stecz

The upper oil drain plug on my Cayenne S won't come loose. Any suggestions? At this point the allen-key hole is stripped. I am able to get the lower drain plug out easily. I assume that over it's life, the upper drain plug hasn't been used. Do I leave it alone and just use the lower drain plug?

My choices at this point are to use my heat gun to heat up the pan, avoiding heating the plug, Maybe go medieval on it with an air chisel and loosen the plug up that way. (I'm ok with replacing the plug after I'm done).

Other ideas?

thanks

John S
2006 Cayenne S

Wisconsin Joe

If you don't drain the other plug, you will leave a fair amount of oil in the pan.

One suggestion I've heard (never used myself) is to take a torx or triple square that's a bit bigger and pound it into the stripped allen hole.
Alternatively, use a dremel or equivalent to cut a slot into the plug and use a big screwdriver.

Heat would be a good idea. Perhaps dry ice chips on the plug itself.

deilenberger

And rather obviously - have a new plug and crush ring ready to install.

oldskewel

First thing to do, which may not be obvious, is to make sure the 8mm Allen bit is full seated within the drain plug. On my Cayenne, on one of the plugs it seemed to go in fully, but when I tried applying torque, I could tell it was not moving the plug so I stopped. Then I re-set things and lightly hammered (really - think heavy tapping, nothing medieval here) the Allen bit in, and it went in several mm deeper. Then it came out just fine. If you're not sure if it's in all the way, maybe you could measure it on the stuck plug vs. on the removed one - see how deep the Allen bit goes in before it bottoms out.

If that does not work, I'd move up to the next bigger Torx and lightly tap it in there. The torque on these drain plugs is really not much, they're Aluminum so they're soft, which makes the Allen part deformable. But once you get a good grip on it - as with the Torx, there's not much you need to overcome there. It should come on out pretty easily.

Medieval / air chisel no way ever.

Left handed drill bit if all the above fails.

stecz

I do have some freeze spray, that seems like a good first step. Heating up just the pan with a heat gun, might work also. (that way it's not torch heat, but you can get it up to several hundred degrees)

I'll try seating in the allen better and then got for a slightly larger torks.

thanks for the hints

Wisconsin Joe

Unless some ham handed idiot decided that it needed to be as tight as he could get it...

With a long handle ratchet.yy6

Unfortunately, stupid people do stupid things.

nodoors

That is what I lovingly refer to as 'full ooga!' God help those idiots and keep them away from my stuff!

dpatel710

phatz

Perfect timing to get yourself a Mityvac
Leave the plug in place, Mityvac the upper and drain the lower

Petza914

I use LN Engineering's magnetic drain plugs on everything they screw into (997 oil pans, gearboxes, etc) and hoping the cayenne is the same as I have one in the cabinet for my upcoming oil change.

J'sWorld

I am using this. Purchased from oreillys for like $6 each. Never going back to the stockers. They are listed for a Honda. M18x1.5

J'sWorld

You can't Mightyvac the upper.

Wisconsin Joe

What tool fits the hole in it?

It looks square in the pic, but I know better than to trust that.

Petza914

Looks like it takes a 3/8" or 1/2" drive. What material is it made from? I worry about putting g ate drain plugs into aluminum housings, but that's the safest for the magnet to not break loose and adhere to something ferrous inside the case. Aluminum or brass are better from a softness of the metal perspective, but then you need to make sure the quality of the plug and the adhesive are top notch and that the magnet can't escape. That's why I'm ok paying a little more for the LN one.

oldskewel

That looks like the AT drain plug for my Honda Odyssey. If it is the same or similar, the tool is a 3/8" square drive, just like on a ratchet drive. Pretty convenient and easy to remember.

And again, if it's the same as mine, it is steel.