What caused my oil pan to fail

unfortunately theres no way to prove where the damage was done. maybe you can work something out with the garage to get you a cheap oil pan

HI. This will normally be the result of a failed oil pan gasket. With that said, I will list other areas of concern below. Have theses areas checked for faults asap.

1. Loose or improperly secured oil outlet screw.
2. Failed oil plug screw ring gasket.
3. Failed head gasket
4. Damaged or overly secured oil filter device.
5. Damaged or deteriorating oil pan gasket.
6. Damaged or breached oil pan.

YOU NEED TO BUY CORRECT SIZE NEW OIL DRAIN PLUG. YOU TO KNOW YOUR THREAD SIZE ON NEW OIL DRAIN BECAUSE YOU NEED THE RIGHT TAP AND DRILL BIT TO CENTER DRILL THE BROKE BOLT IN SIDE OIL PAN YOU NEED A CENTER PUNCH TO PUNCH A SMALL ENOUGH TO START THE DRILL BIT DEAD CENTER OF BROKE BOLT.OIL PAN NEED TO BE REMOVED TO DRILL HOLE STRAIGHT.THIS IN NOT A EASY JOB.EITHER YOU REPAIR OR DAMAGED OIL PAN DRAIN PLUG HOLE. YOU DRILL BIT HAS TO STRAIGHT WHILE DRILLING HOLE DEAD CENTER OF BROKEN BOLT YOU NEED TO MEASURE LENGHT OF OIL DRAIN PLUG BOLT. THEN USE A PIECE TAPE ON DRILL BIT WRAP A PIECE TAPE AROUND DRILL BIT THE DEPT YOU NEED TO DRILL THROUGH BOLT. LIKE I SAY THIS JOB TAKE SKILL AND A STRAIGHT HAND. BECAREFUL WITH DRILL AND WEAR SAFETY GOGGLES. DONT DO THIS FIX IF YOU NOT SURE OF MECHANIC SKILLS YOU WILL EITHER DAMAGE THE OIL PAN OR FIX THE PROBLEM.

That is a judgement call on your part. The self tapping bolt will put a small amount of metal shavings into the oil pan where (hopefully) the magnet inside used to collect filings from engine wear in your oil will grab them. If it doesnt, the metal shaving could cause engine damage. Bring old bolt with you to get the closest possible match. (There is also no guarantee it will tap/seal correctly or withstand being removed/re-installed anfter many oil changes.)

Best solution is to drain oil, remove oil pan, use a threaded insert to restore the bolt to the original one's size and get a new bolt of the o-ring sealing type. This you can do yourself, threaded insert kit + gasket+bolt +oil around $50

Please rate this answer if it helps! Thanks, Mike

They make oil pan plugs for this situation. It's a bolt with a rubber spacer that expands to seal the hole when you tighten it. If the old plug is still in the pan, use vice grips to thread it out. No need to replace pan, but maybe replace the oil change shop. Guys you went to have no experience.

FIRST: oil the plug (I know it sounds redundant)
1. breaker bar instead of ratchet wrench (buy one if you dont have one)
2. extension bar on breaker bar handle
If Getting desperate:
1. buy a new oil pan plug
2. use a damaged/rounded extraction socket on a breaker bar.
3. use an extension handle on the breaker bar handle
Be prepared to buy (and install)a new oil pan if the threads on the oil pan are ruined.

Installing a new oil pan is "easy" for experienced mechanics, but
replacing one can be involved for 1st-timers - and you'll usually want to buy (and install) a new oil pan gasket with the new oil pan.

That's everything from breaker bar (your minimum for stuck bolts) to replacing plug and pan (the worst-case scenario).

the story you are getting from the dealership sounds very strange. Contrary to what the dealer states the oil pan threads do not wear out over time or the quantity of oil changes. The oil pan threads will strip (be damaged) if the oil plug is tightened too much (too much torque is applied) when installing the plug.

On all cars and Mitsubushi's I have seen the oil pan plug is sealed from leaking oil with a metal or composite washer. The washer is installed on the plug and seals between the plug head and pan. The treads of the plug do not seal the pan as the washer serves this purpose. In most cases it is recommended this washer be replaced (a dollar or less) with every oil change but most people don’t. Have never seen a car that used only the treads to do the sealing.

It is possible someone has over tightened the plug at least once or many times leading the to the threads being stripped. If all your oil changes were at a dealer, then this damage was done by mechanics at the dealer. The other question is if the same dealer did your changes over a year (how many changes have been done?), why didn’t they bring this up before? Oil pan plugs do not just go bad, the pan threads fail because the plug is over tightened

but yes this is definetly possible in both the sense of the oil dran plug or the bolts that connect the oil pan to the engine block. Now if you mean the bolts that connect the oil pan to the engine block its only possible if the oil pan has been removed and someone put the bolt back in crossthreaded it or over tightened them. It couldnt so much happen from normal vibration, it would be a human error problem. and as for the drain plug that was covered above.
If you need further explanation on this problem please feel free to follow up with a comment and i will assist you from there. If this assisted you please feel free to rate it. Thanks, Midwest-tek

I assume you are turning the oil plug clockwise? If you have already fully seated the plug (all the way in), and it is still turning, you have either cross threaded and have stripped the plug threads or oil pan threads.
Take the plug back out and look at the both the plug threads and oil pan threads. Are there shiney small metal shavings or new thread markings? If so you will may need to remove the oil pan and those metal shavings, as those shavings could be detrimental to your engine/parts. You could possibly without removing the oil pan, use a small magnet-inserted into the hole, along with a flashlight and small mirror to check your progress, and retract the shavings out of the pan; but there is a chance of missing some.
Unfortunately, you may have to replace the plug (which I would try first $$ wise) and see if that works. If not attempt to tap the pan hole and try the new plug. If not then you are looking at either tapping out the pan hole to a bigger size and buying a bigger plug OR repacing the oil pan. Someone may have over tightened the plug causing this. It is only suppose to be tightened 15-20 ft lbs.
Let me know if this worked, or if you have additional information of questions. Feel free to contact me on FixYa.com!

most of front end and engine cross over support--if hole is small enough clean and make a plug with pop rivet and cold weld epoxy(oil & gas proof) or if bigger use rubber oil plug replacement a plug about 1/2 inch wide used as replacement when oil drain plug damaged or cross threaded most auto stores sell them

The only problem we have with the oil pan is that drain plug gasket leaks if not change out at oil changes. I replaced one pan due to threads coming out. But as for stress cracks, little fine lines, normal. They don't leak, leave it alone. Don Suzuki tech