil pan thread was stripped and checked the drain plug bolt and it seems normal. I bought another M12-1.5 drain plug from Advanced Auto Parts and carefully screwing in the bolt and take extra cautions and not too tight and the bolt seems holding the positon. ( but I thought if I gave more torque, it will stripe again). And filled into 0w40 6.5quarts and changed the oil filter as well, take the car out for a drive and test the oil level it was normal.

I will check it from time to time to see if there is any oil leaking and if it can hold until to next oil change, I may give oil pan a compelete check at the shop or may change the oil pan (that is $$$).

Was your car ever serviced at those quick lube places?

[E90325M]

Originally Posted by MH20jy

Was your car ever serviced at those quick lube places?

Never. I am the original owner of the car. First 4 years serviced at the dealership and recent 2 years I did by myself, I think it was not tightened too much but it may be caused by a bad angle when screwed in last time? I don't really remember there is noticable bad angle.

[Clifton]

E90325M - Noticed that you have the quick jacks w/extension. Is that the 7000TL? Also, are you using anything besides the urethane blocks and did you have any issues aligning each side between the jack points?

I found I was short on both front and rear mounts and contact was made on the last 3rd of the block which was less than ideal. Ended up buying additional aluminum jackpads to increase contact points. Curious what you used.

[Maverik259]

Originally Posted by Clifton

E90325M - Noticed that you have the quick jacks w/extension. Is that the 7000TL? Also, are you using anything besides the urethane blocks and did you have any issues aligning each side between the jack points?

I found I was short on both front and rear mounts and contact was made on the last 3rd of the block which was less than ideal. Ended up buying additional aluminum jackpads to increase contact points. Curious what you used.

I've been running quick jack for years with no issues. I have aluminum pucks and stack 2 of the blocks. I have the long version (6000 maybe?) though due to also having an F90 with the extended length between jack points.

[acmurda]

I went thru this on my last F15, I bought it CPO and the first oil change change I did I realized it had been stripped, all the oil changes prior were done by bmw as included maintenance. So dont rule out BMW techs over tightening it.

Anyway I ended up re-tapping it to a M14-1.50 thread and installed a valvomax drain valve so it never happens again.

[JStang]

FYI, I believe my independent ended up using a helicoil for the repair.

[E90325M]

Originally Posted by Clifton

E90325M - Noticed that you have the quick jacks w/extension. Is that the 7000TL? Also, are you using anything besides the urethane blocks and did you have any issues aligning each side between the jack points?

I found I was short on both front and rear mounts and contact was made on the last 3rd of the block which was less than ideal. Ended up buying additional aluminum jackpads to increase contact points. Curious what you used.

My quickjack model is BL-5000SLX, I bought it from Costco for working on my M3 and later I bought the extension from Home Depot. Even use the extension, it is still shorter a little bit for using on my F15 X5 jack points, I just use rubber pack which came from the quickjack. I have jackpads which I used on M3 ( but it will fit X5), tried them but found it is too hard to align the pads exactly to the jack points holes...

[E90325M]

Originally Posted by JStang

FYI, I believe my independent ended up using a helicoil for the repair.

What is the helicoil fix? do you have any details?

[Clifton]

Originally Posted by E90325M

My quickjack model is BL-5000SLX, I bought it from Costco for working on my M3 and later I bought the extension from Home Depot. Even use the extension, it is still shorter a little bit for using on my F15 X5 jack points, I just use rubber pack which came from the quickjack. I have jackpads which I used on M3 ( but it will fit X5), tried them but found it is too hard to align the pads exactly to the jack points holes...

Cool - thanks! Same results on this end with the 7000TL and the overlay extensions from HD (cheapest I found). The combo is just a smidge short when centered between the two jack points. I ended up buying 4 aluminum jack pads (click to view) to provide more contact surface area. I sit them on top of the rubber block and slowly raise and adjust until its makes positive contact on all 4 locations.

Damn impressive to watch the QuickJack deadlift the X5, but damn are they heavy to move around.

[mrrsharma@yahoo.com]

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...61547-9999.pdf

Here's a repair bulletin, downside is you will need to buy a bunch of crush washers specific to the oversized bolt. The one with the oil filter will not fit

[phipark]

Happened to me and thought the previous shop stripped it. BMW was doing this oil change now. They have a BMW retaining kit for this purpose supposedly. Sounds like it's common enough that they have kits.

On my old n54, I've had shops tighten it enough where I could barely get the plug off. I wonder 8f the pan changed to a thinner material or something

[Clifton]

I generally change oil through the dipstick (diesel), but given the pan/drain bolt is a fail point, I'm thinking of going with this setup.


Stahlbus Oil Drain quick connect

[E90325M]

Originally Posted by Clifton

I generally change oil through the dipstick (diesel), but given the pan/drain bolt is a fail point, I'm thinking of going with this setup.


Stahlbus Oil Drain quick connect

This is a good solution, I hope I know it before my oil pan stripped. This morning I saw that the garage floor has oil drops and it seems new M12-1.5 drain plug did not work any more. I called my indy shop and made an appointment next week to check if the oil pan is crack and see how to fix that.

[Chilled]

Originally Posted by E90325M

What is the helicoil fix? do you have any details?

Tap a larger thread and insert a Heli-Coil. It allows you to re-use the existing bolt size. Its been used for even head studs.

If its just the lower pan? can't you just replace it?

[E90325M]

Originally Posted by Chilled

Tap a larger thread and insert a Heli-Coil. It allows you to re-use the existing bolt size. Its been used for even head studs.

If its just the lower pan? can't you just replace it?

A local shop quote me parts & labor $3500 for the replacement of lower oil pan.
You mean DIY to replace it? I don't know how hard of this job.

[suitedcboy]

Actually Time-Sert and other threaded insert repairs are better. Heli-coils are square cross-section wire rolled into a cylinder shape. They work fine for head bolts or any repair where the bolt or stud is screwed in and left there. A drain plug and spark plugs will be removed and re-installed several times and the Heli-coil may walk in or come out with the plug. The threaded insert style has a beveled flange end and you drill, tap, and run a countersink tool in that allows the insert to go below the face and have a stop. Thread locking compound on outside, installing until stopped, and then a finisher tap/expander is run in. All of that assures it is going to stay put and removing and installing the drain plug will not be a problem.

[Chilled]

Originally Posted by E90325M

A local shop quote me parts & labor $3500 for the replacement of lower oil pan.
You mean DIY to replace it? I don't know how hard of this job.

Just looked at the Parts for the 35, for some reason thought you guys also had the upper/lower split. Year its going to be pricy. The subframe needs to come out.

I just would be cautions about doing any sort of tapping/inserts in the of chance any metal shavings are left in the pan.