Hey guys

Doing my tranny flush and the bolt refused to come out... Now it's stripped. Any ideas??

JM

 

Replace the pan, of course.

 

Hop on FCP and grab part number 1402701161 and 2035400253

 

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/mer...pan-1402700812

 

Remove the pan and drain by tilting the pan. Once removed you can use the common solutions. Using plyers, drilling, extractor and so on. It's a 20nm plug so it should not be that hard.

 

With a full transmission? One minor shift in the wrong direction and you're taking a bath in ATF.

At least extract all the fluid that you can out of the dipstick tube first.

 

Haha, you only release a few bolts so tip it in a controlled manner. Big tray under

 

That is how every car works that does not have a drain plug in the pan.

 

Hey guys - just an update - I managed to get by loosening the rear bolts completely off and the slowly releasing the remaining bolts once the oil flow would start to slow. Once I had 4 of the 6 bolts off I took my jack with a 2x4, supported the pan and removed last two bolts and slowly lowered the pan and it worked like a charm. I was in panic mode when I originally posted (it was supposed to be EASY!) and took a step back a deep breathe and figured whats the worst that could happen, bend the pan and have to replace it. For the record, I was using a Youtube video as a guide (which was a very clear and descriptive video) but he mentioned it was a 5mm allen which fit snugly which is why I didn't second guess it when I was under the car. In actuality it is a T30 torx. Don't make the same mistake as me!

I also did the pilot bushing which was relatively easy, just make sure you line up the pins correctly or else you will be very unhappy lol. I found the easiest way to release the locking clip on the connector was to use a zip tie and pull down on the zip tie as there is barely any room for fingers in that area.

 

Drain plug is 5mm. The pan bolts (and valve body bolts) are T-30.

I should do a public service announcement on my Beck Arnley adapter bushing...one of the holes was not drilled for the pins and I kept forcing it until I realized what was going on. Ended up just putting new O-rings on the old bushing. I also made the incredibly newbie mistake of filling my engine with trans fluid so I had no gears when I was done, and assumed I had broken my conductor plate. Yeah, a real comedy of errors...only been working on cars for 19 years.

 

I don't know but my plug would not come out and the 5mm stripped it. I then swapped a T30 and you could tell it really fits better. I mean at this point I can say yay or nay but that is what happened to me.

I just wish the friggen bolt just loosened like every other bolt I touched on Sunday.

 

The drain plug is NOT a torx. That's why you stripped it.

 

Or his was a torx because someone put the improper plug in it...who knows.

 

Speaking in general terms, if there is no alternative...sure. But in this specific case, the car has a fill/dipstick tube and extracting the fluid out before dropping the pan reduces the risk of things getting messy.

Certainly wouldn't be the first time torx and hex bits are mixed up. Case in point, I've encountered torx rotor retaining screws in an application where the factory manual and all replacement parts/diagrams clearly state it should be a hex.

These cars are up there in age. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if the OP's issue was a result of someone in the past using the wrong bolt and probably over-tightening it.