Paul C 944

Careful not to strip it!!

jason952

I think am impact wrench is the wrong idea, the will strip the allen pattern. keep with the heat.

Granite 944

I totally agree, if you are using a cheap, poorly fitting plug tool. I had the same problem getting the drain plug out while in one of my cars. I ended up using heat to expand the casing far enough to loosen up the thread grip in there. I noticed, that I had to use a fair amount of heat to the area around the casing. I used my acetelyne burning torch with a #0 tip in it. You must get heat to fairly large area around the plug, at a pretty good rate, in order for the heat method to work. A soldering iron, small cannister propane torch, will not always deliver enough heat, fast enough in order to do this. Please note, you must take care doing this, as you can easily damage/distort the alluminum casing, or adjacent parts if not very careful. You are also heating an enclosed casing with oil in it......be careful. It wouldn't hurt, since you have tranny on the floor, to drain the oil out the other hole, or at least remove the plug, so any pressure build up inside can escape the casing durring the heating process. I hesitate to suggest this approach, but if done carefully, it will work. Also note, there is said to be two different size allens for these plugs. You could have that situation also. I have also used the (IIRC) 3/4" bolt head in the plug, with a double nut on it, smack the crap out of it, (don't break the casing!) and used a wrench on the inner nut to remove plug also. I also need to get a good quality set of the proper allen sockets to remove these plugs with. I also suggest you replace the plug with a new one, and anti-seize the threads, and do not overtorque it. Good luck.

RJB

I have a good fitting tool, but the plug is starting to deform. I did just purchase an impact driver and was going to try this to wake up the plug and get it moving. I was hoping that the driver would be a bit easier to handle than an impact wrench and still have the same affect. It is the type of driver that you put a socket (or 17mm tool in this case) on the bolt and then hit it with a hammer to create rotation. The theory is that the sharp rap combined with the rotation will create sufficient force to move the bolt (or plug in this case.) I will keep you posted on the results. To tell you the truth, an impact wrench scares me for this case.

fezz

you've soaked it, wacked it, twisted it, heated it - time for the BFB.

RJB

UPDATE

I GOT IT UNSTUCK!!!!

Here is how I finally did it. As I mentioned before, the impact wrench just worried me because the plug was already starting to deform. So, we rolled it on its side, removed the drain plug, heated the housing, and then inserted the 17mm tool with a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar with a cheater bar. Nothing. So finally, we clamped on a pair of locking pliers (there was just enough of the plug extending beyond the casing) and while my son was applying pressure to the breaker and cheater bar, hammered the locking pliers. Only two whacks and it started moving! What a relief! Drained it, installed new plugs with anti seize, and now on to the next thing - installing the clutch.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions and help. I could not have done it without you!

Serge944

Oh anytime, no need ot thank me. :P