Yabo

i took out the drain plug on the radiator today and drained the fluid. looked ati tbefore i put it back in, 2 loops of thread were wrapped around it (presumably from the hole in the radiator). screw turned in fine, but doesnt tighten. it will finger tighten, but one little turn with the wrench and its loose again. this drain plug is a 17mm bolt, not a screwdriver blue plug like i've seen others say. any tips on what i should do now? not sure if it'll seal with it like that. should i just put tons of locktight or even maybe formagasket on it and put it finger tight? or what?

Shutemup

Was it the threads or does it maybe have a helicoil in there?

Tom M'Guinn

I think they were all the blue plastic plugs originally, although it went from M10 x 1.0 to M10 x 1.5 between 86 and 87, according to Clark's Garage. You may want to get the right plug first and see if it works -- the radiator threads might be ok, never know. If impatient, you can pick up an M10 x 1.0 bolt and see if it threads in -- perhaps after running a tap in the radiator hole. You will be better off fixing it like that, than trying to glue the plug with locktight or something. However, if you are not in the mood for my "high road" advice, and just want it to stay in there, forever, then go buy some JB Weld and just exopy the snot out of it. Nothing else comes close to the mighty JB Weld.

Tom M'Guinn

By the way, if you pull the radiator, I'm sure a radiator shop could fix it properly too.

Red 944

Don't know the sizes, but I'd drill it out and re-tap it and get a new bolt.
Or if you're a heli-coil kinda guy, do that.
If you can't do either - I'd put a rubber o-ring on it to get it tight and seal it without using the rear threads in the radiator, and then bring it over to someone that can.