OK, This is a rather back-a** approach to the fix but.... I had to heli-coil
mine. I could not get it to sit perfectly square in there so, like you, it
would drip. I went to the Hardware store, bought a package of garden hose
rubber washers and grind them down a little and pop one on the drain bolt
before I put it in. It seals fine and I use each for two oil changes then
grind a new one down. Cost: 1-2$. Time: 30 sec in the lil electric grinding
wheel. Keeping oil off the floor in the garage: priceless  :-)

Mikey
`87 Westy

-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Bosch [mailto:arbosch@RA.ROCKWELL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2001 9:58 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Oil drain plug and Heli-coil

Volks,
Some time ago, in Phred's distant and troubled past, some goof-ball,
air-gun-toting, quicky lube-jiffy change,
looking-for-the-engine-under-the-FRONT-of-the-bus type, mechanic (HA!!),
musta cross threaded the oil drain plug back into the case (or maybe it was
a dealer tech...?).  Anyhoo...  there's a heli-coil in the hole, as I found
out over the weekend, and the copper crush washer used with the drain bolt
does not seem to seal very vell, resulting in little drips of oil that my
two-year-old started playing with today.

Is it possible to get these crush washers in different sizes?  List
vendors?  Or just FLAP-it...?

Alan Bosch
& Phred ('88 Wolfsburg)