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Don't use a crescent wrench or a pair of pliers to try and remove it and you won't round it off!
Buy the correct sized 6 point socket, make sure it's on the head of the plug squarely, and use a long enough breaker bar or ratchet to get proper leverage - it will come out. Be sure to use a new seal when reinstalling, and torque the bolt correctly - then you won't have this problem in the future. Or do as BG did and install the drain valve.
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'09 LB/LB Clubman S
'69 Jaguar XK-E
'04 Audi Allroad Twin-Turbo
MMC#580
a couple of observations after doing oil, and wrestling the plug for several owners:
1. Unfortunately the drain plug is NOT 13mm as described in all the literature and service manuals. Take a good plug and your best 13mm socket/wrench and you'll find the fit is sloppy. Yes, a good 6 point socket will help minimize the slop but the truth is 1/2 inch is 12.7mm
That's a 1/2 wrench fitting nicely on an undamaged GEN1 oil plug.... no slop and very very little chance of rounding something off, even with a 12 point.... But if you already rounded it, well time to move on.
2. First time I had one of these beasts stick I too figured it was put on by a gorilla. By the third time I began to figure it might be something else and I've gotten to be very suspicious of the plastic integral seal used on the standard bung. Curiously HAYNES recommends using a new bung each time ... in the same way most cars with a sep' seal say to replace THAT with new each time.
3. I started using a Fumoto quite a few years back and was so happy that I tell anyone bringing a GEN1 to me for an oil change or 'how to', to make that investment and never look back. When this gizmo fits your application is is well worth the investment (note it does NOT work on a GEN2 as the drain is straight out the bottom and you don't want this gizmo hanging down.) Many manufacturers have certified this gizmo and some commercial equip comes with it. There are 2 versions, plain and one with a nipple that allows use of a length of tube to help direct the draining oil where you want it to go. I have seen one report of a person that said he could not get it to fit with the later power steering pump cooling duct but others have reported no problem and I've never had a problem myself. http://www.quickoildrainvalve.com/
4. If you still don't trust the Fumoto, the drain is a very common size and you could buy a plain replacement at any parts store and then use a standard fiber or soft metal seal.
5. If you've really rounded the end, you may need to invest in a decent set of 'extractors' and there are two basic types. The ones where you drill a hole and insert a sort of a tap...and the ones that go over the outside. For this problem I use the latter
i cant get the oil drian plug off for the life of me!
sooo fustrating lol
anyone else experiance this?
btw my mini is a 04
If you have not rounded the plug go to Harbor Freight and get one of the electric impact guns. They are around $20 and great for situations like this. The impact will likely get the plug out.
I have had to do this on several cars I have purchased where the owner took the car to a 'Jiffy Lube' type place. They don't worry about over tightening the plug because they have air tools.
When you put the plug back in make sure you only get it tight. Remember the oil pan is alumn.
4. If you still don't trust the Fumoto, the drain is a very common size and you could buy a plain replacement at any parts store and then use a standard fiber or soft metal seal.
The parts stores I contacted didn't have any drain plugs listed for any MINI. After I found out what the correct thread size was I went back and told them I needed an oil drain plug size 14x1.50. That they understood and said we have two different types, magnetic and non magnetic. I guess you have to talk in the language that they understand. Mines an 03 Cooper.
Which makes it so that the steel plug needs to be routinely replaced. I've been through 5 plugs setting it to factory spec. Which is better than the dealer having to replace the whole pan ofter their air tool debacle.
I fully understand why Mercedes has switched to the topside method of oil changes.
If you don;t go the topside method, I'd look into the valve as a viable option based on the experiences I've seen with them. It's usually on the first mods list.
I'm the latest to be a victim of the previous mechanic over-torquing the drain plug. (Wife's pre-owned 2005 MC - purchased last year at a non-MINI new car dealer's trade-in lot. Supposedly the car was just serviced and given a 100 point inspection, blah, blah, blah.)
So, since I do all the oil changes on all our vehicles, I figured it'd be a snap. Bought a new Mann filter, the 36mm socket to get the filter cartridge off, etc. Went under the car and 13mm box wrench wouldn't budge the plug, then a 6-pt 1./2" drive socket wouldn't do it either, and started rounding off the bolt.
(I have no idea if the dealer's own service department did the oil change, or they took it to "Iffy Lube," but that thing is REALLY ON THERE. It's the factory plug with that plastic/nylon washer thing, so that may be part of the problem too.)
