WHY do techs at a dealership have to use impact wrenches to tighten the oil drain plug ? I really thought since Mini was a BMW product, the techs MIGHT have been trained to act like humans rather than monkeys, and assume an owner might want to change his oil/filter at a more-frequent-than-recommended interval. I need a damned impact wrench to get the thing off, and neither a socket nor box-end wrench (with some coaxing by a rubber mallet) would budge it. I'm NOT paying for a new drain plug, I cannot wait until they try to charge me to replace this chewed-up one at my first service.

 

Then what will you do?

 

Have a calm talk with the service manager and explain that if a tech acted like a human and didn't put the drain plug on with an impact wrench then this needn't have happened, and failing him agreeing to pay for the new drain plug, I'll go get my salesperson to pay for it. And he will, he's a sensible guy.

 

why would a tech need to use an impact wrench for a drain plug???
that makes no sense at all. i can't believe the drain bolt is that tight, you should be able to just remove it with minor force.

i'm really not trying to be jack@ss but are you positive that you're losing the bolt and not applying more torque? hey you never know right!!!

good luck!

 

I was implying that an impact wrench was used. It's so tight that I cannot remove it. Yes, I was attempting to loosen the bolt, attempting to back it out in a counterclockwise direction. I also assumed that minor force would have removed it, I was surprised (but in the 35 years that I have owned cars, this is certainly not the first time that a technician has over-tightened a drain plug).

It just really cheesed me off because I had intended to get this done today.

 

the real tradgedy here is that it isn't the drain plug that you'll be replacing, it'll be the oil pan. I sincerely hope you are still under warrentee, cause a new oil pan is EXPENSIVE! There are oversized plugs and helicoil kits, but that too is more work($$$). The plugs are steel and the pan is aluminum. If anything strips out, it'll be the aluminum. Check out a Fumoto valve( I'll post a link to this post in a couple of minutes) cheap insurance against chimps in mechanic's clothing. I feel your pain. Jock

http://www.fumotovalve.com/

 

Yeah I had my concerns but this is a quaility product and makes oil changes a snap.

 

It was most likely overtightened like the OP said, but aluminum and steel DO tend to have a galvanic reaction that will make it seize up somewhat. Always use a small dab of Anti-Seize when screwing a steel bolt (or spark plug) into aluminum.

Rawhyde

PS The overtightening is a little extra you get for paying $120/hr for service. (If under warranty, you didn't pay it but MINIUSA paid it to the stealership.)

 

sorry about your problem. good luck!

 

Did I read correctly that you still haven;t had your first service? If so, then who would be the one overtightening?

Paul

 

I was just about to ask the same question...he said it will be his first service... So that could only leave the factory that tightened it...unless there's something he's not telling us

 

mine was on super tight as well... but a box wrench with a few
gentle (?) taps with a 32oz mallet made the work a breeze.

 

If I had a buck for every customer that used to come to my parts counter to get an over-sized, self tapping oil drain plug because some idiot used an impact wrench to tighten down the original plug..... well I could buy some cool Mini suff!

 

Why should your Salesperson be asked to pay for it? Does he do double duty back in the Service Department? He would be even more of a victim in this situation than you are.

 

I had this same thing happen to me after my first service. I had to get a special socket that hammered onto the drain plug and dug into the metal to remove it. I replaced it with a Fumoto valve, but then I had a problem with that vibrating against the power steering fan housing. The fan housing had to be notched to solve that problem.

 

Also consider taking your spark plugs out, applying some antiseize on the threads and putting them back in. This will ensure that when you need to replace the plugs at some future date, they won't seize and ruin the threads in your head.

YD

 

I don't know if you've tried it but if you've got 2 combination wrenches (box end on one side, open on the other) you can put the box end on the drain plug and then "hook" the box end of a second wrench on the open end of the first wrench. (confused yet? )
That should get you a long enough lever that you can get the required torque to get the plug loose.

 

They probably did it on purpose for doing something like calling the technician a F#@$ing monkey. In all seriousness even if the drainplug on my car is torqued to spec. it still requires a 12" long 13mm box end wrench I found at the local hardware store. It's like that every time. Once the initial torque is removed it comes out by hand. If you are going to do your own oil, better get a longer wrench, just some friendly advice.

 

It was not a MINI, but another car with a STEEL drain pan that this story refers to.

I helped a friend get a tight drain plug out once. We got a cheap box wrench and put it on the remnants of the drain plug, then welded the box wrench to the plug. after using a hammer to losen it, we used a cut off wheel to shorten the wrench enough to unscrew the plug. We were fortunate that the pan was not damaged, and we, amused the parts counter guy when we showed up with the plug welded into a wrench. His comment was, "gee, I guess you wanted that out". Our answer was , "yah".

On the other extreme, I had an oil plug fall out of a car, and empty the pan.....


John