I need help with this stupid plug
 

Can anyone tell me how to get a stripped transmission filler plug off? I bought an extractor but was told whatever I do not to drill it. It is on a 1983 944 so that stupid thing is flush against the bottom of the car and cant get a socket over it. I refuse to give Mr. Transmission $895.00 to take it apart and see if they can get it out since there not even sure if they can. I am just about to the point to get a sledge hammer and take that whole dang thing off one way or another.

Take the exhuast off you should be able to get in there a bit better I believe its a 17mm allen key? Put a pipe on the end of it to get more levergae and you should be able to get it off-chris

good luck

But if it IS stripped as you say you could try welding a nut onto a longish bolt (same size as the allen key (cap head) required and then in turn welding that into the plug. Put a socket wrench onto the end of the bolt and undo whilst pulling on the bolt to try and encourage it to catch on the remains of the thread and back out.

Do not drill into the plug as you'll get swarf into the box.

If the threads of the plug are buggered but the box threads are sound then simply replace.

If the tranny box threads are gone you could try doing what I did when the sump threads on my SAAB stripped.

Get yourself a science lab rubber bung (the type with a hole in it for glass tubes to pass through) that is an interference fit to the plug hole and slightly longer than the plug casing thickness.

Get a screw about quarter of an inch longer than the length of the bung (it needs to be long enough to pass through the bung and accomodate the two nuts and washers plus a few turns of thread).
two penny washers the same OD as the bung and
two nuts one ordinary and one nyloc.

spin the ordinary nut all the way up the screw until it runs out of thread. Put on a penny washer and then slip the bolt through the bung, put on the other penny washer and then cinch the lot in place with the nyloc so the bung is sanswiched sufficiently tight to compress the rubber slightly.

Stick the bung in the plug hole, hold the head of the screw with a wrench and wind down the exposed nut so that it causes the bung to compress and expand against the wall of the filler hole. Tighten the nut securely so that it is firmly wedged. That'll last you until you get around to getting it fixed properly.

I drove around in a SAAB 900 for about two years with a similar fix on my sump plug - not so much as a drip and that was right under the sump of a hot engine. Trust me - it works really well.

Plumbers use an internal expansion tool to get inside pipes and wrench them off. I used a fairly large one for the oil fillers on VeeDub engines.

Other wise coat the plug with some sticky grease and drill out the center so as to get a large easy out though. The grease will trap most of the aluminum filings. You might have to change the grease a few times.

Are the plugs aluminium? I thought they were steel? (not sure)

Could be. Either way use grease. The rush of old gear oil will flush the remainder.

It should be flush with the casing. The plug is actually a 17 mm hex key on the inside.

Somebody previously posted that the had a nut welded to the stripped plug. Then they used a huge breaker bar to remove the plug.

yep, Dark Skies said that too (gotta give vredit where credit is due) ;)

Where is Red Bank. I'm in Nashville, and I would be glad to give you a hand.

Mmm. I'm not so sure grease is the best answer. If it is steel surely a magnetic probe held near the drill bit would be better than grease? Also ... will the rush of internal gear oil flush the remaining swarf? I'd be inclined to think that the swarf within the twist of the bit would drop out into the box - for one thing wouldn't the drill bit itself prevent the rush of oil? Also if the oil were low (through a leak, say) the oil level might be lower than the centre of the plug drilling.

Of course, it may be that I'm talking at cross-purposes (ie bollocks) because I admit I have a short attention sp ... :)

Can't remember the plug having a magnet in it. Now I have to jack the car up and check.

yep, just lean close to the tranny and see if your fillings tingle :D

Red Bank is really close to Chattanooga. I just ordered another filler plug from here and I am going to take it to this shop in Georgia that has done this crap before. I dont want to drive it any before then just in case the fluid is low. The reason I was checking it was that the transmission is making a kinda whinning noise and the book said to add fluid. My dad offered to weld it for me after I dug through his garage looking for a sledge hammer. So I just ended up ordering some new head lights and a new air intake system then hit the malls to make me feel better. Sorry guys I am a girl but atleast I did crawl up and under that thing and attempt to fix it myself.

about the whining noise, has it done this as long as you had the car? did you remove the carpets recently?

Yeah the carpet was actually taken out recently. They had to take it out to put in a new cd player and get to all those wires. Or atleast that is what they said?

Sorry I forgot to add that no it hasn't always made this noise. Come to think of it, it started not long after my new radio was put in does that have something to do with it?

not the readio, but the reason I asked about the carpet is that you will hear more noise from the rear with it out and some people don't quite realize that it could be because of that. but if the carpet is back in, then the increase in noise is something to investigate. do the fluid change for now but I think there is something else involved here