broken tranny drain plug?

Warviking · 07-31-2004, 11:58 AM

Can anyone verify that the object in the upper middle of picture is where my tranny drain plug is?

I am attempting my first transmission fluid change and that seems to be where it should be. However what I have there is what appears to be a stripped out plug. Any ideas on how to get it out? I searched the forum and found a guy with a similar problem. Several suggested an ez out? Not familiar with those. Any ideas on what I should do? If an ez out is the way I would really appreciated some instructions on how to use one.

Since I may lack the courage to try to remove plug till it's closer to winter is it safe to just fill up the tranny and drive for now? There is some leakage on the bottom of the tranny though it never hits the floor.

vash · vash's Garage

i think on your car it is a 10mm. i mean it looks kinda small, not the 17mm? can you post a better picture?

Zeke · 07-31-2004, 12:42 PM

Don't monkey with it until you are ready to accept that you may be in for a few hours work and you car might not be able to return to the road. You can pump out the old fluid and refill from the top plug. You could do this forever and not replace the plug.

An easyout requires drilling the plug all the way thru. If the easyout breaks, you've got major problems. Methods people have used are welding a wrench to the plug, heating the case and tapping the plug with a hammer. Also, tighening a little before loosening and using a hex on a socket breaker bar.

Sometimes there is a little bit of good hex profile left at the very base of the plug. If it's really clean and you can keep your wrench square to the opening, you can get a bite. Along with the heat, tapping and tighening, you have a 50/50 chance.

Beyond that, it's the easyout (I don't prefer these) ane the welding, which should be done by a shop.

Zeke · 07-31-2004, 12:54 PM

Here are the various tool options.

I like the ones on the far left and far right over the allen wrench.

Warviking · 08-03-2004, 08:06 PM

Well there is hardly any plug left. Looks like somebody did something to try and remove it already. There are no threads sticking out and that hole in it appears to be a little off center. The plug is almost flush with case. No signs of a hex at all in the hole.

So I decided for now I would try to suck the fluid out through the fill hole and put some new stuff in. Jacked up the back of the car and took the plug out. Had quite a bit of fluid come right out. Is that normal? Thought maybe it is because I had the back jacked? Thinking I will jack up the one side of the car next time. Well feeling around in the hole I can feel there are some things in there so it seems only a very small diameter hose will go in if I want it to go to the bottom. Well my pump didn't work at all. Anybody know of a good pump to get the fluid out?

HarryD · 08-03-2004, 10:41 PM

In all honesty, if it was me, I'd bring it in to a shop that does Porsches.

The cost of a basic tranny fluid change is not that much (1/2 hour of labor plus materials). If they want to add a bit more time for the stuck plug, you will still be ahead. You can spend literally hours trying to get the plug out, be very frustrated and risk more severe damage.

If you decide to DIY, be sure the car is level when you check the level, too full is as bad as not enough. Chances are it was not level when you pulled the plug.

Bill Verburg · Bill Verburg's Garage

SnapOn has a nice 3/8" drive 17mm socket. The allen wrenchs are a PIA on my car due to the trans oil cooler and the throttle linkage.

Zeke where did you get the one on the right, that looks interesting

djmcmath · 08-04-2004, 05:33 AM

I spent a huge amount of time drilling my plug out. Many long hours and about 3 drill bits lost under the car. I ended up with slightly damaged threads, little metal shards in my face and hands for the next week, and a deep bitterness against the individual who overtorqued my drain plug.

If I had it all to do over again, I'd ... I'd probably try the EZ-outs first -- those looked like they had great potential. Had that failed, the next easiest thing (don't laugh) would have been a partial engine drop to get the tranny out. Then I'd just run it down to the local machine shop, where the guy would have welded a bar onto the plug and pulled it out. Knowing what I know now, that dropping an engine to pull a tranny is a relatively simple procedure in these cars, compared to spending 20ish hours under the car with my drill, that's almost definitely where my next step would have been.

But I'm weird, so don't listen to me.

Dan

scottb · 08-04-2004, 05:59 AM

I'm not a big fan of putting drilling shards into my transmission. If it were me, I'd take it to my local shop and have them weld a nut on to the damaged plug, and then use a long breaker bar and a socket to get it loose.

TMH · 08-04-2004, 06:11 AM

I just changed the tranny fluid in my '87 Coupe to Redline synthetic, and I'm glad I did a search on this board before I did. The first thing I attempted, per recommendations, was to remove the fill plug. In my case, that was the one which was stuck, and ended up getting partially stripped, but was still in place. Knowing that I was going to have to replace the plug anyway, my options opened up. Not much room to work up there with all of the linkages and such, but I was able to get a chisel onto the outer flange of the plug. To my surprise, after a few good taps with the hammer, the plug broke free. Since it is not pipe-threaded, once it broke from its initial stuck state, it was then very easy to unthread and remove the rest of the way. The fluid change then proceeded uneventfully. No welding, no drilling, no metal shards, etc.

Hope this helps,
Tom

mb911 · mb911's Garage

Jim,

I can stop over tommorow if you want . I forgot I am subbing so I will be in kenosha from 8 in the morning until 10 at night with some down time in the afternoon. I won't go home. Worst case you could drive it over to school and I could take a quick look at it at break time!!

Ben

zotman72 · 08-04-2004, 07:19 AM

Here is a great tip that worked for me last month when I swapped my tranny fluid on my SC for Swepco. I heard it from another Pelican member (Jess) who got it from top notch P car wrench in Denver. My plug was bound up too (corrosion) and starting to strip before I tried this method.

Get some NAPA valve grinding paste. Put it all over the allen wrench matching surfaces before insertion. Judging by your buggered up plug, you might try a one mm smaller allen wrench. The paste will help bind the wrench when you apply force.
YMMV and HTH

SpeedracerIndy · 08-04-2004, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by HarryD
... too full is as bad as not enough. ...

Is it really? The tranny has a breather hole in the top so if you fill it too full it will just make a mess by spewing out the top when it heats up. Is there a reason it would hurt to over fill it by a little?

I used opion number 2 in the picture above to remove mine (the large allen key) and it was a PIA. I like the idea of welding on a wrench to get it off. Good luck.

mb911 · mb911's Garage

Just looked at jims drain plug! That is the worst I have ever seen! Its hardly recognizable. We topped it off and decided we will tackle that this winter. I think weld a nut on it and that should fix it. It was nice meeting Jim He has A nice car

Ben