Hey Scotty! This is your old customer Matt Hester. I have a 2016 BMW 428I. Yes I know “why the hell did you buy a BMW?” but what’s don is done and I do love driving it. So at my last oil change the manager had a hard time getting the drain plug off it was stripped. It uses a hex tool to remove it. He showed me that it was plastic put a new one in as you were supposed to do with each oil change she said. But then it kept leaking he tightened it and it kept leaking so he put another plug in it and it’s still leaking. And worse. I’ve looked online and it looks like it’s supposed to be tightened to eat newton meters, I’m sure he did not use a torque wrench. My suspicion is that it’s been cross threaded. I saw your old video about creating new threads with a thread cutting bolt, and wondered if that could be done on this plastic oil pan. Or whether there would be a problem using a metal bolt on a plastic pan. Seems like it would be OK but I’m not sure. Since I can’t get under this car and I really don’t want this oil change shop to do the work, do you have someone to recommend here in Houston for the job? Thanks! Hope you’re enjoying Tennessee
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Wow, that actually sucks! I would be furious if an oil change shop did that to my oil pan!
Yes, those BMWs (non-xdrive) have a plastic oil pan and it uses a special "crush lock" plug that's also plastic. These are a one-time use plug that only need 6 lb×ft of torque! They clearly ruined the threads...
Again, this is why you need to do your own oil changes, especially on a car like that where it's delicate (or take it to a place that specializes in BMW). I agree, it's a stupid design on BMW for using a cheap plastic oil pan...worst case scenario is to just buy a replacement pan or upgrade to a metal one. If I ever have an issue with my plastic oil pan, I'm going straight to a metal one.
