>"When a mechanic recently looked under the rear end of my van, not from the
>garage I usually used he said oh, the drain plug has been replaced by a
>broken spark plug. Sure enough next time I crawled underneath I have a
>spark plug for a drain plug, apparently it is quite a common thing as the
>threads are the same."

That's great to know.  I guess I'll keep one of those used plugs.

I did end up finally getting the bolt out.  The problem was that it had been
totally stripped.  Like almost circular.  I tried adjustable wrenches,
vice-grip pliers, plumber's wrenches, tapping the side with a screwdriver,
hammering 13mm (then 12mm) sockets onto it...absolutely nothing would work.

Ultimately a friend with a dremel bored out the middle and between some
hefty drilling, a #5 bolt extractor, and a socket wrench with a plumber's
wrench torquing on the end of it...we managed to break it free.  I don't
know how much force was used last time it was put on, but that bastard was
on there.

When I brought the removed bolt into a small local auto parts store to get a
match, the guy looked at it for a while and said: "I don't think we have one
like this."  I assured him that that was fine and in fact I would rather get
one that actually had 8 distinct sides and without a huge hole bored down
the middle.

He apparently thought it was some special VW part.

yeah, those crazy Germans and their circular bolts.

Connal

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