From experience the expandable rubber plugs are not the best LONG term
solution.  They do work in the short term, but in my experience they also
leak...  and they leak worse each time you remove/replace it.  It's never
enough to notice the oil loss between changes, but it is enough to leave an
oil stain wherever you park.  In my case I am fortunate, I have a TiiCo, and
the oil pan has three location I can drain it from.  After driving 10k mi
with the rubber plug while hoping to find a proper bolt that was longer than
stock that good grab what was left of good threads to no avail, I managed to
get the stock bolt back in and loctite'd it.  Now I just use on of the two
allen-headed plugs and never touch the normal drain plug.

The "right" solution is to either replace the oil pan, or drop it and take
it to a machine shop for repair.  I personally would not try to repair it on
the van.

----- Original Message -----
From: "George Goff" <THX0001@AOL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 2:13 PM
Subject: Re: [VANAGON] Heli-Coil an Engine Oil Drain? / From the Real World

> In a message dated 7/21/05 4:52:28 PM, rogersisler2000@YAHOO.COM writes:
>
> << Plug the drain hole with jb weld stick. >>
>
> What is this fixation on JB Weld?  If you want the lowest tech repair, get
a
> piece of well seasoned hardwood and bung the thing.  I'll bet there are
work
> boats used every day on the Chesapeake that have had such repairs in place
for
> more than fifty years.  I once made a temporary filler plug for a chainsaw
oil
> tank by sanding a hardwood dowel to a slight taper then gashing some
threads
> in it with a three corner file.  Although I meant to get a new plug, that
day
> has never come.
>
> All kidding aside, I think the best road for Barry to follow is to use an
> expansion repair plug made just for the purpose at hand.
>
> George