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Stuck Drain Plug


j@mes
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the oil drain plug on my 02 beta is stuck in and the allen key hole is chewed up. The drain plug doesn't have the fibre washer on either. I have removed the bashplate but there isn't a lot of the side of the bolt to grab. I have thought of cutting a groove in it with a hacksaw blade and undoing with a screwdriver and if that dont work put a screwdriver against the groove and give it a hit to loosen it. any better ideas? would leaving ice on it help?

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Couple of suggestions James if you haven't gotten it out yet. You could try chapping on a slightly larger allen key socket (or torQ might fit) onto the plug, at a risk of damaging your socket though. You could also try hitting it at the right angle with a small chisel or punch. Start your bike and let it heat up, when this is happening try using your chisel every few minutes as it heats up, try again as it's cooling aswell. As for your icecube theory, when your engine is hot and you then try cooling the plug with the cube, you will have a larger temperature differential and hopefully increase your tollerences. Good luck.

Edited by anyhill
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Try the above 1st!!!!

1. As a last resort the cutting a slot thing worked for my mate when he chewed his up.

as long as you cut the slot at an angle sort of like removing a small wedge shaped piece so the screwdriver has a large flat surface to impact against.

Make sure you only cut one side of the hole first, that way if it starts to get chewed up after a bit of tapping you can do the opposite side to finish the removal.

2. Another way is you can get reverse thread bolts so if your really stuck you could drill the center out, cut threads into it then put a reverse thread bolt in so as your tightening the bolt the plug is actually untightening.

3. I have seen this done by my bike mechanic mate and he reckons its the quickest less hassle way of removing a really chewed plug.

Drill the plug centre right through with a fairly large bit then tap the outside edge in towards the hole or you could use a small junior hacksaw blade to cut through from the centre outwards so you actually break/collapse/crack the plug and it falls away from the threads.

As always take care when drilling into the casing by putting the drill on low speed and flush the engine out after to remove any swarf.

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http://www.altecweb.com/asp/listcategory2....lt+extractor%22

The proper tool for the job. Drill in to the center of the bolt, tap the extractor in to the hole. Place a spanner on the end and turn whilst tapping on the extractor. The extractor has a left handed thread which means as you turn anti-clockwise the extractor bites deeper in to the bolt and should undo it.

Let me know what size the bolt is and if possible the diameter of the treaded portion and I'll see if I've got one lying around. If I have, you can have it for nowt!

Finally, as with any job, better to spend an extra ten minutes work on the bolt before trying to remove it, than to rush and spend two hours struggling with a mashed up bit of metal. Good luck!

Edited by boofont
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The above comment is probably the quickest way to remove the bolt. Be very careful when choosing which extractor (easy-out) you begin with, don't go immediately with the smallest one (like i did). These tools are very brittle (like a file) and if you snap it off inside the drilled hole, you'll never get the plug out. Choose a size that will be big enough (with relation to the plug size) that it won't snap, but small enough that if you can't get grip, you've enough room to try the next size up. Also spend a little more and purchase a decent set of 'easy-outs', that are less likely to snap (and will prove to be a valuable asset to your tool collection).

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:wacko::D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

was me when i got the ******* to move!

I didn't have big enough torx bits and my dad has some of those extractors but i didn't want to use them because:

1. didn't want to drill through and leave crap in the gearbox.

2. hole has to be pretty centered and straight and without taking engine out and clamping it in the pillar drill i wouldn't have got it straight.

it was however one of my last options.

I did try a bigger allen key but couldn't find one exactly the right size only the orignal size and to big.

In the end i cut a groove out of the plug then started the bike up and warmed it up then put ice on the plug, removed the filler cap (in case of any pressure lock) and put a chisel in the groove and after a few hits it moved.

replaced with new plug and fibre washer

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great to hear you got it, thats a miserable task.

To add, use Left hand drill bits for drilling a broken screw. Sometimes the LH bit will bring a broken screw out all by itself. especially 6 mm case bolts.

The common easy outs with long coarse flutes tend to wedge the screw outward really bad sometimes. Just sticking the screw in tighter.

I have a very old set, but I think snap on still sells, that has a fine LH spline and shallow taper. There is a square sholder at the top, instead of continuous taper. The drilled hole has to just right, but then the shoulder hits the broken bolt and it doesn't wedge outward so bad. They work great.

k

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use Left hand drill bits for drilling a broken screw. Sometimes the LH bit will bring a broken screw out all by itself.

This is fine, as long as you have a drill that twists both ways. :wacko:

Would that be a bi-sexual drill?

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