My oil drain plug is f**ked up. I'll skip the story ...

Thats exactly what you should do. You will need to take the oil pan off to do this, dont try to do it while its on the car. The good thing about this, is that you can check for any bearing damage while you do this. I beleive that Autozone lets you rent a tap/die set for free, just incase you dont want to buy a set. If you have one, nevermind. Here is the procedure.

1. Disconnect the battery ground cable.

2. Remove the engine assembly from vehicle.

3. Mount the engine assembly on an engine stand with the engine mounted in the upright position.

4. Remove the oil pan mounting bolts.

5. Remove the oil pan from the engine.

6. Remove and discard the oil pan gasket. Thoroughly clean all gasket mating surfaces.

To install:

Make sure not to Wait longer than 4 minutes after applying silicone gasket sealant to install the oil pan.

7. Apply a 0.24 inch (6mm) bead of silicone gasket sealant in six places; on both sides of the rear main cap and front cover humps and along the seams for the cover-to-engine block.

8. Position and press into place the new oil pan gasket onto the oil pan mounting flange.

9. Using a straight edge, line up the oil pan to the engine block.

10. Install the oil pan mounting bolts. The 2 long bolts are installed in the two rear pan holes (holes 15 and 18 shown in the illustration) near the flywheel.

11. Tighten the oil pan bolts, in sequence, to 124-141 inch lbs. (14-16 Nm).

12. Install the engine assembly into the vehicle.

13. Connect the negative battery cable. Fill the engine with the proper amount and type of engine oil. Add all necessary fluids and be sure that all components are installed/connected correctly.

Edited by 32roadster on May 8 2006 at 2:55am

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I can't tap out the plug hole from underneath the truck without taking off the oil pan?

You can, but since there are metal debris left inside the pan, you want to get that out to avoid any engine damage. And there is gonna be a bit more after you tap it.

I just thought of this, to avoid taking off the pan. I would put a pan under and flush with the old oil you have. That should get rid of most of the debris.

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I tapped it some, I tapped in an oversize plug with a hammer - had a hard time getting it to go in straight - wrenched it in, and so far it seems okay. I do have concerns about the metal debris from tapping in the oil pan. If my fix holds till the weekend - i gotta f**kin' work tomorrow - I think maybe I'll drain my NEW oil to try to flush out the metal. I might even drive my driver's side tire up on a block to get a little more slope towards the drain plug and when it's done dripping, I'll reach in through the hole with my telescoping shirt pocket magnet and try to fish out some metal crap. How much of that metal gets recirculated through the engine?

That all depends on how much debris there is and how much the oil filter is able to filter and catch. If you have the magnet thats a great way to get most of it out. I would also search around for a magnetic oil drain plug. I have seen them on ebay but I have never tried them.

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