[bolkovac]

My fill plug is completely frozen. And now the bolt has rounded off (not by me, combo of Jiffy Lube and Dealer :duh. They were able to fill using some vent hole, but are telling me I may need to get a new housing. Sounds like a pretty expensive job. It is a pretty large diameter plug that looks to be steel that is in an aluminum housing.

Anyway, anybody have any ideas to get the thing out, or has anyone had this happen as well? They ordered me a replacement plug (still has not arrived after a week), but if I cant get this thing out, i'm not sure what good it's going to do. :bonk:

Thanks in advance!

 

[ilikemy3s]

Id say soak the hell out of it with a penatrating oil .. then see if you can get a pair of vise grips on it .. :m2:

 

[markarock]

There's a gasket under the plug, so I doubt penetrating oil will do much good.

Vice Grips are the next step for sure. Make sure that a Gorilla squeezes them shut. Make sure to use new Vise Grips, ones with sharp teeth. You may need to put a cheater bar on them, but the plug should come out. It can't be in THAT tight.

Yes, a new case would be expensive. Very.

Ingenious, putting gear oil in through the vent. I like it.

If all else fails, see if you can find a really long Sawzall blade and slice the head off the plug, then make some screwdriver slots in the cap flange, then go to work with a large but dull cold chisel. Perhaps you can loosen it that way.

If that doesn't work, perhaps you can eliminate the flange entirely with a sharp chisel. If so, that will eliminate the tension on the threaded portion and it will come out easily. You just need to be careful not to get filings/pieces inside the diff.

 

[MarcRocks]

I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as most people on here, but I would probably use my dremel to notch the head out and then use a big flat blade screwdriver or chisel. If you wanted to get really cool you could drill it out with a reverse/extraction bit.

 

[wagnewvt]

My two cents...

Make a trip to Sears, buy their large bolt extractor kit and try that.

Be prepared for the fill plug to get stuck in the extractor (happened to me on a different bolt) and having to toss that extractor (but you've still got the rest of the set).

Even if it does get stuck, one extractor is still a lot cheaper than a new housing.

 

[glfredrick]

If it is a steel plug, just weld a new nut to it. It will come out.

Some dufus at a quickie lube used his Chinese import wrench on it and boogered up the threads.

NAPA and other parts houses sell a full line of self-threading replacement plugs for almost every application. I'm sure they could find one that will fix your problem. If not, it is fairly quick work with a pipe tap to make the hole fit a pipe plug of the correct size. No pressure in that housing, just has to hold back the oil, so that would work to fix it in a worst-case scenario. You certainly do not have to repalce the housing -- that is stupid talk. Find another mechanic or oil change place. You are dealing with monkeys, not mechanics -- or even better, technicians.

 

[Robert1101]

If Jiffy lube rounded it off then Jiffy Lube should pay for all expenses incurred in the repair. My Grand daughter just got a new engine in her Honda due to Jiffy Lube not putting the drain plug in correctly.

 

[the roadie]

The vent tube is the emergency fill tactic, yes. I've never needed to try heat on mine, but a vise grip and pipe handle are the traditional strong-arm methods for that kind of problem.

There are special sockets for this problem, one of them is called "Grip Tite", but I forget the exact size of the one for this plug. If you can refill from the vent tube, and only do it every 50K miles, I see no reason to spend any money on a new diff for something you will only do 1-3 more times while you own the vehicle. Drilling a couple of holes in the plug and making a pin spanner wrench would be a better solution than replacing the diff for this. Dealer's looking to spend your money for no reason.

 

[TrailVoy]

Craftsman Bolt-outs

worth their weight in gold.. :hail:

 

[WOOLUF1952]

Is there enough room and enough head left to use a pipe wrench?:m2: