hi,
i have made an oil change few days ago. when i tried to open the drain plug i mistakenly torn the thread up.. annoying. after a lot of attempts i have inserted an heli coil inside and now i have a bigger bolt thread and a new drain plug. also brought a new crush washer. i closed the plug finally and it started to leak kind of badly. i switched the crush washer and tightened harder. the leak minimized but its still there.. few drops every hour.


any trick to seal this crap? too annoying to leave as is and abit risky..

 

First, make sure that the sealing surface on the bottom of the crankcase is flat and square to the bolt hole. If you didn't install the insert squarely(is that even a word?) then the sealing washer is going to have a hard time sealing. something like this may work.

 

I did just have a longer bolt to catch new threads and that worked... until I changed my oil the other day. Now I'm looking at doing Helicoil.

Did you put the bike on its side to drill it out? I'm worried about getting the angle right while laying on the floor.

Or question for anyone: Is there any issue with lying the bike on its side? I have Acerbis and Unabiker rad guards, and I could maybe lay it on top of some outdoor furniture cushions...

 

Also... did you install helicoil just 1/4 to 1/2 turn below surface? I read that not doing that part properly can lead to leaks.

 

Man that sucks! All the more reason to make sure you use a fresh crush washer when you change your oil.

 

I just installed helicoil with some loc-tite... Haven't put in actual drain plug yet.

thekeeper, any issues with helicoil position? I actually had problems figuring out how far rotated my helicoil was. I tried to follow the tips I read (marking 3/4 past where the STI thread starts), but it's impossible without being able to remove sump thread and put it on a table. From below it's just too hard to tell. I hope I threaded things correctly.

 

I have slow leak too now. Maybe I should've laid bike on its side to get more accurate angle w drill.

With that said, I found a good fiber washer plus Teflon tape slows leak down a lot. Maybe one drip per 36 hours. I can live w that for now.

I did order washers pictured above. Called dowty or doughty or bonded washers. What's odd is I can't find them in the states. I used ebay and won't get them for a while as its international shipping.

 

If you want a better temporary fix just put an o-ring maybe? I remember my old KZ550 i stripped the oil plug and it was leaking somewhat, I just used a o-ring under the bolt to seal it and changed the o-ring every oil change. Not the best I do agree, although for the 4000 km I had the bike it never dripped and since selling it the new owner (ex's dad) still does the same thing.

Just an idea.

Although I never tried heli coil or anything, if that makes a differance.

 

i have solved it.
took a thick crush washer and closed it hard with a wrench so it sealed.
the heli coil is different than normal thread. normal thread seals between the nut and the thread so basically just tightening it should stop the oil. but in heli coil the oil leaks through the new thread so u must have a proper final seal. thick crush washer does it fine if u tight it hard enough to melt over.

if this does not work then u might have a leak or crack in the hole itself.
a nice solution but not a proper one is to use a thread sealant (not glue like locktite or silicon or you might ruin the engine) that seal the thread entirely.

if you do have a crack then you need to seal it seperately. easy to check, you remove all oil completely, close the bolt tight then clean the oil pan entirely with anti oil spray and water. then pour some oil back in and see carefully where the leak begins (around the bolt itself means thread leak, other place is prob a crack)

if you need more help ask.

about the heli coil-
laid the motorcycle on its side on tyres.
drilled
dig
insert the heli coil
fit new bolt

 

I had tried o-ring before but it didn't work. Maybe needed to be a bit smaller to fit/work correctly.

I actually ended up having luck with really slowing down and possibly stopping my leak by using a crush fiber washer above a smaller nylon washer (might not have been necessary), and wrapping teflon tape around final threads about 6 or 7 times... and just tightening the crap out of it.

If it is leaking, it's gotta be just a small drop every other day, so pretty minor. Although I just took it on its first ride, so I'll see how much oil there is on the ground tomorrow.

Since Helicoil is steel I guess you don't have to worry as much about overtightening it