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Drain plug glued to the oil pan - how should I approach?

I'm for the biggest set of vise grips you can find. Set for the absolute, one time only, Hail Mary, amount of muscle you can muster to lock them. Make sure the vise grips are facing the right direction and apply a 3 ft. section of water pipe. Be sure to protect your hands and elbows for when something gives.

I had to remove the pan once on my '81. Lifting the engine with 4x4s and chain. Then dropping the cross member. I had the green manuals but the specified "undue the pan and twist it" just would not work for me. It was a dirty, greasy, nightmare.
 
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fatcatbestcat said:
The bolt head is already too stripped for me to actually get it off. A wrench + hammer just resulted in the wrench falling off.
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Even in your blurry photo it actually doesn't look that bad-- did you try a 6-point socket as was suggested at least a couple of times? (4 times). :nod:
fatcatbestcat said:
DSC00944.JPG
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tintintin said:
Even in your blurry photo it actually doesn't look that bad-- did you try a 6-point socket as was suggested at least a couple of times? (4 times). :nod:
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It's still a gamble if he can't get underneath to look at it while turning the bolt. At least for me, I've never had any luck going at a stuck bolt blind. Just how low is the 144 that it can't be jacked up sufficiently?
 
iamrolling said:
It's still a gamble if he can't get underneath to look at it while turning the bolt. At least for me, I've never had any luck going at a stuck bolt blind. Just how low is the 144 that it can't be jacked up sufficiently?
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It's not jacking the car up that I'm worried about here - it's the getting-underneath-it part.
There's a lot of rust under the car, and I'm afraid of bashing myself against something and ending up in the ER.

DSC00946.JPG

This isn't in the pan area, but you get the idea.

I think at least for now I've solved the problem with the vacuum pump. It's not ideal by any stretch, but I appear to have drained most of the oil out so I can actually top it off again for the first-time startup.

EDIT: Plus, if the threads are gacked on the drain plug, I might be better off leaving it in there to prevent a) an oil leak and b) prevent me needing to replace the pan, which would involve pulling the engine. If I was able to do that, I'd have done it a long time ago. Just don't have much space in the garage.
 
fatcatbestcat said:
It's not jacking the car up that I'm worried about here - it's the getting-underneath-it part.
There's a lot of rust under the car, and I'm afraid of bashing myself against something and ending up in the ER.

DSC00946.JPG

This isn't in the pan area, but you get the idea.

I think at least for now I've solved the problem with the vacuum pump. It's not ideal by any stretch, but I appear to have drained most of the oil out so I can actually top it off again for the first-time startup.

EDIT: Plus, if the threads are gacked on the drain plug, I might be better off leaving it in there to prevent a) an oil leak and b) prevent me needing to replace the pan, which would involve pulling the engine. If I was able to do that, I'd have done it a long time ago. Just don't have much space in the garage.
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rare wisdom on TB
That car looks like more rust than metal.
I see why you can't jack it up, no metal to put jack under.
leave the plug in, there is nothing to be gained by cracking pandora's plug
 
fatcatbestcat said:
It's not jacking the car up that I'm worried about here - it's the getting-underneath-it part.
There's a lot of rust under the car, and I'm afraid of bashing myself against something and ending up in the ER.

DSC00946.JPG

This isn't in the pan area, but you get the idea.

I think at least for now I've solved the problem with the vacuum pump. It's not ideal by any stretch, but I appear to have drained most of the oil out so I can actually top it off again for the first-time startup.

EDIT: Plus, if the threads are gacked on the drain plug, I might be better off leaving it in there to prevent a) an oil leak and b) prevent me needing to replace the pan, which would involve pulling the engine. If I was able to do that, I'd have done it a long time ago. Just don't have much space in the garage.
Click to expand...

Even with the body rust, there has to enough solid frame and cross-member to use for a jack points, or the car won't even be driveable. Use the cars frame to lift and safely support it(put a piece of wood in between if you're concerned). If a wrench doesn't work there are other methods to remove stubborn bolts.

You'll want to remove the old plug, and if the threads are stripped, you can try chasing the threads(several threads on this forum about this), or re-thread to the next size. The idea is, you want to drain the gunk out the bottom of the pan. You shouldn't need to remove the pan to do this next step(you haven't determined if the pan threads are stripped).

* Also it's August, unless you live in Antarctica why work in a cramped garage ?
 
I don't blame him for not wanting to crawl under that mess, but it really should be structurally sound enough to lift a corner. Otherwise it would bend in half the first time it hit a bump.
 
Man.... That thing is crusty. I'd get that thing towed out of the garage and cut my losses. Either have a shop go over the car to make sure you're not throwing good money after bad, or just find a better candidate to work on once you have a larger (and safer) work space.
 
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