Did I cross thread the oil drain plug ? plug was very tight when trying to tighten it back in.

[FastLife91]

I Did an oil and oil filter change 4000 miles ago, this was about the 4th or 5th one I have done on this car. I usually do this myself every 5000 miles or there about.
I plan on doing another oil change on it within the next month or so.

On the last oil change I tried to undo the sump drain plug bolt and it was very tight, I realised I had the ratchet on tighten , I was tightening it further instead of loosening it.
Anyway, got the bolt off, put in the new oil and new filter and went to tighten up the drain plug.
As soon as I was tightening it the ratchet went very tight despite the plug being almost fully out.
I had to really put a lot of strength into turning the ratchet to get the plug in and finally I got it in properly and tight.


I am wondering now and thinking ahead for the next oil and filter change in the next month or 2 if there will be any problems, if either the oil sump plug or the threads in the sump could be damaged. I think if the sump thread was damaged it would not have tightened at the end into the sump would it ? ?
The sump plug was replaced with a new one last year
any advice appreciated. thanks

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

You have to remember that you must turn it ANTI CLOCKWISE to loosen it when you are looking directly at the plug and not from an upside down position if that makes sense because from that perspective you will be tightening it further.

At the next oil change check the treads of both the plug and oil pan for signs of x treading to find out if 1 or both treads are damaged.

 

[FastLife91]

You have to remember that you must turn it ANTI CLOCKWISE to loosen it when you are looking directly at the plug and not from an upside down position if that makes sense because from that perspective you will be tightening it further.

At the next oil change check the treads of both the plug and oil pan for signs of x treading to find out if 1 or both treads are damaged.

I should have been more careful, I am sure I checked the plug and it looked fine. I also think I looked at the last bit of thread on the sump and the last thread was a bit pushed in but I may be wrong.

Is there anything I should do before doing the next oil change so if the sump threads are damaged I won't be stuck with the car outside home being unable to use it ?

I heard of getting a bigger oil drain plug or something ? thanks

 

[TCJBOLDIE]

The odd time that I have done that over the years is to grind bevel or taper on the end of a bolt with the same tread pitch yo get it further into the tread and very carefully try to wind it in with some pressure on the bolt while making sure that the bolt is perpendicular to the hole, it can be helpful to grind a couple of small v grooves into the sacrificial bolt so it acts a bit like a tap. Good luck

 

[obi_waynne]

Heli coil rethred to the rescue here. Don't this loads on sparkplugs and had to recut the thread into the block, which took ages but worked quite well, thankfully because I wasn't too forceful.