Hello everyone,

Yesterday I was changing the oil on a friend's CBR 600F2 and my own. My bike has the original drain plug and I tightened it to the specified torque spec (38Nm), not a problem. My friend's bike did not have an original oil drain plug and when tightening it using the torque wrench it didn't get tighter... I'm worried the thread is screwed and the oil drain plug will fall out because vibrations when riding. Is this a realistic assumption, I cannot loosen the the plug by hand but it with a wrench it just feels too loose.

I'm guessing the oil drain pan would have to be replaced or rethread the hole to a bigger size?

My question is: does anyone have experience with this and might it be solvable without a new oil pan or rethreading? I'm not sure if the threads are actually stripped, I haven't removed the drain plug yet.

Thanks in advance!

 

If you're lucky you might just get away with a new drain plug, especially if as you say it's not the original part. This has happened to me before on a car and a new plug was enough.

I doubt the plug will actually drop out, but it will probably drip oil until it's sorted.

 

It depends on what the "aftermarket" bolt is. Just undo it and go get you a tap for that kind of thread, run it back through and then you'll be good to go.

If it were me, after I was done running the tap through there, I'd probably sacrifice 1/4-1/2 qt of oil (just dump it in the sump and watch it pour right out the drain plug) in order to insure any metal comes out.

Certainly, it's not the end of the world.

 

I hand an issue on a gpz600 of a similar nature. I used an oversize drain plug. It was easy to use. Just a little grease as you screwed in it. Then flushed the engine out with old oil. It refreshed the old thread and was good to go. The supplier was Canadian. But I think they are common place in the US? Such a great idea. Easier than cutting a new thread or using helicoils etc.

 

Sounds screwed, heard of a helicoil/timesert? Might want to look into them. That or drill and tap for a larger plug if the sump has enough meat around the plug hole.

Also, kudos for using a torque wrench but 38 Nm on an oily, fragile aluminium thread is actually quite high. I tend to go by feel nowadays, just enough to compress the crush washer a tad.