Oil drain plug gasket

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
kitchman
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My tercel:: 1983 2wd tercel hatch back ,1986 SR5

Oil drain plug gasket

Post by kitchman »

Greetings again,
Was just performing an oil and filter change and discovered that there were two gaskets under the plug which required the use of a razor to completely remove. I bought a replacement gasket from Advanced auto parts. The package states it as M18-1,50. The gasket appears to made from a black plastic material and is not exactly the same as the removed green in color gaskets. Any way after using it and tightening the plug to the specified 25 ft. lbs it has a ever so slight drip, approx one drop every 60 seconds.Additional tightening 10 ft. lbs. has no effect. The original removed green in color gaskets appear to be made from a fiberous material.Any thoughts on this matter?
Thank you in advance
Jarf
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by Jarf »

Can't speak to what was in there or what you have now.
But the factory washer is (usually) fiber on either side of a steel washer, sometimes they come as just composite fiber washers.
Either way, they are considered to be a single use item as the crush when installed.
(as long as it fits and is compressible, it should work)

As to your issue, you could try to snug it up a little more and see if you can get it to stop dripping just be careful not to strip the threads.

Unless you have some reason to doubt the integrity of the washer you installed, then the issue is either the plug or the threads in the pan.
A new plug is only a dealer trip away, stripped threads will require repair by Heli-coil.
Not hard to do and will save replacing the pan but if the pan has wet flakey rust (oil under the flakes) just replace the pan and be done with it.
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dlb
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by dlb »

did it leak before the oil change?

i've used copper gaskets and rubber/metal gaskets like this one

Image

and both have worked fine for me. i'd try a few different gaskets before anything else.
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rer233
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by rer233 »

i always smear a little permatex ultra black on the drain plug before re-installation. never had a seepage problem.
if it aint there, there's a good chance it won't break!
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85 SR5 Blue
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toughtercel
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by toughtercel »

Drain plugs are (were) very interest parts to study with , since my first Tercel till now , there were few different kind of plugs, my very first Tercel (1983) has very large drain plug and had to replace the gasket every oil change compare to my current 1983 T4WD had smaller drain plug and since 3 year I have not replace the gasket yet.
My first Tercel, I did use the black plastic material on larger drain plug which it drip every 60 sec like you mention so I use white plastic nylon washer which is softer than black washer but it help to crush the slit ring in the oil pan ( take a look in the hole of the oil pan ,then you'll understand why it cause flat surface on oil pan not so flush ) , like I said replace gasket every oil change or file the surface on the gasket .
I may sound like an idiot , every Tercel 's owner has slight difference on parts from 1983 to 88 .
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Petros
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by Petros »

I always put gasket sealer on it (form-a-gasket), and unless the old gasket is bad, reuse it with the sealer. Never had an issue with leaks. The plastic gasket might be too hard to seal against the metal, I would just put form-a-gasket on it.
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splatterdog
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by splatterdog »

Sounds like you have the big plug(83-84). These pans have a square channel in the pan threads to allow more oil to drain. After time this allows the pan sheet metal to collapse in to the channel. Overtightening will not help. I have had to tighten a large thick steel washer under the drain plug and then weld the washer all the way around to fix this.

So look for a depression in the sealing surface of the pan...
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Ace
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by Ace »

I notice that the seat under my drain plug is uneven/pitted so I either carefully reposition the gasket into the same orientation, or replace it. I've used mostly white Nylon gaskets that seem to conform well to the irregularities so they don't drip.
kitchman
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by kitchman »

Thanks to all!
Ordered a couple of gaskets from Rock Auto, they are described as being fiber. When they arive will drain oil and have a real good look-see at the pan. Don't really know if it leaked before even though the plug was wet because the valve cover and stud plugs were leaking and since changed, nice and dry now.
toughtercel
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by toughtercel »

It ok to wash the motor from garden hose , ( less pressure ) you buy "gulp engine shampoo " come in the spray can and spray warm engine ( hot ) , 5 min later wash it really good , Don't spray water direct to spark plug wire at both end , you might have to dry the spark plug "cap" . Anyway then you can pin point where the leak later on .
I always wash my motor once a year .
kitchman
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by kitchman »

Ok, returned all the imposter gaskets and received from Toyota the OEM part # 9043018023 $2.04. Hoping this does the job, wondering if as has been suggested to apply some permatex to the gasket as a back up?
kitchman
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by kitchman »

Update,
When in the Toyota dealer and chating with parts counter person, he shared a problem he had with a Corolla he owned. Apparently the bottom area of the pan where the plug and gasket seats there was a small depression in the metal. What he did was sand the area and applied JB weld, then re-sanded it smooth and level. As it turns out the area around my plug has a similar irregularity which can be felt by the touch. Even though the OEM gasket may crush and fill the gap I am planning today to sand JB weld the area as well.
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splatterdog
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by splatterdog »

kitchman wrote:Update,
When in the Toyota dealer and chating with parts counter person, he shared a problem he had with a Corolla he owned. Apparently the bottom area of the pan where the plug and gasket seats there was a small depression in the metal. What he did was sand the area and applied JB weld, then re-sanded it smooth and level. As it turns out the area around my plug has a similar irregularity which can be felt by the touch. Even though the OEM gasket may crush and fill the gap I am planning today to sand JB weld the area as well.
Did you read my post? At least one other member has had my problem. if you cold weld it, keep a good eye on it following every oil change.

Or, as a last resort, clean/dry/goop it real good and suck out the oil thru the dipstick tube from now on.
kitchman
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by kitchman »

Yes,
I did read your post, thanks, and believe it or not, on the eve. before your last post I replied with some thing like this:
Splatterdog, you hit the nail on the head, my plug is apparently is the large type and the threads on this pan have a woodruff type channel on the bottom say .25 inch begining portion of the threads. The small divot on the bottom of the pan is directly in line with the channel in the threads.Waiting it seems forever for the area to dry up so I can apply the JB weld and sand it flat. Have no idea why my reply did not go through and why considering the odds why you posted on that very same day lol.
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ARCHINSTL
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Re: Oil drain plug gasket

Post by ARCHINSTL »

OT, but - if you made your post within a few seconds/minutes after someone else's, sometimes you get a popup that tells you something like "Someone else JUST made a similar post on the same thread, so yours may be a duplicate of it." That's not the exact wording, but you get the idea. At that point you either have to copy and paste to a new window or just click "Submit" again - I forget which.
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