Hey gang,

I'm on a mission to change out my tranny fluid and it seems that, once upon a time, individuals decided to tighten the drain and fill bolts to levels never before achieved in modern technology. I was dragging my rather large body along the ground while going at the fill plug (yep, I read posts / instructions here and followed the good word to do the fill plug first!), but it finally came free.

The drain plug, however, is even more stubborn. Using the LONG torque wrench that gave me success with the fill plug only started to strip the drain plug. A regular 17mm wrench will still fit snugly, but I can't get enough torque.

Tried cleaning it off with some Simple Green and all that, in case there was some chunky grit acting as a glue, but now all I have is a very shiny drain plug.

Tips? Bribe someone with air tools to get that sucker free? Hopefully I can find a one-piece (ie: no sockets, don't wanna strip it any more) ultra-long-handled wrench. Hmm.

TIA ...

My condolences... Fighting seized bolts ranks right up there with... well.... bad things.

You're working against two things: Over-torqued, and the fusing that occurs when steel fasteners are threaded into aluminum.

Tips:
- Soak with penetrating oil for a couple days before trying again.
- Offer some kind of token sacrifice to the garage gods... Pour half a beer on the ground to show you are truly worthy.
- Heat - use a propane torch to heat the aluminum around the plug. The aluminum will expand and loosen it's grip. NOT going for red hot here - just too hot to comfortably touch.
- Use ONLY six point tools - a good Snap-On or the like.
- Use impact to help break it loose. Rattle wrench is good. If no rattle wrench, put a good end wrench on it with a cheater bar (piece of pipe slipped over the end to extend leverage). Have buddy apply loosening torque while you bang on the head of the plug. The shock of the impact will help break the seizure loose.

Good luck!

If the bolt head gets completely rounded off, use a big Vice grip or even a pipe wrench. Continue to use heat and impact.

ms basically said it all.

I'd try WD40 first, it worked on the caliper bolts.

Another thing, use a LONG rachet with an EXACT 17mm socket from Craftsman...it will save you lots of time:)

If you are using open ended wrenches you can "power wrench" it.. works well

Get the 17mm one and then get a 16mm one

You connect the open end part to the closed end part.. Its hard to explain without showing it..

Thanks, gentlemen. I'll be giving this a try in the next couple of days, I'll keep you posted ...

breaker bar = bicycle seat post attached to my regular socket handle.

Worked like a charm when nothing else did. (soaked for a week previous)

So how did you angle your body under the car to get your butt on the bicycle seat post for the leverage?
:smile9:

I learned how from you Ian!

(lame comeback over)

i had the same problem at you and literally got under the car and took a mallet to my wrench, i've heard that this can strip the threads but it worked okay