Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Help! 99 SE Oil Pan Threads Stripped

Im frustrated. I have a 99 SE and my oil pan threads are stripped. I went to the dealer who wanted to change the whole pan for 500 bucks. I old them no way. I know a little about cars and figured I can get an oversize plug for it. That's when I started hitting roadblocks. First, the oversize plugs for size 14 1.5 are posted NOT FOR FORDS. It appears the pan is shallow and and there is a knob inside the pan that prevents longer oversize plugs to go through. HUH. So I purchased a rubber oil pan seal (with the wing nut inside) to buy me some time to figure it out. But my mechanic cant put it in because the hole faces the exhaust and the space between is to small. ARGHHH! So my other option of rethreaded the hole (at least while the pan is still on) is out of the question too?. What can I do? To spend that kind of money on a new pan & labor seems like a big soultion to a little problem. Any suggestions.

Don't do it while it's still on the car, bad juju to put metal shavings in the oil of a car that has trouble spinning bearings anyway. Take the time and fix it right be removing the pan and tapping out a new hole or get a new pan. BTW, that front part of the exhaust can be off of the car in 20 minutes...

Do you have to lift the engine and the tranny off the engine mount by few inches to remove the oil pan? My car needs a new gasket.

emanon,

According tot he FORD Manual, both engines can have the Oil Pan Gasket changed without having to remove any mounts.
The exhaust does have to be removed from the Exhaust Manifold to provide enough clearance for the Oil Pan though.

On the Duratecs, the 2 bolts are removed from the Transmission Housing first, then the remaining bolts must be removed in a counterclockwise direction, starting from the rear of the pan.

Use a metric 'Helicoil' insert........