Engine oil drain bolt

[frank 0]

While torquing engine drain bolt to 25 Nm (30 Nm according manual) the bolt sheared off. It was a magnetic bolt, I think part of it is now lying in the oil pan. Has anybody already removed the oil pan and anything special I shoul pay attention to?

[VirginiaJim]

    What year bike?

[frank 0]

One of the first series , 2008 neutron grey

[B.D.F.]

If you sheared the head off the oil drain bolt, the stem (the stud) of the bolt should still be stuck in the threads of the oil pan, not up inside it lying on the bottom. Once the head is broken off, the tension is removed from the bolt and you can usually 'walk' the stud out of a tapped hole by 'nudging' it in the correct direction to unscrew it. After a bit of the stud is sticking out, you can just grab it with a pair of pliers and work a lot faster. A small ***** punch as close to the edge of the bolt as you can get tends to work well; use the punch at about a 30 degree angle and tap it gently. You should see the bolt move slightly with every tap. Of course all of this is going to be more difficult working upside down, under a bike with limited room, and it may leak a bit of oil on you as you work. You could take the pan down, take out the screw and then reinstall the pan with a new gasket; which way is easier depends on you really.

That is a big bolt threaded into an aluminum pan so it is very possible that it damaged the threads in the pan before the head broke. If so, the pan will have to be repaired by using a larger plug in a newly tapped hole, or welded closed and re-drilled and tapped to original size, or something similar to make a permanent repair.

Brian

While torquing engine drain bolt to 25 Nm (30 Nm according manual) the bolt sheared off. It was a magnetic bolt, I think part of it is now lying in the oil pan. Has anybody already removed the oil pan and anything special I shoul pay attention to?

[MAN OF BLUES]

While torquing engine drain bolt to 25 Nm (30 Nm according manual) the bolt sheared off. It was a magnetic bolt, I think part of it is now lying in the oil pan. Has anybody already removed the oil pan and anything special I shoul pay attention to?

do share with us the manufacturer of that magnetic bolt, so the rest of us don't buy one.....if it broke.....
Possibly use one of the larger left hand center-drill-type bolt extractors in a right angle drill, carefully, it should spin it right out of you didn't ruin the threads....

[frank 0]

I succesfully recovered the remains of the drain bolt thanks to BDF's suggestions.  No more magnetic bolts for me. Manufacturer was Gold Plug LLC. Oil pan thread still in perfect condition. Thanks everybody for the replies.

[MAN OF BLUES]

clearly a poor manufacturing job, and reallly bad decision on thier part to weaken the bolt that much....no wonder it broke, there is less than 20% of the material in cross section....
I hope you are gonna hit them for a refund, and a good earful for the wasted efforts they forced upon you...

[Shoe]

That does it for me the next time I remove the drain ( Gold Plug ) I will put the original bolt back in place. Sorry to hear of your trouble, you're not the first to report having a problem with Gold Plug. Thanks for the heads up.

[CrashKLRtoConnie]

How many months was the Gold Plug in your 2008?

I just put in my 2008 C14 Gold Plugs in the oil drain plug and rear drive  a few months ago.

The drive shaft / rear end drain plug MP-11 was recalled due to leaks and am worried about the oil plug.

[dras]

Great! Asked my kids for one for my birthday recently. Have it sitting here all ready to go in at the next oil change. Now wondering if I should or not................

[mikeboileau]

I succesfully recovered the remains of the drain bolt thanks to BDF's suggestions.  No more magnetic bolts for me. Manufacturer was Gold Plug LLC. Oil pan thread still in perfect condition. Thanks everybody for the replies.

Strike two for that manufacturer.....somebody else had a leaker for the final drive.  I'm staying away from them for sure.

[Restless]

I'm going to go out on a limb here but as far as "torqueing" a drain bolt is concerned, do we honestly need to do that?      I mean that in 37 years of changing oil in anything, I have never refered to torque specs when putting the plug back in.  A simple tightening slightly past the point of hand tight has always worked for me and I've never had a leak or broken plug period.

I'm glad the OP was able to get the plug out and kudos to Brian on the quick instructions but really, you don't need to torque the drain bolt unless you want this type of result...just sayin. 

[koval68]

Strike two for that manufacturer.....somebody else had a leaker for the final drive.  I'm staying away from them for sure.

+1   I'm shocked! Very poor design!

[chi-gpz1100]

I agree with restless above.  In the 20 years of changing oil on cars, and 17 on bikes, I've never used a torque wrench to install a drain plug.  Finger tight, and just and just snug it up a bit (yes, relative term) with either the wrench or ratchet.  I once used a torque wrench to install a goodridge? banjo bolt on a set of SS lines front brake lines.  I set the wrench to the exact spec the service manual stated.  Needless to say, the bole cracked before the wrench clicked! 

Since then, other than cam/crank and wheel axles, I use my built in torque wrench.  Haven't broke anything yet/

[B.D.F.]

Great- glad that worked out for you. Dropping the pan would have been a lot of ugly, messy work.

Brian

I succesfully recovered the remains of the drain bolt thanks to BDF's suggestions.  No more magnetic bolts for me. Manufacturer was Gold Plug LLC. Oil pan thread still in perfect condition. Thanks everybody for the replies.

[B.D.F.]

Yep, chain me in on the end of 'me too'- I just snug any drain bolts with a box end wrench. I barely use more force than I could generate with a screwdriver. I believe far more damage is done over tightening bolts than is done by under tightening. Case in point, how many threads are there about stripped oil pan (and final drive) drain holes as compared with threads about drain bolts loosening and / or falling out?

A little bit different point of view: a designer, most likely an engineer today, sits at a desk and spec.'s the torque for fasteners, usually without ever having turned a wrench in his / her life. That person pulls a number out of a column and prints it in a spec. sheet with no more thought or input than a person who does not eat would give to the amount of milk in a recipe. My point is not that these people are bad, stupid or anything else, just that everyone should take "spec.'s" with a grain of salt and always use common sense. Just because something is written in a manual does not mean that someone of vast skills and / or experience has given you great advice.

Of course that would apply to this posting too so caveat emptor. 

Brian

I agree with restless above.  In the 20 years of changing oil on cars, and 17 on bikes, I've never used a torque wrench to install a drain plug.  Finger tight, and just and just snug it up a bit (yes, relative term) with either the wrench or ratchet.  I once used a torque wrench to install a goodridge? banjo bolt on a set of SS lines front brake lines.  I set the wrench to the exact spec the service manual stated.  Needless to say, the bole cracked before the wrench clicked! 

Since then, other than cam/crank and wheel axles, I use my built in torque wrench.  Haven't broke anything yet/

[S.Ga.Rider]

Wasnt their a thread a while ago about a recall on those bolts?

[Conrad]

I have mag bolts in both the engine and the rear drive. No issues and I don't use a torque wrench to tighen em either.

[Pokey]

Put me in the group that doesnt really see the need and or reason for a mag bolt.

[R Nelson]

That really does look like a poor design.  As MOB said, they've cored out the whole center of the threaded portion of the bolt for the placement of the magnet.  It looks doomed to fail.  I would think any FEA (finite element analysis) would have predicted that.