Stripped oil drain plug - help!

I went to change my oil tonight and found my drain plug stripped! The hex only turns inside the plug which seems to be totally rounded over. It was obviously over torqued by the dealer. I can't believe they left it like that!! Does anybody have any good suggestions on how to get it off? I only have 4 ideas so far: 1) Getting some sort of epoxy / metal adhesive to glue in the 8mm hex and hoping it will bond enough to get the stupid thing off? 2) Getting a suitable tap drill so I can tap the drain plug and then insert a screw with a nut which I can then use to turn the thing out. 3) Trying a 9mm hex and banging it in - probably not such a good idea? 4) Clamping the plug with a vice grip locking plier and hoping it will hold enough to get the thing off - probably not a good idea? I have a new drain plug so I'm not worried about totally destroying the one that's in there, which is obviously no good anyway... :helpme:

i had to do option 2.

Option 4 would be the first thing I'll do. Get a good grip around the plug and go for your life. Then move to option 2 if that doesn't work.

Couple other ideas. One is sort of an option 2a. Drill for Easy Out. Or you could try and see if inch size allen or torx would pick up enough to remove.

+1. -A 5/16" allen is 7.94 mm, so the next size up will probably be too big. -I would try an easy-out rather than drill & tap (if you tap, left hand & a left hand bolt would help - but both are uncommon - hence the easy-out suggestion). -If all else fails, you can cut a big screw-driver slot in it using a ziz-wheel (abrasive disk) in a die-grinder; then use a large screw-driver and apply torque using a wrench. Good luck!

You can also use a grinder and put a slot across the face. Then you can use a chisel to gently tap the drain plug to spin it off. Having purchased a car that had been recently serviced by a well-known Porsche dealership who had not replaced the plug , I had to do the same. The experience led me to make new drain plugs...

This could be a tough one. The trouble is that the plug is aluminum, I believe and most extractors depend on gripping the inside of a drilled hole. There are also "non twisted" extractors with four sides, they may work better in soft materials. You have to pound them in however, which might be a risk. They look like a four-sided chisel. Or, a left hand drill might work if you can come up with one. If it's torqued tight enough to strip the allen faces however that might not work. Chiseling is OK but you also run the risk of slipping and mashing up the engine case. I got one out with a small flat punch by drilling a small hole offset from the center and knocking it out gradually, but that was in an old 911 . I had the engine out and plenty of access. I'd take to a dealer and put the possible damage on them if all else fails.

What are the specs on the new drain plug that you made? I recently found that a GORILLA must have put my current drain plug in last time... I managed to get it out, but am not comfortable w/ the hex slot anymore.. thx JT

I had the same problem, I was able to get the bolt out using a black & decker screw extractor set, I had to cut the tip off the #5 bit in order to get it to grab. the bit was too long otherwise... It worked flawlessly and required no drilling or hammering... These photos are of my oil drain plug from my Boxster 987, I replaced the drain plug with a drain plug from Pelican Parts , it was listed as a drain plug for 986 but it worked fine. BTW: I tried options 1, 3, 4, and they all failed before I did option2

Dido on the screw extractor. This is the easiest safest way I could think of when I stripped my bolt. It was painless and took about a minute to remove with no mess.

That's the option I'd choose. This has gotta be a routine problem for the mechanics, based on the feedback in this thread. If so, then they have a standard approach for the fix. Good luck, and let us know how it turned out. John

I don't think over tightening it would strip the hex. I suspect the threads in the oil pan would strip before a 'properly' sized hex tool would strip the hex hole in the plug. I bet this damage was caused by someone using the incorrect hex tool, not by applying too much torque. Maybe someone tried to remove it with an U.S. sized tool instead of the proper metric tool. I always use a torque wrench to torque my drain plug, because I'm worried about stripping the threads in the aluminum pan, and because I don't want to over crush the washer. 36 ft-lbs baby. But even with a torque wrench, if the wrong hex tool is used, kiss that drain plug goodbye.

Bingo. From above, "A 5/16" allen is 7.94 mm" (vs 8.0). That would do the trick.

Thanks to everyone for their valuable input. I'm gonna get a black & decker screw extractor set and try to get it out that way. If that fails, I'll take it to the dealer. Thanks again!

I found mine striped when I went to change the oil for myself. I had the oil changed at a ezlube. What pisses me off is they striped it, knew they stripped it then gave me the car back without telling me....

You really took your Porsche to an ezlube? I wouldn't take my 4Runner with 135,000 miles to one of those places. Careless barbarians.

