Oil drain plug problems 7.3 powerstroke

[AlanB]

I have a high milage (200,000) 99 Ford F350 4x4 with the 7.3.

The guy before me used the quickie lube places to do the oil changes.

When I did my last (first for me) I saw it had a cheater plug in the drain pan.

One of these New Page 2

So I went to tighten (with my fingers) this thing up and the bolt snapped, which leaves me with the remainder of the bolt and the butterfly up inside my oil pan.

By all accounts I can find the pan will not come off mine while the engine is in the truck.

The three options I see and their plusses and minuses are below.

1. Leave the wing there (we spent a couple hours trying to get it out last night without success) put in a good repair plug and drive on.

Plus, quick, easy, going tonight.
minus, will always wonder if that wing is going to float into something valuable. Most discussions seem to conclude that it will hide under that baffle and hang out at the bottom. A couple little super powerfull eraser sized magnets chased through the hole and put inside the pan should also help to capture anything metallic.

2. Drill a large hole, 3 or 4" diameter, remove the crud, clean, and weld back in place, possibly top coating weld area with two part stick type epoxy to help seal any pinholes / porosity that is almost certain to occur in this scenario.

Plus, cheap, fairly easy, will know the stuff is out and can then repair the plug area back to new.

Minus, prone to leak, always a potential to fire up the truck or a slight potential to cook electronics (although minimal with Mig) Welding overhead, on an oil pan that cannot be truly and thoroghly cleaned with residual oil dripping into where I want to weld is sure to lead to some additional frustrations. Thin material will prevent running a nice hot continuous bead (could be worked around potentially) There is also a potential to cause more damage when drilling.

3. Pull the engine, pull the pan, fix it right (the dipstick seal is leaking slightly as well) and put it all back together.

Plus, it would be fixed "right"

Minus, it would probably be expensive, when I start doing that type thing, I start finding more and more that I "may as well take care of while I am there"
It would be time consuming just to do the R&R.
I need the truck to run NOW while the big landscaping jobs are ongoing.

What would be your thoughts 1,2 or 3 or is there some technique I missed.

Yes, if I could get that dang thing out, I would put a cutter plug in, in a flash and not think a second thought, I had it over the hole twice, had pliers on it, but could not manuever it to come out of the hole and currently cannot locate it in the pan. I have a feeling that it is now three legged, looking like a big T, the butterfly, as well as the remains of the threaded bolt that was through it. Not sure if they are all hung together, or if they are drifting around apart.

The hole is 14mm which is 9/16.

Thanks for any advice

Added on edit, thinking of pushing a couple of these magnets up through the hole to keep everything in place.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...r=1&kw=magnet&origkw=magnet&parentPage=search

 

[firemanpat2910]

if you think parts are still close to drain hole, add a quart of oil and see if it washes it to the hole. magents, claws, mirrors, and such on flexable shafts might help. Also the pan wouldnt have to come all the way off, remove all bolts drop as far as possible then tilt, wiggle and shake to get parts either over drain or into a corner then magnet out?
when all done replace plug with fumoto valve

 

[3RRL]

Magnet should work.

 

[Skyco]

A couple of things- the Powerstroke pan is sealed on with a special silicone material that is as tough as it comes...you most likely aren't gonna break the seal loose with the engine in the truck without damaging the pan.
You already have a pretty big hole in the side where the dipstick goes in, around 2" or so. Carefully remove the dipstick assembly, being sure not to drop the inside part into the pan, you said it is leaking and needs a seal anyway. Fish around from there and see if you can pull it out the larger dipstick hole....

 

[kennyd]

You could also try a big magnet and try to "drag" the part closer to the hole.

 

[DieselPower]

As was mentioned already the silicone used is rather strong. It has a high aluminum content and the factory tool to remove the pan is basically a blade with a handle and a place on the back of the head to hit with a hammer. It is driven between the pan and the block and driven around the outside edge to cut the silicone. If all else fails I could always mail you one of mine to use if it becomes a last resort.

Yes, in most applications you do have to remove the engine to pull the pan, especially on 4x4's. I usually found all I had to do was remove the motor mount bolts and pick up the engine as high as I could until the turbo would touch the firewall/cowl to gain just enough clearance to get the pan out. It's a very tight fit but can be done.

My first option would be to fish the wing/toggle nut out. You will probably not be able to get to it with a regular extendable type magnet. What I usually do in this case is get a good strong but small magnet and glue it to a cut off coat hanger. The coat hanger is nice and flexible and much easier to fish around in the pan through the rather small drain plug hole. Keep your fingers crossed the nut is not stainless. You can also get magnets on flexible shafts, I have a few but still find the coat hanger method works best through very small holes. It's much easier to manipulate due to it's small diameter and hey, there cheap.

I would highly recommend against leaving it in the pan and driving around with it. The last thing you want is it getting kicked around in the pan by the crank. Does the new plug have a built in magnet on it? If not this might be another option. Install a magnetic drain plug and try rocking the truck back and forth after the truck has warmed up. The oil's thinner at operating temp and hopefully the nut will get sloshed around twords the magnetic drain plug and stick to it.

 

[Diamondpilot]

All are good suggestions. I had a plug break off in a 300M. I had to drill it out in the pan. I then poured about 5 gallons of diesel, back then fuel was cheap, down the oil fill to flush out all the chip. You may just try pouring some diesel in it with no oil and see what it flushes out.

Chris

 

[tommu56]

What about pushing a magnet (cow magnet) in through plug hole that should capture wing thing and hold it in place.

tommu

 

[AlanB]

Thanks guys, I let it sit last night, SWMBO ran the tractor out of fuel doing Sod yesterday so I got to go get it going so they can finish.

Will the dipstick come out with the engine in? Is there a boss or something welded on to the pan or is it like a bulkhead fitting where you have to be holding from inside the pan? That may be a great option.

I picked up those little rare earth magnets yesterday, They are super strong for their size and 1/8" in diameter. I was thinking of supergluing one to the end of a 1/8" aluminum welding rod and going fishing with that. Sounds much like what DP and others are suggesting, but the coat hanger may be better as then the entire length would be magnetic. I do like the idea of going through the dipstick hole though.

Either tonight or tomorrow night sounds like it is time to go fishing again.

Thanks

 

[crashz]

I agree with the magnet fishing. However I want to point out that there has been problems with those oil pans rotting out on many, many 7.3L Powerstokes up here in the "salt belt". My father's 95 went through two with only 65K miles on it. I doubt you guys have as much corrosive material on your roads, but it is worth taking a look at the whole pan. The front takes a beating here.

Good Luck Alan!