I just completed the repair of my stripped oil drain hole in the motor casing. I wanted to post this in case it happens to anyone else. I purchased my P5 from a private owner with 102 miles on it. He said that he had not performed the first oil change yet. I realized later that the service indicator had been reset already, so I am not sure if he damaged the drain hole or it was the dealer or manufacturing. Regardless, when I did the oil change at 120 miles, the drain plug was stripped, I barely put any pressure on the plug and it would not tighten, when I removed the plug it was full of aluminum and I could see the threads in the hole were pretty much gone. I was actually sick at my stomach and could hardly sleep that night. The next day, I decided to repair it myself after reading and watching several repairs of quads with the same problem. I went to the auto parts store and purchased a package of plug washers and a 1/2-20 (fine thread) drain plug in the same length as the old 12mm plug . I borrowed a 1/2-20 tap from work. Luckily, 1/2-20 is a only slightly larger than 12mm so I did not have use a drill.
I started by hooking up a compressed air line to the oil fill hole of the motor. I made a make-shift plug using some tubing and electrical tape to hold it in. I opened the air line valve enough to keep positive pressure on the housing, but not wide open. Next, I coated the tap with axle grease, which captures most of the shavings created by tapping. I very slowly worked the tap, only going about 1/3 of way at a time, and each time I removed the tap, I cleaned it and re-coated with fresh axle grease. Between the grease and air pressure, most of the shavings were out side the motor. Once the new threads were cut, I poured the old oil through the motor to flush out any remaining shavings. I used a clean pan under the P5 and filtered the oil through a pair of my wife's old knee high stockings attached to the funnel. The first time through, there were about 10 shavings in the pan, second time 2 or 3 shavings and the third time I flushed it, the oil was clean.
I then put the new plug in with a copper washer that has a rubber insert built in it. The new plug snugged up to 18ft lbs and I re-filled with new Honda oil. Had I purchased my P5 new, I would have immediately took it back to the dealer. As it stands now. I will probably never remove the drain plug again, I will just use a pump to extract the oil. Has anyone changed the oil with a pump yet?
Be careful with the drain plug if you do your own oil changes, and pay attention to the required torque!!!! Someone obviously put my plug in using the "one more grunt should do it" method! Sorry for not having pictures of the procedure, I was too nervous to take any! :lol: :lol:
I started by hooking up a compressed air line to the oil fill hole of the motor. I made a make-shift plug using some tubing and electrical tape to hold it in. I opened the air line valve enough to keep positive pressure on the housing, but not wide open. Next, I coated the tap with axle grease, which captures most of the shavings created by tapping. I very slowly worked the tap, only going about 1/3 of way at a time, and each time I removed the tap, I cleaned it and re-coated with fresh axle grease. Between the grease and air pressure, most of the shavings were out side the motor. Once the new threads were cut, I poured the old oil through the motor to flush out any remaining shavings. I used a clean pan under the P5 and filtered the oil through a pair of my wife's old knee high stockings attached to the funnel. The first time through, there were about 10 shavings in the pan, second time 2 or 3 shavings and the third time I flushed it, the oil was clean.
I then put the new plug in with a copper washer that has a rubber insert built in it. The new plug snugged up to 18ft lbs and I re-filled with new Honda oil. Had I purchased my P5 new, I would have immediately took it back to the dealer. As it stands now. I will probably never remove the drain plug again, I will just use a pump to extract the oil. Has anyone changed the oil with a pump yet?
Be careful with the drain plug if you do your own oil changes, and pay attention to the required torque!!!! Someone obviously put my plug in using the "one more grunt should do it" method! Sorry for not having pictures of the procedure, I was too nervous to take any! :lol: :lol:
