1998 Honda Civic HX Oil Pan Drain Plug Stripped

seantobin5 · Postby **seantobin5** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 9:14

Hello there, I brought my 1998 Honda Civic HX to Kuni Honda on Arapahoe Rd. to have them change the oil yesterday and after about half an hour of waiting, they came out and told me that my oil pan drain plug has been stripped so for now, they put some Hondabond blue for a temporary fix and I'm leaking a bit of oil from my drain plug. Maybe 3-4 drops every 20 min. I drove to Boulder today and I was low about half a quart so I just bought 3 quarts of 5w-30 synthetic to keep it filled. Kuni wants $700 to replace the oil pan and gasket which I think it's very unreasonable. I had Grease Monkey in Boulder on 28th street replace my oil last and I know they were probably the ones who over torqued the drain bolt. They also gave me a list of other things that are wrong with my car which adds up to $4,400 which is absurd!! I have attached the list they gave me. If someone could explain to me what those things should really cost and what shop to go to that uses good quality parts or allow me to give them the part to use to replace, that would be great!! Thank you very much!!

Links to photos:
http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj596/seantobin5/98CivicHX-page-001.jpg

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj596/seantobin5/98CivicHX-page-002.jpg

Hschlick84 · Postby **Hschlick84** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:14

Send chromal a PM, he can help you with that

seantobin5 · Postby **seantobin5** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:14

Okay, thank you!

dommo_g · Postby **dommo_g** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:14

Wtf??

Learjet45 · Postby **Learjet45** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:14

dommo_g wrote:Wtf??

I'm not sure why he originally made an account here, but sean is one of my friends. I think he mostly wants some advice on a good, trustworthy shop in town somewhere to do some of the things that Kuni noted as failing their inspection since dealerships charge outrageous amounts of money. For example, they want like $700 to replace the oil pan, $300 of which is for the part alone, but the part can be found online for under $200, and that leaves a good 400-500 on top of a $200 part.

chromal · Postby **chromal** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:14

Wow, that's an impressive quote. They want almost as much for mundane maintenance today as I paid for my 98 Civic CX hatchback in 2001.

Your 98 Civic HX has a D16Y5 engine, I'm pretty sure the oil pan is directly interchangeable with other D16 engines, so there are literally tons of local salvage sources for this, maybe $50 for a oil pan pull. Alternately, I see them being sold new for $186 (http://www.hondapartsunlimited.com/honda/pan-oil/11200-p2j-000-honda/). If you go the route of a new or used replacement pan, you'll want a new oil pan gasket and a gasket sealer of course. To drop the oil pan, you must first drain the engine oil, drop an engine-to-tranny stiffener brace, and then the pan should unbolt and drop out.

I have a spare d16Y7 oil pan sitting around, I guess I'd be willing to sell it for $50, but you might want to look around more, the Y7 has a steel oil pan (Y8 has aluminium, Y5 has ____? -- all are supposedly interchangeable, but there may be an alternate stiffener for the steel one.)

A cursory search of Honda forums suggests you should be able to track down a generic self-tapping oversized oil drain plug for just this situation, though I have no personal experience with that, others weld new bungs or even claim they've used a helicoil, so there are alternatives to replacing it at all.

seantobin5 · Postby **seantobin5** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:14

According to some threads on Honda-Tech, my Y5 has an aluminum pan same as the EX with the Y8. I'll be expecting a call from Grease Monkey today so I hope they can tell me that I could go in there and get a new, free oil pan from them because after all, it is their fault they over torqued it. I just hope if they do replace it that they use Honda Genuine parts... It's just getting really frustrating to open my hood, check my oil level and fill it up with oil every time I need to go somewhere. I just don't want my engine seized because it was low on oil. I have 148,500 miles on it now and it feels like I can go another 148,500 miles!

Although I might have to change out the clutch eventually...

