Ed,

You have gotten excellent advice from Jim and Dennis about that drain
plug and thread repair. The one thing I would add is that you should
absolutely use the correct torque value on the plug when tightening it.
Per Bentley - back cover - it is 18 Ft Lbs. No less. No more. The
incorrect torquing of that plug is most often - though not always - the
source of the problems with it in the first place. People ignore it,
forget it, find it inconvenient at the moment, don't have the torque
wrench handy, whatever - many reasons - and simply reef on it with a
wrench. That approach  eventually  leads to oil plug boss thread
failure. By plug boss I mean the area in the engine case that is
threaded to receive the plug. It being aluminum, over-torque that sucker
even once, and I guarantee sooner or later there will be thread failure,
then the whole host of plug aggravations will come to visit you.

Once you get the case repaired with the proper thread kit, from then on,
use the correct torque on that sucker!!  18 Ft Lbs.

Best of Luck!

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Ed Wiebe wrote:
> I come to the list with a problem and hopefully a solution.
> The last few times I have changed the oil, when I remove the oil drain plug I get the plug left in a Helicoil.  In other words the helicoil or time sert unscrews with the drain plug.  I managed to get a plastic type washer over the helicoil thing and have put that back in.  The drain plug is so tight in the helicoil that I can't separate the two.
> The helicoil with the drain plug and washer can be screwed back in, but there are always a few drops of oil on my driveway after a drive.
> I'm sure it is just a matter of time before the helicoil will strip the thread in the block and that's not a good thing!
> What is the best way to proceed to get a permanent solution?
>
> Ed Wiebe
> 1990 Westfalia
>
>
>