Has anyone tried the "engine oil drain valve" that became available in the recent automotion/performance products catalog (pg50)for caymans ? I used this on my 911 and it made draining 9 quarts a simple task. I am not sure if the cayman has adequate ground clearance, but after reading the issues others have had with the factory plug I was thinking a one time install might be a good thing!

Oh my... Please tell me your kidding.... Did you really take a Cayman to EZlube....? Do they even have 0w-40 Mobil 1 ?

Ya they had 0w-40 mobil 1 . I Usually change the oil myself and was going on vacation and just didn't have time to do it myself. The price was good if the service didn't suck. It was $90 or so not bad since the oil by its self is $60.

Sounds like you got the price wrong. It was $90 + a new drain plug and the hassle of discovering you needed one. You were lucky. You got the promotional price. I know a few people who paid $90 + a new oil pan to fix the stripped threads.

I changed the oil for the first time last night on my '09' C2S. The drain plug was a major pain to remove. I thought the allen head socket was going to break or strip out the plug before it released. Next up the oil filter housing. Another pain to release. I'd suggest the Porsche tool or similar. Just in case some are not aware the filter is in a different location and the filter is a new part, considerably longer on the gen 2. Post drain plan: 1. Get the LN Engineering drain plug . 2. Get the Porsche oil filter tool. I've used the parts store filter cup tools on past P cars but they were marginal at best.

I don't have access to an 09 PET lookup, so I'm not sure the drain plug is the same until someone actually can verify for us that it fits. The filter definitely is different from the MY97-08 arrangement, so our spin on filter adapter does not fit.

Had same problem. Used this extractor, the 1/4 inch size worked perfect. 10 bucks for the set at HD.

i realize this is an old topic but thought i would give a +1 to "rangers" tip...i was almost positive i was going to run into this issue on the next oil change as i felt the plug begin to strip as i torqued it to spec on the last oil change. Sure enough when attempting to change the oil this morning everything i tried simply made things worse. After fighting with it for a good hour i finally gave up and took a quick trip to Home Depot to pick up a set of these extractor bits and was able to break the plug loose in less than a minute. I already purchased the LN Engineering drain plug to avoid this issue moving forward but for those who haven't i would definitely recomend picking up a set from HD if you ever run into this problem

I'm sorry to have to say this but the dealer didn't ruin the drain plug my guess is you probably did. What happens is the plug 's wrench bit hole is such a close fit to properly sized wrench bit that some air resistance is felt and this fools the home/inexperienced home mechanic into thinking the wrench is fully inserted. It is not. The wrench is turned and with the wrench being inserted maybe only half way the drain plug wrench bit hole gets stripped. To get the stripped drain plug out avoid any technique that requires hammering on the thing. You do not want to compromise the oil pan's seal to the engine nor do you want to damage the very critical sealing surface that is at the drain hole in the oil pan. Carefully driling a hole into the center of the drain plug while a friend/helper holds a shop vac at the drill bit to pull any drill swarf away is recommended. Use an easy out to carefully remove the drain plug . Be sure the sealing face of the hole is undamaged. Get a new drain plug and a new sealing ring and when you install or remove the drain plug in the future be sure that 1) You use a tool bit of the proper size; Every time you go to remove or install the drain plug you are 100% sure that you insert the bit *all* the way into the drain plug ; 3) You use a torque wrench to avoid over tightening the drain plug . Following proper procedure the drain plug should be for many oil changes. I had one last for dozens of changes both by the dealer and myself only to in a moment of foolhardiness take the car to a quicky lube joint which upon the next time the drain plug was removed it was found to be damaged much like your's. Learned my lesson.

This is EXACTLY what happened to me 5 years ago. I was so traumatized that I bribe others to do it for me ever since and I have 5 spare drain plugs around... :crazy:

I use a LN plug now and it will probably last me forever, but if you prefer the stock plug they're $5. Use a new plug on every oil change and avoid these problems :cheers:

Has anyone tried putting Fumoto valve instead of the drain plug on 987's? I did it on my old 928, but did not get to test it as car got flooded a couple of months later. It did work flawlessly during "dry testing" and in theory should have made oil replacement much easier and less of a mess...

Anything that extends down is at risk of getting damaged even torn away. Just keep the factory drain plug .

Didn't realize that on 987s, drain plug is on the bottom of the oil pan. It was on a side on 928s... But if it fits under the belly pan, I would assume your risk is minimal - if you are hitting something that takes out your undertray, oil pan will be not be the biggest worry.

See if a TORX bit fits in it snuggly....

Use a dremmel with a cut off wheel to grind an X into the plug , then use an hand impact screwdriver. On or two good taos is all you should need. Might be just as easy to cut a catch (slot at an angle) so you can use a chisel or punch to tap it loose.