I've also seen on your threads that you've taken the entire front end of your CX apart... My hood release cable handle broke off and it is not easy opening my hood so I bought a new hood release cable from Napa Auto parts but I don't have the proper tools to take the fender off and the bumper so I'm wondering if I could pay you to do it for me? If you can, that would be great! Thanks Chromal!!

chromal · Postby **chromal** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:14

I had to replace my Civic's hood puller cable/handle assembly last summer. I had the same problem as you; the plastic handle broke off the cable assembly. Something about the plastic they use just seems to get brittle after a decade.

For the hood latch puller job, the tools needed are modest. The job can probably be done from start to finish with only a 10mm socket+ratchet and a screwdriver or two. Getting everything out of the way to do the deed is the bulk of the work; you'll need to remove part of the driver footwell liner to get at the hood pull assembly. Removing the front left fender splash guard, the fender itself, and probably also the front bumper will allow you to extract the old assembly and run the new one without too much difficulty.

I'd be willing to help, but probably could only be available on a weekend. PM me if you wanna talk it over.

SecondGenPAt · Postby **SecondGenPAt** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:14

$668 for a timing belt??? holy hell, can't possibly take more than 2 hours..

If you want to fix the oil pan I recommend a time-sert (with new drain plug) this allows you to keep the OEM plug.

seantobin5 · Postby **seantobin5** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:14

I bought a Doorman aftermarket cable because I'm thinking the Honda OEM would break off. It's suck a pain to pull on the wire itself so I keep a pair of pliers where the trunk/gas release is. I tried to do it myself when I first got the car but I couldn't seem to figure out how to get the sideskirt off. There are 3? screws under is and they're turning but they're not coming out at all. And there is one 10mm bolt right between the fender and the front of the drivers door so I'm wondering if you need an extension or do you just need to take the door off?

As for my oil leak, I talked to grease monkey today and they were explaining to me how Kuni Honda has voided the tamper seal and that Grease Monkey cannot prove if it's their fault or Kuni's fault. So I think I'm just going to go ahead and get a new oil pan since I can't wait any longer because my oil leak has gotten to the point where I need to pull over on I-25 in traffic to check my oil and it always seems a bit low.

And yeah, $668 is a bit much for a new timing belt. I had it done on my 1993 Ford Escort wagon for $250 at Madrids Auto Repair on Colfax and Beeler. That guy is the reason why that car went up to 400,000 miles!

chromal · Postby **chromal** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:14

I went with an OEM hood pull cable, so it'll probably just break again in another ten years...

The sideskirt is a pain to remove, it's fastened with multiple fastener. Some of the plastic clips will inevitably break, etc. Fortunately, a socket extender is all that's needed to carefully unbolt the fender bolt behind the door, no door removal needed. It has, I think, three screws going up into the body from below, and then a few fasteners on the back side of the front wheel well where it ends behind the fender splash guard...

seantobin5 · Postby **seantobin5** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:14

Okay, I can give that a try sometime in the next week or so... And I'm also assuming you need to remove the front bumper too right?

alex_n/a · Postby **alex_n/a** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:14

Some people just use a t handle (home depot) to screw it onto the cable of the hood release.

For the oil pan. Just replace it. Hit up junk yards and search 96-00 honda civics (not ex-si) they all have d16y7.

Not trying to be a douche but if you search oil pan replacement on honda forums you wiil find every thing you need in minutes.

chromal · Postby **chromal** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:14

Yeah, removing the front bumper cover will make things easier. I'd remove it, the left fender liner, side skirt, and fender-- in that order. Removing the bumper cover is easy, just a set of seven or so clips in the front, and then a few bolts/screws below and it pops right off. You won't need to mess at all with the bumper assembly that's behind the cover.

seantobin5 · Postby **seantobin5** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:14

Soooo I called a few places today and only one of them called Auto Know How gave me a reasonable price to do a time sert on it. So they want $150 to do it and I'm providing the oil and I insist they don't replace my oil filter because it's only a week old. Their price to replace the oil pan was over $500 so they must be paying full price for the OEM part.

1998 Honda Civic HX Oil Pan Drain Plug Stripped

1998 Honda Civic HX Oil Pan Drain Plug Stripped

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