i am new to the forums here, but i hope you can help a noob out! i am fairly good at mechanical stuff...but this was my 1st atv oil change. i did the oil change no prob but when i had to put the drain plug back in i stripped the drain plug hole (bottom of crankcase)!!! so what i need to know is what size of a helicoil do i need to buy..i would assume its a metric bolt? any help would be greatful.. thank you

 

take your oil drain plug to the parts store and find one that fits it..

 

oops,welcome to the forums[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

You can get a slightly larger self tapping drain plug at most autoparts store's, and since the case is aluminum it should work great. Hope this help's.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Take it to a machine shop and cut new threads. the last thing you want is for your oil plug to fall out on the trail.

 

thanks alot for the help....sucks that i messed it up and its only 4 months old! hard way to learn my lesson! just bought a torque wrench today! im gonna go and get the helicoil...seems the most effective way. thanks guys

 

A machine shop will retap it for $20 bucks or less.

if that helicoil comes out it will cost more than that.

 

Machine shop probably won't tap it in place, to much of a risk of getting metal shaving's in the motor. If your pretty good mechanically you can pick up a new drain plug , just make sure it's one size bigger and get the right size tap and tap it yourself , a tap run's about $10, just be very carefull and flush the motor throughly when your done with fresh oil to get ride of any metal shaving's that may have gotten in there, metal shaving's and motor bearing's don't play well together. Hope this help's[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

A lousy machine shop wouldn't fix it. A good 1 would have it fixed in a few minutes right then and there and tell you to drain the oil a few times before running it. I have used helicoils before. They are a temporary fix if you ask me. I've seen stripped and repaired spark plug holes many times. They get loose and start sucking air or blow the spark plug out right on the trail.

Personnaly i could never ride on a bike knowing my oil was being held in by a stripped bolt with a spring around it.

Just so you know You will have to tap it for the helicoil anyway. If your doing that then whats the point of the helicoil?

 

There is no need for the heli coil, i said get the next size drain plug and tap the case to the size of the new plug, it's just that simple.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]