THEN, I looked on the forums and found out the 13mm vs. 1/2" threads. So, looking at the various threads of how to deal with this same problem, I popped for the Irwin bolt remover set, but that didn't work. I just kept shaving metal off the bolt head, first with the 1/2" size, then the 7/16, then finally the 3/8. I just ended up with a round nub of metal.
Also tried heating the pan with a heat gun and cooling the plug with an ice cube (as suggested here), no dice. There was also a thread that insisted a small pipe wrench would do the trick but that did the most harm and was the least effective of all.
So, eventually I think I'm going to have to remove the pan and have a machine shop remove the plug. In the meantime I'm probalby going to do method of sucking the oil up through the dipstick tube, as I'll need to do that before I remove the pan anyway to avoid a big mess.
Thanks for all the advice...hopefully others will read these tips BEFORE getting in too deep.
There was also a thread that insisted a small pipe wrench would do the trick but that did the most harm and was the least effective of all.
.
Before using a pipe wrench you needed to make the remains of the nut SQUARE ISH with a file or dremel. It sounds like you were just trying to turn it....kept making it Rounder. To get ANY torque on a bolt, you must must grip it tightly....to do that it must have regular surfaces. Take it to a garage...they should know how to take a die-grinder or a file to it, square it of, and take a wrench to it. Unless someone put JB-WELD on it when they put it in to screw the next owner, it should come right out. You might need a breaker bar...but you should have no problem getting enough leverage if the sides of the bolt have been squared up. If the end if it is too small, or breaks off, there are still many things any resourceful mechanic can do to get it out without removing the pan!!
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l 2005 MCS l 11-04 Production l owned since new l RMW Tuned l Craven -17% Pulley l Craven Speed STD l Dinan CAI l JCW 380's l H&R 19 MM Swaybar l MSD Ignition l Power Steering Fan Duct l LightInSight l "EURO" MINI Armrest l Euro Parcel Shelf l Brake Light PULSAR(gen2)l Detroit Tuned Tensioner Stop l Blitzsafe/xmradio l Cobra 19IV CB l 4.5' Francis CB25 CB Antenna, mounted on the rear tow rig!!
Actually, I forgot to mention that part. At one point, I used a Dremel tool with a grinding stone to flatten the sides and create a rectangle shape. But the pipe wrench, and Vice Grips, just rounded it off once again.
Not sure how that thing got so stuck, but it just won't budge.
Eventually I'll remove the pan and have a machine shop get it out.
Wow....that is tight....might be worth replacing the pan if it is that tight....the threads must be or will be pretty messed up....maybe it was cross threaded, and forced all the way in, and it cut some new threads...of sorts. Just goes to show us all, there are a million pitfalls where things can go wrong!
i cant get the oil drian plug off for the life of me!
sooo fustrating lol
anyone else experiance this?
btw my mini is a 04
yup. My 03 purchased used upon my 1st oil change.
Had the creeper
Had the oil
Had the Filter
Even had the 1/2 box end wrench....up on some nice new ramps
But the drain plug was put on by Magilla Gorilla or some guy with an impact gun at a quicky lube. ( Some thing they have been known to do )
So I went back to where I purchased my MINI, Fortunately the tech outback at the lift repairing some used cars for the front line was a BMW fantatic. He put a torch on the pan, and it came right off. Apparently the plug and the pan are composed of different metals so they contract at different rates enabling the plug to come free.
They changed my oil that day - no charge. Now I swap out the plug every year or at least every 4 oil changes at 5K miles.
Good luck. Keep us posted, And if they do have to drop the pan, may as well have the tech put the whole pan into the parts washer, they come out like brand new, and after putting in a new gasket the bottom of your motor should be nice and dry for a long time.....
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2003 R53 - DS - 135K + Miles
Parts of MINI NOT Modded ( A Shorter List ) Block/Head/HK Stereo.
I've stripped one thanks to Magilla Gorilla and Not sure where I read it, but next time mine doesn't want to budge, I'll try warming up the engine and then holding an ice cube only on the drainplug head and see if that helps. And definitely 1/2", not 13mm.
'79; 02 S {02 - 09}, 07 S
For my heavy hauling :-)
Now I swap out the plug every year or at least every 4 oil changes at 5K miles.
